FRIDAY: The Mets have announced the signing. Bastardo gets a $250K signing bonus and will then earn salaries of $5.25MM (2016) and $6.5MM (2017), Heyman tweets.
WEDNESDAY: The Mets and left-hander Antonio Bastardo are in agreement on a contract, reports Jon Heyman (Twitter link). It’s a two-year, $12MM contract, according to Baseball Essential’s Robert Murray (on Twitter). Bastardo is represented by the Legacy Agency.
Murray reported yesterday that things were picking up in the Bastardo market, though the three-year deal mentioned in that report ultimately wasn’t attained. The two-year pact represents a departure from the Mets’ previously reported plans, as the team was said earlier this month to be seeking relief help on a one-year deal. In that regard, the agreement between the two parties represents a compromise, as Bastardo was said to be seeking a three-year deal in the $18MM range (similar to the one Tony Sipp landed with Houston earlier this year).
Bastardo, 30, has turned in generally strong results across the past three seasons between the Phillies and Pirates, working to a 3.18 ERA with 10.5 K/9, 4.4 BB/9 and a 30.8 percent ground-ball rate in 164 innings of work. He’s dominated left-handed opponents in that stretch, holding same-handed batters to a paltry .167/.273/.295 triple-slash. However, Bastardo is more than a specialist, as he’s also been plenty effective against right-handed batters, limiting such opponents to a .204/.310/.314 line. As such, he can be deployed as a setup man, regardless of matchup, alongside Addison Reed and Jenrry Mejia. That trio, of course, will help bridge the gap from the club’s excellent young rotation to breakout closer Jeurys Familia, who saved 43 games for the Mets in 2015.
With Bastardo in the fold, the Mets will now have a wealth of quality left-handed options for manager Terry Collins to utilize. The team re-signed Jerry Blevins this offseason, and he’ll look for better health after twice fracturing his forearm in a pair of fluky accidents in 2015. Sean Gilmartin, whom the Mets selected in the 2014 Rule 5 Draft, enjoyed a brilliant season with New York, recording a 2.67 ERA in 57 1/3 innings in his Major League debut. And southpaw Josh Edgin, who missed the 2015 campaign in the wake of Tommy John surgery, will likely be ready to return to a big league mound at some point during the 2016 season as well.
The Mets deserve some praise for waiting out what was an exceptionally aggressive relief market in the earlygoing this offseason. Five relievers scored contracts of three or more years in the earlier phase of the offseason, and many — we at MLBTR included — believed Bastardo would find such a pact as well. However, while his average annual value is commensurate with many of the multi-year deals given to setup men this winter, the Mets’ patient approach allowed them to knock a year off the price in the end.
Bastardo drew interest from a number of teams, including the Orioles, Dodgers, Pirates, Blue Jays and Twins, per various reports this offseason. With his departure from the open market, teams could turn to one-year deal candidates such as Neal Cotts, Franklin Morales and Matt Thornton as they look to supplement their bullpens with left-handed relievers.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Wonderful signing. Surprised no one went 3 years.
I agree with both your statements!
YES!!!!!!!
Wow, Bastardo got slighted. I thought he would get a ton more.
Great signing for the Mets especially considering it’s only 2 years.
Mets bullpen would have had to rely on a lot of young unproven guys otherwise this year. Bastardo adds another proven veteran to the mix with Familia (and hopefully Addison Reed benefits from being away from Arizona and CHW)
Love it, but would’ve loved that 12 mil getting worked into a Cespedes deal. Guess that dream is now dead. Beggars can’t be choosers so I’ll take the relief help.
If Cespedes would lower his price there’s still a chance. Chances of him doing are low in reality but you never know. I’ve been hearing there’s a chance he’ll consider a short term deal and try out Free Agency again later
¿¡Porqué no los dos!?
Let’s go!!!!
Nice move Sandy! Exactly what we need. Now resign Cespedes. Lol
Keep blowing that money – lol that take you even further from Cesp deal inless you ink him on a two year stretch.= Oh well Ces not important to the Mets Hitting
are we even allowed to say bastardo on here
HA!
+20
Ok, he may have a high walk rate but the rest of his numbers are fairly solid. How to the Mets sign him for so little? Seriously good move by the Mets.
Mets had 2 distinct needs when the day started a reliable reliever and a big bat. Got one now cespedes would make this a great offseason. 4 years 90 million with 2 option years at 18 per year.
Opt out after year 2 and year 4.
Bastardo is decent but 6 million a year is a lot for a middle reliever
The market has changed.
That’s true but Bastardo is not a middle reliever.He’s a set up man who can close in an emergency.
Lol here come the idiots saying we should have signed Cespedes. Great move Sandy, keep it up. Don’t be pressured by the fans who want to overpay for Cespedes.
It is a good signing ESP at 2 years. But Ces is Not going to the Mets. If anything it motivated Wash even more. Wo a long term deal won’t happen.
I predicted the Tigers would get Umpton even if people thought I was crazy w lux cap. But if they paid attention this early winter the owner said he didn’t care about the cap. W Det talent they had no choice but to get out the basement. It be tight w KC now n toss up.
On Ces I had the Astros as my pick no matter what people thought. Det n Umpton was almost a give me. They were about n hour in signing Davis. Though I think it was all a big cat n mouse game between the Os – Davis and Det.
I’m dropping my odds now on the Astros but I still think their high up there. I move Wash up 1 – full out field or not. My odds
W Sox 1-1 even their close n change their stance. They give him that 5 year at 120 w opt after 3 or nut after 4 plus if their serious about comp w KC n Det they have no choice.
Wash -,full or not they may counter the Mets signing. 4 – 1
Astros – just cause they can 10 – 1
Mets 20 – 1 got do better than 2 or 3 years.
You’re crazy if you think the Mets will allow the Nats to sign Cespedes. There will be fan backlash and loss of ticket sales if they let that happen. The Nats rumor was clearly leaked by Roc Nation to force the Mets hand. He wants to go back, the manager, fans and players want him back. Plus, they are still negotiating with his agent. I’d say if it’s a short term deal he goes back to the Mets, long term he ends up in Houston
That doesn’t make any sense. If the Nats offer a way bigger contract than the Mets are willing to offer, there’s nothing the Mets can do to stop Cespedes from going to Wash.
There won’t be a loss of ticket sales if Cespedes go to the Nats. If that actually happened, then good for the Mets because they’re getting rid of all the fanatic bandwagon fans who know nothing about sports. If fans stopped going to games because the team didn’t resign Player X after him spending half a season there, then the fans don’t deserve to go to games, free up those tickets to people who actually want to see the game and appreciate it for what it is.
You think. Watch. I didn’t mean 5 at 120 I meant 5/100 probably get done w opt at 3 or 4. I’ll back to laugh at you when Wash signs him. Crazy no just realistic n smart. Got read outside the box. People said same about me saying Upton to Det. Lmao.
Wash is the team. Then what ur excuse. Stay hidden off the boards lmao
lol. It’s funny you tell other people to “stay hidden” when everything you’ve written has been proven wrong.
You got pretty much everything wrong.
Good job Mets, now go get Cespedes or Cargo and we be set to defend our Tittle.
Wow, too cheap to go $20 mil a year for Cespedes/Upton, but will give $6 mil to a mediocre reliever. No wonder the last Mets championship video is only available on VHS!
Great insight, troll.
…and offer 4/$60m to an aging Zobrist.
Are people seriously comparing a 12m deal to a 120+ deal Cespedes will sign? This signing has absolutely no impact on a Cespedes signing.
Good job Sandy, now go hard after Cespedes or Cargo via trade and We be set to defend the Tittle and go back to WS
As such, he can be deployed as a setup man, regardless of matchup, alongside Addison Reed and Jenrry Mejia.
Mejia is serving a 162 game suspension for getting caught with PED’s twice in the same season. Wont be able to come back until around the trade deadline
Mejia will be back with a couple of months to go in the season which is just enough time to see if he should be included in a playoff roster. Think of the potential bullpen now:
Familia,
Bastardo
Mejia
Reed
Blevins
Wheeler
Colon
I’m very much liking that bullpen come playoff time if that’s how it all shakes out. Still a long ways a way, but now the potential is there for the pitching, all of the pitching, to totally dominate any and every game.
Playoffs? The cheap Wilpon’s let their 2 best hitters go and you think it’s automatic they’re making the playoffs? You have a promising rookie in left field. No one in CF. your RF is a year older and is Home Run or Strike Out. Your 1B is a streaky HR or Strike out. Your 2B is a one year Stop Gap and then he’s a Free Agent. Your new SS is on the decline. Your 3B has seen better days and has health issues with his back. His power is gone. Your catcher is an average ball player who can’t throw anyone out. About the only thing the Mets have is good starting pitching but not even an average Major League hitters behind them. Every other ML team man for man has a better starting 8 behind them! What if 1 or 2 of those pitchers are injured? You can never have enough starting pitching.
The Mets payroll is in the bottom 10% of all small market teams. Why? They sold out all games during their run the last 2 months.
Just accept the fact that the Wilpon’s are never paying anyone! Not any hitter nor are they ever signing any of their young pitchers. Root all you want for the next 3 years. They will all be gone traded for prospects before Free Agency.
MLB should force the Wilpon’s to sell the team as what happened to the Dodgers. Boycott the Mets.
If you’re counting Murphy as the Mets second best hitter, that’s wrong. Granderson, Conforto, Duda, Wright, and d’Arnaud are all potentially better than Murphy, as is Walker.
Also, d’Arnaud was 6th in baseball among catchers for fWAR despite playing in only 67 games. He’s hardly ‘average’.
Mets will b more than fine
So much wrong with this post I’ll just start at the top.
“No one in CF.” Well signing Yo covers that, but even before it, they had a solid Lagares-De Aza platoon in CF. Lagares, even with last year’s down year, has averaged a 2.7 fWAR the last three seasons and has put up some of the gaudiest defensive numbers in a long time with a GG to show for it. De Aza, while he isn’t a “name,” slashed .278/.351/.448 with a 117 wRC+ against RHP last year – formidable numbers for a platoon partner even if his defense is suspect. Now those two are bench players.
“RF a year older and a HR or K.” Other than pointing out how time affects people, it’s quite a simplistic view of a guy who was one of the most valuable players in baseball last year. Sure his K% is high and is known as a power hitter, but he also has elite on base ability (13.3 BB%), is a great clubhouse presence and a very good defender is RF (12 DRS last year with a GG nomination). His 5.1 fWAR was 19th in all of baseball last year. Obviously you can’t expect that again but he’s hardly a concern going into next season.
“1B is a streaky HR or K.” Again, very simplistic view on a valuable player. Like Grandy, Duda is a high K power hitter, but brings a lot to the table. High OBP (12 BB%), good 1B defense (4 DRS) and regarding his streakiness: Duda had ONE MONTH with an OPS under the slightly above average mark of .749; every other month besides those two, he had an OPS of at least .915. If one below league average month constitutes streakiness, what constitutes consistency? I’d love to know. He’s tenth in fWAR among 1B since becoming a full-time starter in 2014. Duda is a very good 1B and has single-handedly carried the Mets offensively at times.
“2B is a stop-gap.” Sure, a stop-gap who is better than the guy he’s replacing (2.8 AVG fWar since 2012 for Walker vs 2.4 for Murph), plays a better all-around game (1 DRS since 2012 for Walker vs -40!!!!!!! for Murph), won’t block the highly touted MI prospects the Mets have (Herrera, Flores, Cecchini, Rosairo etc.), afforded the Mets the chance to profit off of Murph’s departure with a compensatory first rounder, AND gives the Mets a chance to grab another compensatory first rounder next year when he becomes a free agent. They also gave up an average 4/5 starter in Niese and signed one of the best fifth starters in baseball in Colon. So, it was Walker, Colon and two compensatory firsts vs Murph and Niese. You can’t even try to argue the Mets made the wrong call.
“Your new SS is on the decline.” Except for the fact that he’s literally improved the last two seasons after his disaster 2013 season. If you remove that season, his average fWAR since 2011 is 2.5 – which would’ve place him 10th among SS’ last season. Even at his worst, his offense was about league average for a starting SS. Granted, his defense is pretty terrible and he probably won’t recreate his offensive production from 2012 and prior (112+ wRC+ 3 out of 4 seasons), but he was an above average offensive performer last season (104 wRC+) which gives him massive value at the SS position, he’s already said he’s ready to play 3B and 2B when needed hence improving flexibility and depth, and came relatively cheap on a short deal. He’s an average SS, which is a very good thing to have in this league.
I won’t argue about Wright. Last season’s results were a mixed bag and to be honest, I don’t expect a ton from him going forward. His back injury is scary, but you just hope he can cope with it and prove that he’s still valuable. As recent as 2013, he was a star – I’m not holding my breath, but that talent is still there. We’ll see if his body can follow.
“Your catcher is an average ballplayer who can’t throw people out.” .268/.340/.485 with a 131 wRC+ and a 2.3 fWAR (like rct said, 6th among catchers) in MERELY 268 PAs. His offense alone puts him in an elite class, with only Posey putting together better averages. Hell, a 131 wRC+ is elite for any position player, let alone a cather. His pitch framing was fantastic (1.46 +Calls a game – 5th in the league), had 1 passed ball in 570 innings, and was just below average in throwing runners out – 18th among catchers with at least 500 innings with a .674 SB%. So, he may not be great at throwing runners out but he’s great in literally every other facet of the game. Unfamiliarity doesn’t equal mediocrity.
As for the starters, they aren’t good, they’re arguably the best in the league – and if they sustain injuries like you mention, they have Montero, Verrett, Gilmartin, eventually Wheeler/Colon and the minors for further insurance. They’re more than covered when it comes to SP.
Also, how does it feel to eat that crow? With Yo in the fold (with the second highest AAV EVER), the Mets now have a top ten payroll and have arguably the deepest team in the league. Guess that “WILPONZ R CHEEP” narrative can be laid to rest along with your original post. I don’t know whether you’re a troll or just massively uninformed, but literally everything you said is either wrong or an understatement.
Oof, may have gone a little too long on that post huh.
I regret nothing.
The Mets have a top 5 payroll and only let one hitter go – their 7th best hitter – and replaced him with a guy who’s at least as good with the bat. They also netted a draft pick and will probably get another one when Walker walks at the end of 2016.
Jays miss out on another one.
🙁
All the acquisitions the Mets made must have put some pressure on the Nats to do something. Wonder what they’ll do but there aren’t many more options out there. They should try to trade for Cargo if they could.
Who would they trade for CarGo? And where would they play him? Are they just going to sit Werth now? Or platoon CarGo/Werth?