In perhaps the least surprising “upset” of all-time, Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers became Super Bowl Champions last night. With the NFL season wrapped, we’re that much closer to baseball season. Here’s the latest from around the game…
- Mets Team President Sandy Alderson has never gotten as far along in negotiations with a free agent as he was with Trevor Bauer without consummating a deal, writes Joel Sherman of the New York Post. Simply put: the Mets thought Bauer would be a New York Met. No term sheet was signed, however, and Bauer signed instead with the Dodgers. It was a tough few hours for the Mets, who went from believing they’d added the best free agent pitcher on the market one minute to not only losing Bauer, but seeing Marcell Ozuna re-sign with their division rival, all in the span of a few hours. On the one hand, the Mets would seem to have $40MM burning a whole in their pocket, leaving room for another significant addition. At the same time, there’s not another top free agent available that would warrant close to that kind of financial commitment.
- MLB checked on the status of KBO free agent Yang Hyeon-jon, per Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News (via Twitter). Basically, Yoo explains, this means that there’s at least one team that has expressed interest in signing Yang. Looking ahead to his age-33 season, Yang has spent his entire career with the Kia Tigers of the KBO. The southpaw had a bit of a down year in 2020, 5.17 ERA across 172 1/3 innings with a 20.0 percent strikeout rate and 8.6 percent walk rate. With a 3.83 career ERA across 14 seasons, Yang could certainly be viewed as a rotation candidate, though he has made 101 career appearances out of the pen as well.
Who could the Mets trade for? They have that $40M they’re sitting on.
And who would they be willing to give up?
They can have Matt Carpenter.
You can’t buy a winning team in baseball, but you can buy a contender!
Seems inevitable that they’ll spend that money on absorbing KB’s contract from the Cubs.
Most likely.
Plz go ahead and do it, just throw in something decent and I’ll take it. I still see KB eventually being moved or leaving in f/a. But I see Rizzo and javy signing long term. New story out today has Jed talking about wanting to talk extensions when spring training starts.
Would only be worth it on their end if they targeted Hendricks also.
Mauricio and Baty is a fair deal for that.
Why do fans think just because a team is willing to spend 40 million on a certain player that they have 40 million to spend? Just because they were in on Bauer doesn’t mean they weren’t going to look to move other salary in trades. Usually it’s not a simple 2+2= 4. That’s why teams don’t like letting their interest in players go public. Gets the simpletons setting unrealistic expectations.
Because Steve Cohen said he was not adverse to losing money for the first two years in particular. But I do think he wishes to stay under the luxury tax cap.
I’d look for the Mets to stand pat for now, possibly add a FA on a one-year deal, and leave room to trade for an impact player during the season once teams start selling off assets
First name I thought of was Bryant. Trying to think of any other big contracts for good players that are on the trade block and am coming up short.
Trade Gsellman Nimmo Davis minor prospect(s) to Reds for RHP Castillo, 3B Suarez, win WS.
Is that what you did in The Show?
People are going to think this was me watch.
The Reds are looking for prospects, and loosing Nimmo is not the way to go. Instead trade Bridell who is a AAA starting pitcher, trade single A guy Matt Sengar who is a highly regarded single A catching prospect with both a good defensive and offensive prospective, trade soon to be AA 3B prospect Mark Vientos. The Mets have Baty who is a better fielder at 3B with a much better arm, and he is nowhere near as slow as Vientos is however Vientos is projected to mash about 40 homers per year. Baty will smack some homers too but he is also projected to hit a much higher average, and he can field well unlike Vientos.. I think these prospects might get the deal done for a Eugenio Suarez trade
You can have AJ Pollock.
Nope. Plus he has a no trade clause so he will refuse to be traded to the Mets, and he is no longer the player he once was. No thanks.
Sign Paxton cuz even if he only gives you 2 months of good pitching the Mets should hopefully be getting Syndergaard back by the end of May. The Mets should trade for Eugenio Suarez for 3B, and send the Reds Davis, Vientos, and Bridell for him. Unfortunately turtle slow Sandy is not going to jump on this as turtles just don’t jump. Cohen is gonna need to push this trade through otherwise the Mets are going to be stuck with Davis at 3B which will be a defensive nightmare for the Mets infield. If they get Suarez they can handle Almora, Jr. being the starting CF with Heredia as the backup.
Mets could sign Paxton. If healthy, an upgrade over Matz. Syndergaard will be a boost when he returns. Couldn’t hurt to add another LH starter in the rotation.
Matz isn’t even on the Mets anymore, but I understand your meaning.
Von that’s the point. Paxton would be an upgrade over Matz from the start of last season. Plus add Stroman. It lengthens the rotation, especially with Syndergaard returning later in the season. I mentioned Matz as the baseline for what they had last season.
I’m a Jays fan. I’m aware of Matz and where he is.
Paxton is the guy with TOR potential. Before NY he was a top guy. If the Mets were going to bet on a bounce back, he is the guy.
The Big Maple could even outputch Bauer next year if he’s healthy. That’s a big IF for him and you’ll only get 150 innings, if you’re lucky. But he’d be an excellent gamble as long as there isn’t a serious health issue.
RIP Pedro Gomez. Very sad. Too young to go. Condolences to his family and friends. A loss for the baseball world.
First of all RIP Pedro Gomez, but I feel like since the Jared Porter situation no one has signed with the Mets. Unless you count small people like Almora who are looking for a job. If they lose Bradley I feel Mets fan will be mad. I do think they are even with Nats rn but if they can swing a SP like Paxton they should be fine.
Lol you don’t think they are even with Nats??? Lol most people have us ahead of the Nats.
He actually said they are even with the nats.
It’s hard to pivot away from offering $40M a year to Bauer (average pitcher who had a good last few years) while deGrom (the best in the game) is making less and Conforto, Lindor and Thor all still have to be signed to extensions. I say extend at least two of them with some of the that money, Maybe negotiate another year onto deGrom’s contract in good faith. The roster is fine as is.
The $40M the Mets are “sitting on” is not a real number. They appeared willing to go over the fake luxury tax threshold to sign Bauer. However, there is clearly no other player or player(s) worth that amount of money. This does leave them room to upgrade the fringes of the roster. Probably another SP, bullpen arm. Unless some unknown trade materializes the Mets will remain significantly under the tax.
lol $40M burning a hole in your pocket.
The Mets are not going to regret missing out on Bauer. This guy has only had two stellar seasons out of six. One of them was in a 60 game, bizarre COVID 19 season. The Mets did not miss out on Roy Halladay here. Bauer’s contract doesn’t come close to matching performance. The Mets can strike at the trade deadline and have money to burn. As a Phillies fan, I can’t stand the Mets but they dodged a bullet on this one.
I agree Bauer is extremely overrated and did not “deserve” the money he got (relative to other players) but as this article points out, and the same with the Dodgers, Yankees, ect, money is not an issue. Who cares if he is an average pitcher, they dont care if it costs $40M, there is no cap. and even the soft cap is so high that 90% of teams don’t get close. So from a Met/Dodger/Yankee fan perspective, you always want the best FA no matter the cost as there is no downside. The league needs a high salary floor and a hard cap. If teams dont want to pay the floor, sell the team.
There is a big downside if you end up stuck in mediocrity with a bunch of expensive, aging players with no trade value. I’m a Giants fan, so I’ve seen it first hand. Even if ownership wanted to go over the tax, signing 1 or 2 big names isn’t going to be enough to compete with the Dodgers and Padres. It makes sense to spend big once you have a young, cheap, controllable core in place.
Why do you say that Bauer didn’t deserve the money? Baseball has a free market where worth is determined by how much a club will pay for a player. That is not to say that I would have paid that much for Bauer but the Dodgers felt comfortable paying him.
I specified relative to other players. Obviously he is worth what someone will pay, but objectively if you look at other players stats and contracts he didn’t “deserve” $42M a year. Good for him though, the perfect storm of FA conditions for him. Coming off a Cy Young in a 1/3 season (small sample size), 2 big market teams driving up the price to sign him, the only “top of the rotation” FA, ect.
Dude..no one could touch Bauer. Ask the Braves in the playoffs.
His spin rate is too much for hitters.
Bauer to Dodgers is BIG.
I feel like mhsaltz said the same thing with different words in four different sentences in this post.
“On the one hand, the Mets would seem to have $40MM burning a whole in their pocket.”
I think you mean HOLE. 🙂
He meant whole as in an entire pocket. lol
Mets would be wise to just save that money and use it to attack the next offseason. Overpaying to scoop up what’s left on the market would be a very bad idea even if they have the money to do it. It was still a productive offseason and this team should be improved.
They traded Matz to open up a spot for Bauer, and lost it all. I see Bauer winning against the Mets every time, and Matz doing very well now in Tor. The Mets are already licking their wounds and spring training hasn’t even begun. Gonna be a frustrating season of reminders of what could have been.
Mets LH bats are going to destroy Bauer when they see him. He is an overrated pitcher who capitalized on a weak market of hurlers. He would’ve been the 3rd best pitcher on the Mets(Degrom, Carrasco) as he is on the Dodgers (Kershaw and Buehler). Let’s stop acting like they lost out on Bob Gibson or Jim Palmer.
The Mets traded Matz because they brought in cheaper back of the rotation arms with minor league options (not to mention the AAA depth he brought back). I won’t say that the deal was totally unrelated to the negotiations with Bauer, but I doubt that it was the primary or only reason.
And if Matz doesn’t get annihilated in the AL East, I’ll eat my sock.
Get those socks ready bro.
It ain’t over until you wave that bloody sheet to the townspeople from your balcony.
WSox(esp)
Mano- how many people do you even expect to understand your metaphor and imagery?
Ideally only one or two, but I am hoping they find it very funny. I just couldn’t help but chuckle when I read the word “consummating.”
My favorites are the various uses of homonyms, but I won’t call it out directly
Bauer’s a goofball!!
The Mets will be applauding themselves for dodging a self inflicted bullet at year’s end.
They will be applauding themselves for being turned down?
Bauer to LA makes them the sure fire favorites to win 21 WS. And after they win it w Bauer as their ace destroying his competition, like he did Braves last year, you will still be hating and refuse to admit u were ever wrong
Bauer is not their ace, Kershaw is. Buehler is also better.
Buehler is better than kershaw and Bauer is better than buehler. Game 1 of first playoff series they’ll run Bauer out there and there’s no doubt about it. Except in the mind of every Bauer hater that comes to this site.
He will also lead team in playoff innings pitched, be hands down their best playoff pitcher. And y’all will still never admit ur wrong while hating the whole time
This will be true …if Bauer is able to continue the “gription” experiment
Have to agree with bot here.
Bauer
Buehler
Kershaw
Could Bauer be better than Buehler and Kershaw in 2021 ? Sure. Has he been better so far ? No. Is he a good pitcher? Yep. Would I rank him ahead of Buehler right now? Nope.
You got it!
Pine tar and rosin he’s ahead of the curve how else did his spin rate magically go major uptick
In no universe is Bauer better than Kershaw. Lol saying people are “hating”. We’re evaluating according to statistics, observation and logic but ok.
Bauer looked good in his only game in 2020 vs. ATL (Game 1) with 12 K in 7.2 IP, and ATL won that game. (Hat tip, Fried). He had a great year, but it was 11 starts. Seriously, let’s see how he looks after a full season and 30 starts with guys getting some looks at him.
Check out his last 11 starts against weak teams except for the Braves and maybe the Cubs. He is the Connor mcgregor of mlb and look where has that hype gotten him? A career 3.9 era I don’t care what they say about late boomers, he has a proven history to be a volatile hot mess! Asking for a record breaking 40mm?!?! Come on, he would ruin the club chemistr! Don’t we rather have Bryant’s 20mm, Bradley jrs 8mm and Paxton’s 10mm aav than one Trevor bend over !!?!?!?
Bauer was smart to be open to a shorter deal. No team was going to look at his entire body of work and give him a Cole type of contract. Way too risky and he’s been way too mediocre.
But for 2-3 years? Much easier to roll the dice on that, especially since you just need to look at your books for the near future to see if you can make the financial commitment.
It also ensures the Dodgers won’t have to deal with his ego and social media narcissism for more than two seasons, maybe only for one.
Still had a really good DRA which is adjusted for opponents faced.
I’d like Turner & Odorizzi
It’s a sham that the nfl gifted the game to Brady because he would have won given KC offensive line injuries. It would be more meaningful if the refs didn’t call penalties on uncatchable balls and then we could have appreciated Brady’s greatness even more. But the nfl had their agenda. Two weeks ago they called NOTHING only to change their mind and suddenly toss the flags all over the field. I just want complete robot officiating in everything. That’s my single biggest gripe with professional sports, the Russian judges still have too much sway (if you get my drift).
Lol. If the balls were uncatchable then why were the chiefs grabbing them? That’s just gifting the other team free yardage. Either they were catchable or their defense is full of idiots.
I’ve seen a lot of bad NFL officiating, but those calls yesterday were legit.
You’re missing my point. It’s about inconsistency in officiating. There have been Super Bowls where defenders have committed heinous fouls with no flag. What gives? It’s annoying. Yes, the officiating was fine but that’s not my point.
This is a baseball thread. Base. Ball.
I’m talking about officiating. They have that in baseball but it’s called umpiring. My point is to end the bogus inconsistency that impacts outcomes of games. Drives me crazy. I just want the calls RIGHT. All of them. If it takes robots then let’s have them.
The nba is essentially unwatchable because of the officiating. And I love basketball. The game is dead for me.
You’re not a fan of hardwood soccer?
I agree with you about getting calls right. Framing shouldn’t have to be a thing. Replay is a decent step in the right direction, but I’d like to see the plays that can be reviewed expanded until they can figure out an automated system.
There are some umpires that are just awful at their job. And while I”m sure there are plenty that are also very good, they tend to be less memorable because they don’t screw up the game.
The NBA is unwatchable period, but I do agree that the officiating makes it worse. People can and do argue about who the NBA GOAT is, but I think a more concerning issue is that the current version of the NBA is like watching paint dry.
The Mets would be wise to take this week to work on extending Lindor. He has said he won’t negotiate an extension during the season (which was the case in CLE), and if they don’t lock him up now they’ll have to bring him back from the FA market next winter.
Mets are going to need that cash if they want to retain Conforto, Lindor, Stroman, and Thor. And let’s not forget that Cano will be back next year with his $18M hit (I believe it’s 18). CF and 3B is what they need – and more so defensively.
This is really unusual. The Mets always get their man when it comes to horrendous contract signings. I’m shocked.
Rich Hill to Mets, 3/130.
130K? LOL
Outrageous prediction, Señor Pale Hose!
Oh sorry, I can see why you thought I was nuts; I forgot to include the opt-outs in that contract so he can test the market again if he so desires.
The Mets like many other teams need to build up a good minor league system so they can trade for top talent. This is the best way to get top talent at a good price. Even better than that they need to keep bringing up great players like the Polar Bear at a cheap price. The free agent market is the worst way to build a team, but it is the quickest way. Great teams add free agents to try and put them over the top. Adding Lindor might do the trick, we will have to wait and see. The other additions not so much.
Still plenty of arms available. It’s not like the Mets don’t already have an ace and a very good number 2. Perhaps Sandy should give Friedman a call, I’m sure the Dodgers are listening on David Price
Now they will probably overpay for JBJ to make themselves feel better.
Nope. He wants multiple years and a significant contract. He would be platooning with Nimmo anyway, so they decided a flier on Almora made more sense.
Sounds like Bauer gave the Mets some blueballs.
I hope this is the last Mets-Bauer related post. He’s not worth what they offered. It’s a good… no great thing that we didn’t sign him.
I thought modern analytics was about maximizing the wins per dollar ratio. At $40MM, he needs to have a sub 1.00 ERA and go 25-0 to make his contract make sense.
Just because someone keeps publicly repeating how great he is, doesn’t make him great. Doesn’t matter if you say your the best free agent pitcher since Gerrett Cole or the best president since Abe Lincoln. The evidence says otherwise.
You can be a ~5 fWAR pitcher without a sub 1.00 ERA.
Bauer’s never had an ERA below 4.00 in a season when he’s started more than 27 games.
2018…..28 starts 2.21 era…not that it matters. Not everyone arrives at the same rate. Hey has been good 2 out of last 3 seasons… with the third being split between two teams(24 starts with Cleveland and era under 4). But some clowns want to hold what he did when he was still learning against him now. He has consistently gotten better, that’s all you can ask of a player.
Hoping the Pirates are in on Yang. They could use an innings eater in the backend of the pen plus he’s been one of KBO’s top 10-15 starters since 2014.
Ok now with the SB over and done (hat tip GOAT) let’s enjoy baseball.
I’m really enjoying the salty fans complaining about not getting Bauer after almost dancing in the streets thinking he was coming.
Gentlemen and the smattering of ladies reading – let’s lol at the Mets new first world problems. Poor Metsies didn’t get a $40M player. Boo hoo. Four months ago you had owners who shouldn’t have been managing a Popcorn Stand.
Enjoy the ride, root hard for what ever team they field and buy lots of tickets once Citi Field is open
Didn’t want him. Go back and look at my comments on any post connecting him to the Mets.
Burning a “whole” in their pocket?
Some other things Mets could do with that money:
A. Maybe engineer a trade for a quality centerfielder on a big contract: Kevin Kiermaier or Lorenzo Cain, perhaps.
B. Maybe sit on it until the trade deadline and see if there are some teams willing to part with an expiring contract for the stretch run.. If Mets are in the race and Houston’s out of it, perhaps a Verlander or a Greinke? Or Kevin Gausman from the Giants? Sonny Gray from the Reds?
C. Bank it in one of Cohen’s hedge funds and use the money next year to extend Lindor, Conforto and/or renegotiate/extend deGrom’s contract.
Maybe some from Column A, some from Column B, some from Column C.
Verlander’s out for the season with TJ surgery.
Trading for Lorenzo Cain, maybe if the return isn’t that high. Trading for Kiermaier would be pointless because of his $11 million dollar salary (which the Mets would probably have to pay all of) and the fact that he will also cost prospect capital. If going that route just sign JBJ as all he will cost is money. Same caliber defense and Kiermaier is probably the one “regular” Center Fielder who is worse with the bat than JBJ
RSox- play hardball with Ray’s for KK. They want to dump him in the worst way. Get a read on JBJ for 2 years – Y / N and if relevant ‘how much?’. Say 2 / $16M (I wouldn’t pay that in NYM situation.
I’d offer 1 /$8). Then approach Rays with two offers:
– KK and $10M for a NYM #15 – 19 prospect.
– KK and less cash for something the NYM actually want in a prospect trade. NYM could add other prospects too, but end of the day they ‘win’ the trade from the prospect viewpoint to help rebuild their farm system.
Bauer is a very good pitcher but not worth 40 mm. He feasted on AAAA batters from the weak central divisions that skewed his numbers. Mets are better off moving on to Paxton to replace the underperforming Matz and using their resources to solidify their upcoming and potential fa’s.
@think it thru He pitched well against his two toughest opponents in 2020. White Sox and Braves in the playoffs. White Sox #8 in OPS, Braves #1 in OPS. His line against the Braves: 7 2/3 innings pitched, 2 hits, 0 ERs, 0 BBs, 12 Ks. The way he was throwing the ball I don’t think it would have much mattered who he was facing. He was dealing. Are the NL Central/AL Central weak hitting or very good pitching? I think a bit simplistic to categorize either way. Five of the top ten pitching teams (based on SIERA) were either from the NL or AL Central, including the top 3, Cleveland, Milwaukee and Cincinnati. Lastly, Bauer has pitched home games in two hitting friendly ballparks, and now he goes to a pitching friendly ballpark. He will also connect with Driveline buddy Rob Hill with the Dodgers. I think he’s poised for a stellar year as a Dodger.
But but superior spin rate…
Can and Bryant,
Pitching is set.
I’m not that upset about Bauer.
It was an overpay.
They can shift gears and sign Odorizzi, whom I thought they would sign in the first place and add a few more pieces (another RP and OF) without breaking the bank.
I heard Edny Chavez is willing to be a non-roster invitee
They could extend Bobby Bonilla…
How about signing Cespedes also?
Unless babe ruth ,hank aaron or john holmes comes back from the dead, then the mets dont need another big bat.
True but they could use another starter. That back end is a bit weak
Bring back porcello
Nah. They can do better than that
A lot of things can and probably will happen between now and spring training. I believe the Mets will sign two more starting pitchers to fill out AAA along with at least one more proven closer-capable bullpen arm and a catcher. I think they’ll make a final 2 year offer with an option for Bradley.