Here are the latest rumblings from Citi Field, courtesy of Mike Puma of the New York Post…
- The recent talks between the Mets and Pirates about Andrew McCutchen may have actually been more focused around Josh Harrison, who has long been cited as a Mets target for their hole at second base. According to Puma, the Mets would’ve taken on the salaries of McCutchen ($14.75MM) and Harrison ($10MM in 2018, plus club options in 2019-20), preferring to give Pittsburgh salary relief rather than to deal prospects from New York’s thin farm system. Of course, the Mets have payroll restrictions of their own, which is why Juan Lagares (owed $15.5MM in 2018-19) would “almost certainly” have been going back to the Pirates in such a deal to help balance out the salaries. In my view, this trade doesn’t make much sense for the Pirates unless the Mets added significant minor league talent — Harrison and McCutchen are both quality trade chips for the Bucs, not mere salary dump candidates. A source tells Puma that a trade between the Mets and Pirates continues to remain unlikely.
- As for other second base options beyond Harrison, “Howie Kendrick is viewed by the Mets as a potential fit” due to his positional versatility and his reputation as a clubhouse leader. The Blue Jays and, potentially, the Nationals have been the only other teams linked to Kendrick this winter; interestingly, reports from a month ago indicated that the Mets weren’t interested in Kendrick, though obviously plans can change over the course of offseason business. Injuries limited Kendrick to 91 games and 344 PA last season, though the veteran was very productive (.315/.368/.475) when he was on the field for the Phillies and Nationals. Kendrick has seen much more time as an outfielder than as a second baseman over the last two years, though the Mets could deploy him all over the diamond rather than in a strict everyday role at the keystone.
There’s no way the pirates are just going to dump Harrison or cutch to shed salary. No way.
I agree completely. No way does Pitt trade them to dump salary. No logic there. If they get traded it’s for players and should be for a solid return
I sure hope not otherwise it’ll be similar to the Ramirez dump of 2003 I think. The 2 favorites of the fans….Cutch and JHay.
Harrison’s contract isn’t going to be easy to move and except decent prospects back also. If the team takes on his full 10M next year it most likely will be a one year rental. If they pickup both options you’re looking at 3yr/30M for a guy who frankly isn’t worth that entering ages 30-33 of the deal.
$10 million a year for an All Star who plays 4 positions followed by two team friendly club options.
His contract is the selling point.
It was a joke he was an all star this year. .272/16/47 are all star numbers? The NL has very few relevant 2B’s which is why he made it. As a Brewers fan he reminds me a lot of Hernan Perez. Perez is even better offensively and I would laugh at him getting 3yr/30M. Not to mention Harrison is past his prime at this point.
It’s almost as if batting average, home runs, and RBIs aren’t the best stats to judge a player’s worth
(and you definitely are a Brewers fan if you think Hernan Perez is better than Harrison, and a homer of a Brewers fan at that)
The better states say the same thing. 102 wRC+, 0.0 UZR/150 at 2b (1.5 in career), 2.6 war in 2015, and 5.2 over the last 3 years.
He’s not a salary dump, but unless he improves, he doesn’t offer a lot of surplus value.
Speaking of a selling point, fans wonder where is “metseventually”? This obstinate Mets fan used an older identity, mets2015NLchamps2016WSchamps.
He disappeared during the hot stove and was seen wearing ice skates in a flushing Meadow Park.
As a Pirates fan, this is Pittsburgh we are talking about here. I don’t put it past Nutting to insist a trade to save money.
I stopped saying “no way” based on dealing Walker for Neise then returning him (essentially NW for nothing) and Liriano, McGuire #9 prospect, Ramirez #8 prospect for Drew Hutchison who we released. Huntington is horrible!!!!
Hey now be fair … it didn’t say Harrison OR McCutchen … it said Harrison AND McCutchen haha lol …
Once again the Mets think they can get something for nothing. What a pathetic organization the Mets are.
Hey Chas…great assessment. They are cheap and dumb. Not willing to spend, their minor league is bare. Pathetic does sum it up
“this trade doesn’t make much sense for the Pirates”
Pure fiction pulled from the rear hole of Mike Puma who doesn’t have the backbone to address the real problem: FRED WILPON
I do feel bad for Mets fans. Their ownership group does not appear to have the resources to run a MLB franchise. Depriving the NL of a great market.
Why do you think Fred Wilpon lacks money? Wilpon is looting the NYC market. The Mets revenues are top-of-the-charts. Wilpon is thief stealing over $100 million every year with the permission of his fellow MLB crime families.
Casey … Im a Braves fan myself … don’t follow the Mets a lot … but I do know from most of what I read and and hear not many people say good things about the Wilpons … my question for you … Have they considered selling the team to try to cash in or would they not get enough to dig themselves out of the Madoff hole?
My second question … since you say every owner and team is as guilty as he is … while I agree that prices for tickets and concessions could come down a bit … the way you talk about baseball and all owners in general … do you think they should be a charity and let fans in free and eat and drink free also? They do need to make money to keep their business and teams running man …. not all owners are like Wilpon and none of them are remotely bad enough to be compared to the mob … Wilpon included
The Wilpons have vehemently refused to sell the Mets, the same as Frank McCourt refused to sell the Dodgers, but whereas MLB went to court to remove McCourt – who made the playoffs four of his eight years as Dodgers owner and left them with one of the best farm systems in MLB – the other 29 MLB crime families have been fully onboard with the Wilpons remaining as owners of the Mets.
Clearly this is how MLB wants the Mets to be run. MLB would not want Ted Turner back as owner of the Braves, they love how Liberty Media loots the Atlanta market.
The N.L. Least. Weakest division in MLB by design. Not a small market in the division. Miami is the 16th largest media market. New York and Philly…..same as New York and Boston in that other East division.
MLB is a racketeering operation. The entire enterprise should be Federally charged under the RICO statues. Read them. Fits MLB to a tee.
John Gotti and Sammy Gravano would have been “stand up” MLB owners.
After seeing what the Marins just sold for, how could the NY Mets not fetch more?
McCourt had to sell dodgers because of a divorce , right?
It is the profits he collected during the Madoff sham that need now to be paid back per settlement with the government. I believe that those payments begin this year.
NO.
The real question is why McCourt was sold the Dodgers and Dodger stadium (parking lot Dodger stadium sits on is worth two billion dollars) by FOX (who broadcast their games in L.A.) for just $400 million.
What does Madoff have to do with the Mets and MLB? Donald Trump offered to buy the Mets in a New York Times article. There would have been bidders around the block to buy them but MLB does not want someone else running the Mets, especially a Trump or Mark Cuban.
MLB is 30 crime families running a giant skim operation.
Agreed. The media portrayed them as victims of Madoff. When they were really accomplices. MLB has made a bad decision to allow team in the top market to be a savings account for billionaire. Miami is the only other city of customers MLB has treated as poorly.
Fred Wilpon refuses to sell the team, but refuses to run the Mets like a big market team. Meanwhile he’s financing a new arena for the New York Islanders in Belmont Long Island. The Islanders are moving out of the Barkley’s Arena in Brooklyn. Meanwhile the Mets have so many holes to fill in their roster. Where is the commissioner? What a joke he is.
The Wilpons are in with the Dolans, and I don’t believe it is 50-50. The wilpons are now all about paying in the future. Read the article from ESPN nearly 3 years ago about how long they will be paying Bobby Bonilla. Sickening!!!! He is not the only one. Whatever Lola wants, Lola Gets !!!!!
Hey Rule 5, I agree with you to the extent that both the Dolans and Wilpon’s are crazy owners.
However at least Jamie will put his money where his mouth is; where the only place that Mutt and Jeff put their money is in Dodger memorabilia.
It might have been the largest front office mistake with Phil Jackson’s hiring and renewal; however Phil made more in one year than as Sandy and his predecessors have made in 10 years.
Rob Manfred is The Godfather. His job is to mediate between the 30 crime families and keep the peace.
The Wilpon’s are financing the new Belmont arena so they have another place to display their Dodgers memorabilia. They ran out of space at Chitifield and so it is logical to finance another construction project rather than invest in their mlb franchise.
“TC” has been put in charge of the arena interior design. Most people don’t realize that the “Silver Skater” was quite a proficient defenseman in his youth. In a recent interview with Joel Sherman Collins attributed his ability to handle the team and press to his skill with the stick to deflect the puck”.
McCutchen with just 1 year of team control and owed $14.5MM with a 2.5 bWAR in 2017. It may be asking a lot of teams looking for an outfielder to pay both that salary and give up top prospects. After all this isn’t the McCutchen of his mid 20’s.
14.5 million is an entirely reasonable salary for McCutchen. There’s no point in trading him for any reason other than to get prospects back. Besides, the Pirates are in no need to simply shed salary. They are close to their payroll limit perhaps but not near the point where they need to dump contracts.
The question is, is McCutchen worth $14.5MM plus quality prospects for 1 year? Keeping McCutchen in my view doesn’t seem like an option. The Pirates aren’t going to win anything this year so why hold on to him and risk getting nothing but a draft pick next winter when he’s a FA.
Eaton was traded last winter for 3 good prospects because he had 3 or 4 more controllable years at half of what mcCutchen ‘s 14 mil per one more year. One year of control and his age certainly affects his market or lack of one
He’s not gonna bring back multiple top prospects ! He needs to be moved to a corner OF spot
No he’s not. He’s a rental. You’ll get 1 top 100 prospect.
Unless the team trading for him feels confident they can lock him up long term. Then you might see a 2 top 100 return. Otherwise a 1 yr rental will get you 1 top 100 and a 2 average prospects
Agree, one top 100 prospect plus another one or two decent prospects is probably all gets at this point.
$14.5m for McCuthen isn’t bad at all. QO is higher than that.
If it were just a matter of salary you’re right but the Pirates also are looking for quality prospects. That increases the cost to some teams beyond what they believe is acceptable, IMO.
Not if they have a need. It’s not like they are looking to trade him to a team to be a 4th outfielder. Cutch is an everyday player who is worth his salary and prospects. Everyone over values prospects. You say the price of Cutch and prospects is high, I could argue that giving up Cutch and gambling the return pays off is a high price.
You could argue giving up Cutch in the last year of his deal for salary relief and a few prospects is a high price? Come on man. Cutch is a .280-25-85 guy at this point in his career and he’s almost 31. So you’re telling me the pirates should sit on him and get nothing back? Any return prospects wise they get is an upgrade over letting him walk for nothing. Smaller market clubs like Pit can’t afford to let guys like Cutch walk with no return. They should’ve traded him last year in July.
He’s only worth “what somebody is willing to pay”…. that’s the bottom line.
Sure teams overvalue prospects probably just as much as teams overvalue veterans they are trying to move.
Exactly. If my memory serves me the Pirates wanted to move him last year without success now they would like to this year. We’ll see what some team thinks he’s worth.
I think every team (and every fan of a team) will overvalue “What They Already Have”….and undervalue “what’s coming in”. That’s just human nature, I think….mostly because we know more about our own prospects than we do about the others.
If 1 WAR is worth about $10 million, then Cutch at 2.5 WAR for 14.5 million has about $10 million in excess value.
So many 2nd baseman available. Why would you trade for one?
Only decent ones I can think of are Walker and Kendrick.
Kendrick is more of a bench player now, so he would fit in well because everyone on the mets are bench players on a decent team.
how so? he missed time with injuries but when he was healthy he was solid. he could definitely start.
Agreed. And They operate with a 39 man roster because they have to keep David Wright active to collect his injury insurance money.
Mets don’t need a clubhouse leader, they need a second baseman who isn’t years past his prime. If the Mets don’t take their roster seriously, they’re going to lose the prime years of their cheap, affordable stars (de Grom, Thor…).
Hello Padam-you are on the right track though you need to follow your thinking a bit further. The Mets owners don’t take the team seriously. DeGrom and Thor are playing the arbitration game and milking cheap Wilpon’s for everything that they can get as compensation for being banished to a team that is otherwise hopeless.
Mike Puma must think Neal Huntingdon is as dumb as the people in DK’s comment section do.
Just go with Cecchini at 2B. The creme rises to the top. Cecchini is the most talented option.
Probably correct. Just not sexy enough for the New York press.
The deal the mets should be calling about is to the marlins! Getting yelich with castro, since they want to shed that contract. It fills immediate holes with upgrades. Maybe that is to much money coming in for the wilpons, which sucks! But id be willing to deal a high prospect or two to get it done. Something like:
Mets get: yelich and castro
Marlins get: lagares, dom smith, and 2 lower level lottery tickets that fit their new timeline
Thoughts?
Hey 322…interesting ideas, HOWEVER:
Nobody wants Lagares and Don Smith. Jeter ‘s no dope and would rather play low level prospects than over hyped low producing Mets players.
Castro does not want to play for the Mets. Not sure if you understand that veterans with something left in the tank don’t want to waste their careers in Flushing.
However you are right that Wilpon’s are cheap and that it sucks to be a mets fan.
Here are a couple of positive solutions for your historical dilemma:
-refuse to buy tickets for spring training and the regular season..
-do not buy any Mets’ gear either. Make the players aware that they are guilty by being associated with the Mets.
-watch every other channel EXCEPT SNY. By not watching the ratings will plummet.
Tell everyone that you know about this three step plan to eliminate the Wilpon’s. By embarrassing them and hitting Mutt and Jeff in their Dodgers memorabilia pocket you are forcing them to sell.
FYI-this is a proven winning strategy; dodger fans used it to get rid of Frank McCourt.
Pirates trade: McCutchen and Harrison
Mets trade: Lagares, Dom Smith, Checcini and Justin Dunn
I feel this trade is fair…Mets get Cutch for a yr and Harrison to fill utility infield needs
Pirates get a top 5 defensive cf’er and 2 just about ready prospects and a wild card in Dunn…who has #2 starter potential or set up/closer depending how they want to deploy Dunn
Pirates fans please give me some feed back
Do you feel this is enough?
Or just a McCutchen for Lagares and the pirates choice of 1 of the three said prospects
Not really a fair deal. Mets’ players offered are not proven. Too much downside risk taking Chinese menu of Wilpon cheap players.
Oh please!!! All of this is just more Mets smoke so they can appear as if they are actually trying to do something. They are not going to take on any salary even if it was Babe Ruth. As far as Kendrick’s is concerned the reason they are not interested is because he would cost money. Although I agree with them on Kendrick’s they are not interested for the wrong reason.