TODAY: Bader’s $10.5MM guarantee breaks down as a $1MM signing bonus and a $9.5MM salary in 2024, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post (X link). Up to $350K in incentive bonuses is also available.
JANUARY 5: The Mets have officially announced that they have signed Bader.
JANUARY 4: The Mets are signing Harrison Bader, reports Andy Martino of SNY. It’s a one-year deal worth approximately $10MM, per Martino. Joel Sherman of The New York Post reports the salary as $10.5MM for the Vayner Sports client.
Bader, 30 in June, is an elite defensive outfielder who has had mixed results as a hitter and has also struggled to stay consistently healthy. Since his debut in 2017, he has racked up 52 Defensive Runs Saved, 68 Outs Above Average and a grade of 46.6 from Ultimate Zone Rating. All three of those figures place him in the top 10 among all outfielders in the league in that time. He’s also stolen 77 bases in 95 tries.
The offensive side of his game is less impressive, however. He’s hit .243/.310/.396 in his career for a wRC+ of 92, indicating he’s been 8% below league average overall. He has been above average at times, posting a wRC+ of 107 in 2018 and a 108 in 2021, but the past two years have been rough. He split 2022 between the Cardinals and Yankees, getting flipped for Jordan Montgomery at the deadline. He finished that year with a batting line of .250/.294/.356 and a wRC+ of just 85. His production fell even further in 2023, as he hit .232/.274/.348 on the year for a wRC+ of 70, going to the Reds late in the year as the Yankees looked to dump salary by putting Bader on waivers.
Health has also been a concern in each of the past three seasons, with Bader getting into 287 games over that stretch, never getting into more than 103 in any of those seasons individually. Those past three seasons have seen him hit the injured list due to a right rib hairline fracture, right foot plantar fasciitis, a left oblique strain, a right hamstring strain and a right groin strain.
The Mets have been planning for 2024 to be a sort of transition year, signing players to modest deals and making other depth moves as new president of baseball operations David Stearns evaluates the organization before likely ramping up aggressiveness next winter. Luis Severino, Joey Wendle, Jorge López, Austin Adams and Michael Tonkin have all joined the roster via one-year pacts, while the club also acquired Adrian Houser and Tyrone Taylor from the Brewers. They have claimed Penn Murfee, Zack Short, Tyler Heineman and Cooper Hummel off waivers and given out a number of minor league deals.
Bader will fit into that strategy while bolstering the outfield mix. His strong defense will allow Brandon Nimmo, whose defensive grades dipped in 2023, to spend a bit more time in a corner. Bader also has notable platoon splits, which could perhaps allow the Mets to deploy him selectively. He has hit .262/.330/.494 against lefties in his career for a wRC+ of 121, but .236/.304/.364 against righties for a wRC+ of 82. Nimmo hits from the left side but also fares well against pitchers of either handedness. DJ Stewart is a lefty hitter who mashes righties and is a poor defender to boot, meaning he and Bader could nicely augment each other’s weaknesses.
The outfield picture now includes Bader, Nimmo, Stewart, Taylor and Starling Marte. Nimmo and Marte have injury histories of their own, so perhaps the Mets will use the designated hitter slot to give out occasional rest days and keep everyone healthy over the course of the season.
MLBTR predicted Bader for a two-year, $20MM deal, perhaps with an opt out that would allow him to return to the open market with a better offensive platform. Instead, he lands a straight one-year pact at roughly the same average annual value. The one-year, $10.5MM framework is the exact same as the deal between Kevin Kiermaier, another glove-first outfielder, and the Blue Jays.
Despite the relatively modest offseason, the Mets are still way into competitive balance tax territory. Roster Resource has their CBT figure at $307MM, north of the fourth and final bracket of $297MM. As a third-time payor, they are set to pay a 110% tax on any spending above that line, meaning they could end up paying over $20MM for one year of Bader’s services. However, the tax payments aren’t calculated until the end of the year. If the Mets don’t find themselves in contention this summer, they could move some salary by trading players such as Pete Alonso or José Quintana and alter their final tax status.
Pillow deal?
He’ll need a pillow to rest on for all the time he’ll be injured.
More seriously, curious how the Mets will use him. He’s among a handful of the best defensive CFers in the game. It’s almost a waste not to have him in center when he plays, yet I don’t see them moving Nimmo. He can hit lefties. Useless against righties. Platoon and late-inning defensive replacement?
Nah, he’ll be in center, Nimmo’ll be in left, and Marte will be in right.
Nimmo isn’t all that in CF. While he has some speed and is ‘decent’ and covering his area, his arm is below average. Sliding him to LF would be best for the team.
Makes more sense. A team signing Bader will need to maximize his greatest strength, which is CF defense. That said, Nimmo is likely still going to play center 30-40 games. Injuries are part of Bader’s game.
Got some news for you, if you think Nimmo’s arm is below average, wait until you see Bader’s…..he won’t be throwing anyone out at the plate for sure…….
I don’t think that’s accurate Rock. See this quote:
He was one of the best defensive center fielders in baseball in 2023, per Baseball Savant. Bader’s range was in the 95th percentile, his arm strength was in the 91st percentile, and he was worth nine Outs Above Average.
Even without injuries, Nimmo will see some time in center for platoon splits. Bader isn’t great against righties so DJ Stewart will get some time in left.
Bader doesn’t have a good arm. But he gets great reads and is fast. He’s nesrly elite defensively. Just gotta stay healthy.
@Joel P
According to Statcast, Bader’s arm strength is 91st percentile, which is top 9% at 91,7 mph.
Maybe he throws hard but it doesn’t go far. Trust me arm is average at best.
Can you post a link to the clip of the throw you’re using to call his arm weak?
I don’t think the laws of physics have any reason to treat his throws any different from other baseball players.
Throwing a ball hard doesn’t mean you necessarily have a good outfield arm. You have to throw it far. And accurately.
Bader has at best an average outfield arm. I watched him for years I promise you this is true.
@Joel P Well, if the eyes have it…
The problem is we count all these things. We measure them in extraordinary detail. Throws are compared with every other throw by every other CFer, especially when those throws are from a 10′ circle around where Bader was standing. We measure the speed of throws, the distance, whether they result in an out, in holding the runner, in letting the runner advance….
Guys on the internet might be better than that, but it’s not more than remotely likely.
Throwing hard and having a good outfield arm are two different things. I am sure if you dig into all those stats you mentioned they show he has an average at best arm.
No dude. You are not sure of that.
You “dig into” all those stats instead of making things up.
Who pays you for your baseball judgments?
Right, and that’s exactly what they’re worth.
I watched Bader play hundreds of games in center. I know he has an average at best arm because I watch and know what I am watching. He’s fast. Takes good routes and gets good jumps. But his arm is not good.
They’ll move nimmo to left
At 10 million he’s starting
He’ll never start against RHP except in emergencies.
He’ll be a starter. McNeil will be at 2B. Taylor will be the bench guy with Stewart at DH. He’ll be playing a lot in non-emergency situations against RHP I’m sure.
Nice signing. He’s Clutch Bader if he could just stay healthy. I miss Monty everyday.
Cheap Padres missed again.
The Mets Fans are going to love
Harrison Bader’s Gold Glove outfield play and his speed on the base paths!!
So brilliant he was worth 0.6 WAR. in 2023!
He stinks!
Have you not seen him play defense?
He’s missed at least one-third of the season each of the last 3 years, so I imagine they haven’t.
Point being most people cant watch more than 1/3rd season of Manfredball?
Aside from the ghost runner, I mostly like the changes: less dead time, more SB.
Everyone can, just don’t live >500 miles from the team you root for or any team they play (MLB.tv) OR make sure you subscribe to your local cable channel ($150/mo.) but hope they’re not 1 of the 12 teams owned by Diamond Sports Group that is staving off bankruptcy like a squatter staves off eviction OR subscribe to ESPN, Apple+, Peacock & Fox and your game is on a weekend or holiday OR attend a game in-person (2023 lowest avg ticket price: MIA ($69) – highest: LAD ($209)) – and do not need to park or eat/drink anything.
That easy!
Bingo! He destroyed the game
I agree with you about the current TV issues (and MLB.TV is also way too expensive to just watch a single team).
But if you just want to go to a game, then you need to look at the much more affordable overall lowest ticket prices for each team (not average or even median prices), and some ballparks let you bring in your own food and drinks within some reasonable limits.
MLB.TV is free if you use T-Mobile as your cell phone provider.
The Atlanta screwjob confirmed his absolute douchery. I still can’t believe he did that.
Just watch the games on a pirate site. Keep your money, Manfred league baseball will survive
The “Manfred Runner” is worse than if they allowed female players.
Happy T-Mobile customer here‼️
Yea truly awful. But one quibble being that women are allowed they just aren’t good enough. Nownof like the rest of society they dropped the meritocracy in favor of quotas then yea we would have a problem
Yeah, don’t shatter the illusion of the patriarchy
Sneaky good signing. I know they already have a CF but Nimmo can move around, and having a defensive CF as good as Bader on the bench is an excellent thing. Also he’s hit in various stretches in his career when healthy.
Worth a shot
Great defender, pretty lackluster hitter. Career OPS+ of 92, 2023 OPS+ of 69.
When healthy? When has he ever been healthy? 7 seasons in the majors, yet he’s never reached 380 AB in a season.
There were various other reasons for his lack of ABs earlier in his career. Only in the last three years has he had significant injury problems.
That’s doesn’t prove what you think it proves. I’d be more curious to hear the actual proof
Fine, I’ll go into detail:
2017: Didn’t make his MLB debut until July
2018: Didn’t become a starter until mid-May.
2019: Lost significant playing time due to his worst offensive season (not counting his half year as a roookie) until 2023
2020: Only a 60-game season (and only 58 for Bader and the Cardinals)
@ top jimmy
You should be looking at Plate Appearances, not just AB’s. ABs don’t includes BB’s, Sacrifices, HBP’s. Baders had 3 seasons of 400+ P.A’s.
It’s insane to have a bench player earning $10m. But I guess that’s the world we live in.
I wonder if the Padres are regretting giving up Grisham’s $4m now.
Well, he’s a short-side platoon player at worst and has the potential to be a full time starter again.
He really, really doesn’t.
Arent the yanks are about to have 32M bench player in Stanton? Unless he has a massive come back i think Judge and Soto will probably rotate dh and of especially when dominguez comes back. How far he has fallen is insane.
Roll in this case the difference is signing someone To play off the bench and another that was just a bad signing that they end up on the bench
“It’s insane to have a bench player earning $10m.”
Doesnt make that distinction in the post but regardless,
Bader is most likely going to be a starting OF as long as he is healthy. Most depth chart predictions are showing it that way right now. Can change obviously.
The Mauricio injury pretty much put McNeil as the 2nd baseman. Stewart is a solid hitter but not the greatest defender and will more regularly be your DH unless Vientos goes off as he is another batter without a real position. Marte is injury prone and honestly even if he comes back healthy i dont see him being that productive and might end up the 4th OF instead of Taylor.
This also depends on how soon they want to bring the kids up to the big show which i cant see them up til after the all star break barring injuries.
Marte is one of the better players of his generation, why wouldn’t he be any good?
@Raymond
You pretty much said it
Marte is one of the better players of HIS generation, While i think he was a good player this also isnt his generation anymore. If it was, they would be signing guys like Eric Hosmer, Elvis Andrus and Wil Myers. He is at that age where declines really start hitting them especially for players that are more reliant on legs (think jose reyes who was a better player) Also he is coming off an injury and even before the injury this past season, He slowly has been missing more and more games every season.
Also i said productive not bad, With the youngsters coming up and probably getting regular play halfway through the season and taylor not even arb eligible i can see marte losing playing time.. No play = not productive.
@Roll McNeil was always going to be the 2Bman in 2024. Mauricio was headed for 3B. McNeil loses substantial value if he’s moved to LF, given his bat probably won’t play there.
“Bader is most likely going to be a starting OF as long as he is healthy.”
—–Since Bader won’t be healthy more than 1/2 time, if that, he’s a part-time player. The Mets should pace him. They probably won’t.
The idea that Reyes was better doesn’t hold water.
They’re similar, given the positional difference. Even their WAR is less than half a win apart, for example.
Fast, good not great fielders, Marte the better hitter, Reyes hit well for a SS. Even their HR are just two apart. Reye lasted longer, Marte was more valuable per game.
Michael A. Taylor is a better player than Bader, and never earned that much. He is still a free agent too. Earned $4.5M tops.
Can he pitch? Because he can’t hit.
He can do the other baseball tasks exceptionally well.
Why?
Because the Mets have no MLB ready outfield depth
Taylor, Stewart, nimmo, Marte, McNeil.
Makes some sense. But $10m for a bench defensive replacement?
Inflation amirite
+Wendle
Stewart is a DH who can “play” LF. Nimmo and Marte will start at the corners and Taylor will rotate between the 3 OF spots. This move keeps them from having to use McNeil in the OF and keeps him at 2B
It does.
I guess the alternative was Trayce Thompson.
You joke but Thompson could still find himself on the Mets roster if other moves aren’t made
Maybe.
I’m coming around to Bader the more I think about it. 80 ops+ over 120 games is doable. Makes the team better for the reasons you mention.
20+ million. Makes little sense to me.
Still haven’t got over the gold standard Flagstaff?
Gold still buys what it always bought. Dollars on the other hand not so much. Just the facts
Not sure you follow Mets prospects. #2 Prospect Gilbert was very good in AA last year. Will start in AAA this year and get the call up sometime this year. Starting RF in 2025.
Nice player, really good outfielder, just stay healthy and keep that darn mouthpiece IN YOUR MOUTH. He drove me crazy with that thing.
I’m not condemning him as a human being, but that mouthpiece business is annoying and unwatchable
Same with Baty’s spit-soaked chewing gum hanging off his lip. Don’t these guys have parents?
What value is he trying to rebuild?.
.He’s always been the same excellent defender who’s seemingly always injured. Bader will likely be playing on 1 year contracts for the rest of his career.
His defense and his 2023 60~ OPS+ is a late inning defensive sub on most teams.
His defense and his career 93 OPS is a starting CF on many/most teams.
If he wants to have a future in baseball beyond this year he needs to start hitting and stay healthy
At 30, its a little late to “learn how to hit” don’t you think?
And its pretty much a guarantee that one of the next times he stretches out to rob a double in the gap, he’ll miss the next 20 games…..and that speed…..hammy city baby….misses 30 games…..
He also needs to learn how to run out ground balls. This guy is right down there with Robinson Cano and Anthony Rendon.
@Gomez Toth my screenname and a mile from the Big A 🙁
I don’t care if it’s with the Mets, I’m just happy something actually happened.
Every time a signing is announced, someone complains there haven’t been enough signings. Cue up the Alanis Morissette song.
What kind of world are we living in? This guy is hitting .161 for a team, is released, doesn’t play another game in the season and signs a 10.5M deal in the off-season?
Seriously, it’s mind boggling.
@horaceallen,
No it isn’t. That .161 BA came in 31 BA’s with the Reds. In career context, inconsequential.
A free market where demand for certain skills exceeds the supply.
The main reason not to expand.
@avenger that’s silly reasoning. It actually shows how profitable mlb teams are and points to why baseball should expand. According to economic studies there’s plenty of US cities that could handle a MLB team, and couple Canadians ones too.
MLB is expanding no matter what you think about it because mlb owners are greedy. They can sell a new franchise at $1 billion plus and the new owners would be profitable within a decade.
Your comment shows you know nothing about baseball or business
I know they have a shortage of healthy decent starting pitchers.
The main reason not to expand is that players might earn more money? Talk about a numbskull,
@Baron It is a free market where some owners have so much money that they can choose to prioritize building a fantasy team in real life over making the profits they otherwise could by investing in bonds (5% or so).
@degrom
Every owner can afford that. Your rangers did exactly that and weren’t considered a traditional big baseball market.
Can and should are different things. I can spend all my money on lottery tickets. Should I?
I’m from NY buddy, sarcasm is the language spoken there. Was I even talking to u? Why is it impossible to see who is responding to who here
Lol. You a bit simple?
You are too smooth and simple to understand sarcasm.
“What kind of world”…We’re living in a inflationary world, have you been to the supermarket recently?
lol mlb inflation is definitely real. This guy would’ve received a minor league deal with a ST invite 3 years ago.
Which is exactly what Jake Marisnick received two weeks ago, and they are essentially the same player. WAY TO GO METS! You did a great job competing against yourselves.
And he would have been out of Baseball 30 years ago. Times change and the need for depth is at critical mass in the day and age of max effort, botching routine plays so they look like spectacular plays that usually results in injuries, and PED’s (with the amount of freak injuries in the game it would be naive to believe they aren’t still a factor, just better masking agents nowadays)
No doubt, but this is a massive overpay for a guy who wouldn’t have received $2m anywhere else. This is just par for the course for the new Mets. How much are they paying Verlander and Scherzer to pitch in other places?
And that is a much larger issue than Bader getting 3×’s more money than anyone expected. Cohen treating the Mets like an NBA team and going all in just to do a 180 and divest because he learned you can’t buy a championship in todays game and paying $100 million dollar tax bill to boot is a bigger problem
“Bader getting 3×’s more money than anyone expected. ”
Actually, the writers on this site had Bader pegged for 2 years/20 million so he got roughly what was expected by yearly rate.
paying $100 million dollar tax bill
==============================
I’ve never seen anything like this. In the George days, folks use to make fun of the number of guys the NYY would eat money on.
The old NYY pale in comparison to the Cohens. If you go to their COTs page for 2023, there are 16 names there, getting paid, and not on the team. The total is maybe $144M, and that is in addition to the $100M CBT hit.
I know right? jeez guys do some research. The site your commenting on had him @2 20M. The Mets got him cheap.
Buff Bagwell?? Marcus Alexander??
MLBTR actually predicted he’d get MORE than he got from the Mets, with the site guessing a 2yr/20M deal. They also made a solid case why he’s earned this much, using JBJ and Margot deals as comps.
JBJ hit .203 in 2022 with elite defense, and still got a 2 year, 24m deal. Margot, meanwhile, signed for 2/19 in 2022 after hitting .254.
Bader, by comparison, hit .232 for the year with similarly elite defense. Frankly, if anyone is going to be making the money that an MLB team earns, it should be the players (frankly i’d love to see the Minor players get a lot more, but they’re separate entities, technically)
Your timelines are waayy off, the crew signed jbj in the 20-21 offseason and traded him to the red Sox before the ‘22 season for renfroe, if he’d signed a two year deal after the ‘22 season as u suggested he’d still have a year left on the thing so idk exactly what you’re saying or trying to suggest other than other clubs overpay so might as well overpay
Why, no, I have not been to the supermarket recently.
Thank you for asking.
Why not? McDonald’s meals now costing almost $20.
The $20 menu
@deGrom/Kershaw: In other words, a free market. Plain and simple.
The rest is just noise.
Yes I have and I could not believe how many buy 1 one /get one ‘s were in Publix. DE-flation!
lol if you think a store offering a BOGO is deflation, you are the moron in every room.
Cost of living is very high in NY city
He couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat in his brief Reds stay.
Neither could Renfroe…and it was a hitters ballpark.
I wonder what that makes Vogelbach worth….
My beer league softball team reached out to him.
His weight in tacos.
Vogelbach will get a minor league invite to spring training somewhere or he could end up feasting on KBO pitching
@Reds2024,
Your timeline is inaccurate. Yankees put him on waivers. He hit .240 for them, 21 extra base hits and 20 steals. Reds claimed him on August 31st. He played in 14 games with the Reds, 31 AB’s, hit .161.
He’s lifetime .243 hitter and superb defensive player, with very strong arm and terrific speed.
Man I love that picture
My fellow Met fans. It’s going to be a bad season.
Yeah, most likely sub-.500 again. Let’s go 2025 or 2026…
Once again, it is NOT March 28,
Yeah, the Mets are on the verge of contending, and just spent $30m for 2024 on Severino, Houser, and Bader because they’re getting ready for a big splurge.
40% of the league makes the playoffs and anything can happen henceforth.
69 OPS+.
$10 million.
Make it make sense.
They are signing him for his defense, speed, and because they need more OFs. They don’t want to have to call up Gilbert and Acuna earlier than necessary. Spend more now to save money down the road.
Feels like they could have just waited him out and signed him for about half that.
The biggest disciple of the Jim Edmunds school of defense – be solid, but stop and dive when you can to make the play look better. No question the Mets could use him now, but they could have waited until he hit the clearance aisle. No matter what his agent was telling the Mets, there’s no way any other team had an offer close to this on the table.
@PiratesPundit51: You have no idea what offers other teams did or did not offer.
Tyrone Taylor has played in 300 major league games in the OF and has never made an error. Bader covers more ground but Taylor is no slouch either, is a better hitter, and only will cost around $2 million.
Agree 100%. Bader has a little bit of “brand” behind him; casual fans get very glued up on the name of the free agent versus his actual ability. The Mets could sign 10 bargain players who appreciably make the team better, but the fans would revolt if those players didn’t add up to one Yankees’ overpay.
No one has recently accused the Mets of spending wisely, and combined with the team’s seemingly endless bad injury luck – it could be a longer season in Queens than it will be for my Pirates.
Errors don’t take into account range. You can’t get an error on a ball you don’t get to.
And Taylor has a CANNON..
@alex o
Its not like the choice was Bader or no-one. Did Chicago beat them to Phillips?
j_t
“69 OPS+.
$10 million.
Make it make sense.”
It already makes sense
I can try to help you understand it
$10 million a year is less than what an average free agent makes.
Bader’s production is likely to be average or better if he were to play a full season.
Judging a player just based off offense, and just based off last year’s offense is not representative of a knowledgeable fan
Bader is not a good player. If 10 mil is the rate for an established player who isn’t good but fairly stable in his skillsets then fine. But this is just another reason I don’t support Manfredball with my money anymore
RF
“Blah blah blah”
Sorry that Manfred isn’t doing a good enough job hording wealth for the owners for you
Huh? Couldn’t care less about Manfred or the owners. I care about baseball def not Manfredball. They all bludgeon the fan
@Raymond
Mets wouldn’t have spent all that money if they didn’t see a lot of value in him as player and what they seek for the team.
They’ve put emphasis on run prevention. Speed and defense, including strong arm are part of that formula.
Speed and athleticism is also valuable on offense.
RF
“Huh? Couldn’t care less about Manfred or the owners. I care about baseball def not Manfredball. They all bludgeon the fan”
What [on earth] are you talking about?
Remember in like middle school when you had to write a paragraph that had a topic sentence with supporting details? Maybe try and summon that level of knowledge and skill instead of the typical sports fan hot taek level you are demonstrating here
@Raymond Flagstaff: “They all bludgeon the fan.”
Then don’t be a fan and you can’t be “bludgeoned,” whatever that even means.
And on the way out, don’t let the door hit ya where nature split ya.
Lmao I’ll do me thanks for your concern. And the meaning is clear, no skin off my back if you can’t understand what I mean
Sorry you have a hard time understanding things, but you obviously seem upset so I’ll let it slide
Yes it is. And many teams were blindsided by Manfredball last year suddenly enabling base stealers and wearing out pitchers
MLBTR
Can we please get the mute button fixed
Posters like RF here don’t add anything to the site
Great. What about Turner and Martinez for a bit of power?
Turner would be perfect!!
377194: That’s the problem with Cohen’s plan. He’s planning on contending in ’25, but if a player like Martinez or Turner are available now, grab them. They might not be around in ’25.
Right. They might be retired by then.
Absolutely! Let’s block DH for Vientos and Baty b/c it’s the only spot where either is likely to succeed.
The Quest for 76 Wins Must Go On!
@JackStrawb if they break 70 I will be surprised as a long time Mets fan. I say trade Alonso now since he will be 30 when they are asked to pay the BIG Borass money. Alonso only hits bad teams with bad pitching. Get a young starter and reliever now.
I actually like this pickup in perspective.
Agreed. I see Alonso’s situation as similar to that of Albert Pujols when the Cardinals let him walk, except that Pujols was a better all-around hitter than Alonso.
We all saw the albatross that contract became for the Angels.
Pujols was also several years older than he reported and on steroids
RE RF
“Pujols was also several years older than he reported and on steroids”
Come on MLBTR, let’s get that mute button back up and working
Obviously he was not 17 when he entered the US. My guess would be 19 or 20.
His late career tail off tho was consistent with having played clean. Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens suspiciously never had a similar late career tail off.
Lol yea clearly you’re delusional
Is it too soon to discuss firing Stearns?
That’s not fair at all. The Mets have been very forthright about targeting 2025/2026. You had to expect 1 year deals for 2024 to give the prospects time to develop.
#FIRESTEVECOHEN
Yes and the fact that Mets fans are seriously discussing it is sort of how things got the way they are.
#FIRESTEARNSANDALSOPREEMPTIVELYFIREHISREPLACEMENT
I’m all for it. Bottom line someone new will be here in 4 years trying to unwind his mess. The guy did nothing in Milwaukee. Mediocrity. Yet for some reason the pro Mets media are making like he is some world renowned baseball mind.
Someone new? Sorry, I don’t think he’ll be able to undo that mess in 2 months so we’ll have to fire him, too.
What’s your plan now?
Maybe they like his name
@showman: Yes, and it’s also too late to delete your idiotic comment.
Wow. It’s just money, and it’s not my money, and I like Bader, but $10m for one year is insane.
It’s interesting especially in light of the Jays signing Kevin Kiermaier last week to the same 1 year $10.5 million (although KK also has some unspecified incentives in his contract)
Kevin’s got a slightly more effective bat, but overall they’re pretty similar players (CF, great glove, injury history, weak-ish bat)
Plus he’s getting paid in loonies.
No.
But maybe a slight discount for familiarity and desire to return?
lol
When I first read the headline, thought it said Hader and I was like phew glad the Phils didn’t sign him. Well after wiping the sleep out of my eyes, realized my error.
Still am gad the Phis didn’t sign THIS guy either….
Why? A waste of money for a team that sucks.
Who the fack gives 24 million to Luis Severino and Harrison Bader after the years they had? How did they even get major league deals
The Mets, and only the Mets.
showman: Everything’s more expensive in New York.
Then they should have saved their money…
Who extends Chris sale for 2 years and increases his salary from this year?
His salary went down, not up. He was making $27.5 this year (including 10 million deferred) and had a $20 million club option for next. Now he’s making $38 million over two years without the deferment. Plus Atlanta added an additional option year.
Good move. As usual no leaks by NYM front office. More comin. Stearns in kitchen
Correct. The negative morons knocking every move that Stearns has made haven’t a clue, Let’s what this team looks like on opening day not on Jan. 4.
He did somehow turn half a year of a below average Eduardo Escobar into Taylor and Houser.
It’s not negativity. Some of us Met fans are more realistic about the situation than others. It’s a baseball team not a cult. It’s perfectly fine to be objective about the team you root for. We all have opinions of our own.An example of negativity would be spewing insults over the internet for no apparent reason.
“Realistic” is very subjective.
Not when you look at the past signings and overall results of a team in the biggest sports market that hasn’t won a WS in 38 years.Depends on how you look at it. Hopefully Stearns will succeed where several GMs have failed.
Its literally the most figuratively thing they could have done. Realistically, that is.
@MrMet1979: Then wait more than three months before screaming for him to be fired.
Realistically mets are in contention. Manfredball is approaching half the teams making the playoffs. It’s more of a crapshoot than ever. Not a lotnofnpoint following too closely just September and October if you won the DL crapshoot and your opponents did not
Cashman has been doing the same ever since his contrived public meltdown interview.
I’m so glad that Chris Young can’t mess up now and offer him that deal. Every unnecessary free agent who signs for another team is somehow a sign of relief, given how little I trust this man’s decision-making.
Definitely understand the sign of relief sentiment. But I’m genuinely curious, how has Young done poorly? Was this Rangers squad mostly built by someone else? Actually wondering, not trolling or trash talking.
Jon Daniels drafted Evan Carter and Josh Jung. He also traded Gallo for Duran, Smith, Otto, and Hauver, along with Lynn for Dunning, traded for Lowe, traded Andrus and others for Heim, signed Seager, and made the Tex trade that allowed him to deal Andrus. Matt Bush was also his guy. CY is good for signing deGrom and Eovaldi, though Heaney, Martin Perez, and Mahle made little sense. He also lucked out big time with little BP help. No team has ever made the playoffs with more blown saves than saves. Texas got Will Smith, Chapman, and Stratton from the end of 2022. The BP now is LeClerc, Yates (noth FA after the year), Burke, and some minor league guys plus Sborz and NRIs. I don’t like the allocation of resources. Also, trades can help. Duran and White could have helped more as trade pieces for Bednar or an elite closer. Reply the playoffs, and 99 out of 100 scenarios don’t get you a ring with that BP.
*Replay, not reply
Totally agree, thanks for sharing. As soon as they made the playoffs my first thought was “no way they win it with that pen.” Definitely gonna need a bit of help for a repeat.
Incredible for a really subpar player. Cardinal fan and seen how he is. Great defensively but only spurts of offense.
He’s a great 4th outfielder. If he was on a team like the Yankees, with so much production in the corners, he could pass as an everyday centerfielder, though he won’t get through a whole season without getting injured. And he’ll give you a couple of streaks where he hits lights-out for a couple weeks. But under no circumstances is he worth $10m unless you’re a desperate, desperate team.
Now do Barrison Hader
Mets OF Bader, Nimmo & Marte:
Most likely to incur an injury by 4-15-24.
You’re being generous assuming they’ll survive spring training and two weeks of the regular season without an injury.
Bader is a much better player than you realize. His defense is off the charts, and unlike a lot of CFers he has a strong, accurate throwing arm. His speed on the basepaths is underrated. His SB percentage is excellent, and he is daring given the chance. Plus he has good power for a CFer. Can he stay healthy? Not sure, but it has been plantar facility that has derailed him recently, and once that subsides there are no lingering concerns. Mets are lucky to have him.
So, he’s Jake Marisnick, except Marisnick has a dWAR that is 3 runs higher than Bader.
Hey Spud….have you actually watched him play….he does not have a “strong accurate arm”….his defensive speed allows him to be in a position to challenge baserunners when they are considering moving up or taking an extra base but after watching him with the Yankees, all the hype is just that…hype……he’s constantly hurt, can’t use his speed anywhere when he’s hurt, and if you think Giancarlo pulls hammy’s running to first wait until you see the same from Bader…….don’t count on the power either, as he’s pretty streaky at the plate and the power he showed with the Yankees in the playoffs was an outlier…..amazing how ML teams seem to over-value these top 5 CF’ers who have elite speed which supposedly prevents runs…..of course most if not all couldn’t hit water if they fell out of a boat so all that run prevention is kind of negated by being an automatic out in the offensive lineup……
Asking me if I have watched Bader play is foolish. As Cardinal fan, I have seen him plenty. And you are incorrect about his arm. Is it a cannon? No but it is very good, due in part to his mechanics. Somebody, even before Edmonds help taught him how. Of course the Yankee post-season heroics are an outlier. But his instincs are awesome, both in the outfield and on the basepaths. He plays hard, maybe too hard for his own good, but which would you rather have? To suggest he is “soft”, is criminal.
Kinda of shocked by this signing, Bader is one hamstring pull a year player, 10mil what are the Mets looking for in this signing. Are they looking for insurance toward Nimmo if so, I think they could have waited till a week before ST to sign him. They will be lucky to get maybe 65% of Bader the other 35% when he is on the DL. Now I wonder why he did not sign with the Giants, I wonder what the haggle was over him not signing with the Giants, it could not be money, and he probably would have started for Giants in CF, instead of being a fourth outfielder for the Mets. Only settling for a 1yr deal for 10mil something tells me this is a trade deadline move signing by the Mets.
I think that Cohen really tries to add another rebuild year. Last year when he realized he couldn’t compete he sold off at the deadline and I think he tries to continue that path this year. Guys like severino and Bader are guys where you hope for a modest bounce back to flip them at the deadline.I don’t expect any big free agents by the Mets, Cohen will sign a few more flip candidates and then really blow it up at the deadline.
I think that he wants to attack again in 2025 and build the best possible farm system for that.
I do think he would have loved to get yoshinobu because he fits the timeline of 2025-2030 well considering his age but he won’t sign free agents that will be primarily good in 2024-2025 and then start to decline.
I think this really has become a longer term effort to reach the top.
Won’t have to move far, plus he’s a hometown kid of sorts. Happy for Harrison.
I have a hard time understanding this. You could trade a nobody for Myles Straw, pay less and get Cleveland to throw in some money. Both great defenders in CF. Bader can hit a little better than Straw, but not much. Straw won’t drive you nuts with his mouth guard….just his slumps where he goes 1 – 40.
I would have gone for an offense first outfeilder as that is what we need. Joc Pederson was out there and so was Adam Duvall ,Teoscar Hernandez, Eddie Rosario.
Budget was $10MM. Not signing any of those for that range, and Duvall is the only one that can fake it in CF.
Glad Hoyer didn’t sign him, although I’m sure he probably kicked the tires on him because of his defensive value. 10 million is a bit much considering his health issues and his bat cratered by the end of 2023.
Everybody is acting all shocked about Bader getting $10 million dollars like they haven’t been watching the market all off-season and seeing all the money that’s being thrown around.
Justin Turner next to the Mets?
Hope not for Justin Turner. That’s like spending a year in Guantanamo Bay.
That’s a letdown.
Cohen spends too much money. This is something new? He just has to scratch that spending itch.
That said, Bader can play defense, run the bases, and has shown brief streaks of competence with the bat. So he’s not the worst addition the Mets could have made. But it’s still a pretty ridiculous overpay, which is what Cohen specializes in. Let’s all just get used to this kind of stuff from the Mets.
Oh, I’ll toss in my usual comment about there being no such thing as a bad one-year contract. At least Bader won’t be chewing up payroll for three or four years. The Mets can always try to flip him at the deadline if (or when) they fall out of contention, minimizing the dollar hit even more.
MLBTR had Bader getting a two-year contract at $10 mill per year. The Mets are only on the hook for about half of that rather generous (ridiculous?) prediction.
For the NYM, its more than double that due to the Cohen tax of 110%. Bader may only be getting his $10mm, but Mets paying over $20mm.
Still need a Home Run hitting DH
1 penny paid up front, $10,499,999.99 deferred until the expansion of the sun.
It’s barely been a few weeks and these deferment jokes are already really tired. Get some new material.
It’s been a few weeks since they became tired.
Talented, perhaps a bit overrated, very fragile. He’s that guy that teams will continue to give opportunities to in hopes that he’ll have that “one season” where it all comes together.
As a Cardinal fan, I waited to see it happen but he never panned out fully. Maybe some team will catch lightning in a bottle with him, but wouldn’t hold my breath Mets fans. Good luck though.
if by some miracle he stays healthy he will qualify for the “player most likely to be flipped at the trading deadline” competition
The article doesn’t even mention he’s from NY, bad journalism! Lol.
“As a third-time payor, they are set to pay a 110% tax on any spending above that line, meaning they could end up paying over $20MM for one year of Bader’s services.”
——
Sigh. That type of math could be applied to any player comprising the entire payroll. It’s deceptive.
My worry is they are going to pay the tax this year because there’s no way to get below the first tier, but they’ll look to reset next season (side note: goodbye Polar Bear), so they’re not realistically going to be competitive until 2026. I hope I’m wrong and Steve Cohen really doesn’t care about money, but he’s a businessman and the path they’re on just isn’t sustainable.
@flyingblindsquirrel The Mets can sign Alonso and still get under the threshold in 2025. (They absolutely shouldn’t, but that’s another issue.) Check out [roster resource, mets payroll] for future seasons. They’ll have about $70m worth of room under the $241m threshold for 2025—and you can bet they’ll be getting under it.
The penalties for multiple years of paying LT penalties are just too brutal and will affect spending in the years when they’re hoping the farm will have matured (2026, but more probably 2027). You start losing important draft picks or having them dropped down far enough to matter.
This is the high cost of Cohen playing GM for three years. He thought it was just a matter of spending money—not how that money was being spent.
They better hope for a huge hometown discount and/or a willingness from Pete to be on a noncompetitive team for at least another year. $70MM minus Pete’s salary isn’t enough to do very much in a division with Atlanta and Philly.
there were ways to get under the CBT this year not likely but realistically possible.
Trade Alonso (20M),
group Marte and Baty in a trade and hope the upside of baty will help take a lot of marte contract (15-20M)
mid season trade away any decent person going to free agency (Quintana, Raley, Houser and hope for a comeback for Omar and/or Severino) (20-25M)
roughly that is the 60M they are over. before the bader deal. to squeeze another 10 i cant see where they could do that without harming 2025.
Penn Murfee is on the Braves, not the Mets roster.
Too bad, I was hoping Twins would sign either Keirmeier or Bader as our backup CF to Buxton. They could have played a corner spot when Buck is in center and would lessen the blow from trading Kepler for SP.. But of course, Twins miss out again. By the time they start trying to sign people there will be no one left worthwhile:(
I had predicted Kiermaier to the Twins, especially after making the comment that he wanted to play on a grass field. Weird that he decided to return to the Blue Jays
Makes sense. Bill James wrote ‘most of what we think of as good pitching is in fact is good defense.’ What Stearns is looking to do is to ‘improve’ the Mets weak starting pitching and frightening bullpen by putting a defense behind it that lets their guys pitch to contact, throw strikes, get outs. An OF of Bader in CF, Taylor in RF, and Nimmo in LF is a very, very good defensive OF.
Granted you can only play Bader against LHP and as a defensive replacement, but the Mets needed another OFer who can take some starts and who they won’t have to pay in 2025 as they make certain they can get under the LT threshold that year.
The trade to St. Louis made little sense then and still makes no sense. Both New York teams overvalue(d) him.
He’s a good player he’s just had injury problems recently.
So we are back to the Wilpon days? Smh
Wow, we’re going for it now, don’t sign Bellinger or even Duvall, but sign someone that can’t stay healthy for $10 mil, I.m sure they could’ve offered him $5 and he would’ve taken it lol. I guess they’re going after all the $30-$40 mil free agents in 2025.
jvent
“I.m sure they could’ve offered him $5 and he would’ve taken it lol. ”
What’s that quote?
The problem with the world is that the smart people are full of doubt and the idiots are cool of confidence
Something like that
That 5-homer playoffs for the Yanks in 2022 is a great memory though…
One thing is for sure. Bader will give 100% on every single play. I always liked that about him.
There are idjits on other sites claiming that the Mets are now projected to win 83 games.
I’m sure Cohen and Stearns are scraping the bottom of the bottom barrel because they just don’t realize these Mets are on the verge of making the postseason. /s
Solid signing. CF with speed and defense. Always a good addition
The Mets must have overvalued him based on how badly the Yanks were willing to get hosed by sending Montgomery for him.
Thank goodness I was worried the padres were going to waste 10m on this weak hitting center fielder
Hmmmm…so if Starling Marte is healthy and Bader is healthy, the Mets will have their best two defensive CFs playing the corner OF spots and their worst defensive CF (who’s more of a corner OF) playing in CF. Interesting.
Also of note, based on what the Mets will be paying Bader, and what they will be paying for Wendle, I wonder if they do any due diligence and intel to find out what other teams are willing to pay for players they are signing. It’s one thing when you can outspend everyone, but why pay far above the price for guys when all you have to do is beat the competition? I’m pretty sure no other team came close to what the Mets will be paying for Bader. We already know they gave Wendle far more than he would’ve gotten elsewhere.
Isn’t Wendle getting 2.5M/1?
Yep. An overpay considering that no team was going to pay that. I think it’s also a raise from last year. And the topping on the cake is that it was a guaranteed MLB contract signed in November when he would’ve still been available in February for a MiLB deal and an invite to Spring Training.
That’s not a proof. Simply saying no one was gonna pay that is false, someone did. Offering the highest value contract cannot be a proof it is an overpay
Oh trust me, no one was going to pay that. Even many Mets fans conceded that when it happened.
Your appeal to the wisdom of mets fans is silly, nor did you address my point
Placing your worst outfielder in center, if he is now slow footed is certainly not the worst idea, especially in modern baseball with advanced positioning metrics
I’m at a loss for words.
Doesn’t surprise me
Should read, Not slow footed
$10 million is a little steep for him.
10 million for a guy who’s really a 4th or 5th outfielder with an elite glove and on the wrong side of the platoon split. And not a great one at that.
It’ good to be him. And I say that as a Cardinals fan who loved him. But he’s not a 500 AB guy. He’s not really even an 300 AB guy at this point.
I like this signing, he has real potential here and helps he’s from NewYork. His speed on the bases will be a great plus, a very decent ball player that works and plays hard. He’s been a thorn in our side in the past and am glad he’s on our side now.
Didn’t help him as a Yankee much.
Harrison Babe Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Y’all contort yourselves so hard to make your estimate less wrong – just suck it up.
Been a lifelong Mets fan(58) but mlb/mets won’t get another cent from me.This is ridiculous
FCA
“This is ridiculous”
What is?
This was the first signing that I’ve liked from Dollar-Tree Stearns. Why not have a team option on the contract though? 1 year, not good enough
Can you imagine signing Nimmo to all that money as a good CF, having his defense get worse in year one, and now they are going to semi-platoon him? LOLMETS
Sb:
Nope .
Can’t imagine!
Semi platoon nimmo? Um no
He turns 30 on June 3. You look at his numbers and all you can say is “under-performer.” The Mets are welcome to him.
He is not an under-performer, he is just not that good. More likely he has over performed with the bat several times, which is probably why he got a decent deal
The jays need at least a RHH 4th OF who hammers LHP but can play 100 games in the grass if needed and a DH. Bader, duvall, Grossman would all fit there well im not sold on Soler or JDM as FA JD is slowing down and Soler flip flops good amd bad years but maybe more protection he would have in the jays line up would either give him better pitches to hit or the guy after him. I really really want Nick Castellanos and Eloy Jeminez would be a nice runner up. Both have 3 yrs of control eloy with options valued 15-17 and nick at 3/60. I still think the jays could get nick and have the philly send 12-15m with him
You think Bader will play 100 games????? Not likely!!
Mets will battle the Nats for the basement and Alonso will walk at the end of the season.
They better trade him before he walks.
Obviously. Mac is a little slow
Unlikely, but i guess that’s what the internet is for, saying unlikely things with no accountability
@Mac Attack Agree so why not trade Alonso NOW???
Every team in MLB dodged a bullet on Bader except of course the Mutz.
Dodged a 1 year 10 million dollar bullet? Wow that’s silly
Yeah. $10 million AAV is the going rate for a decent fourth outfielder. I would take the under on Bader playing 100 games, but if he has a healthy season it will be a good signing for the Mets and Bader will be in line to get more dollars and years next winter.
Wait didn’t he get inducted into the Yankees HOF
Ok just more as i dont know how this works for a 1 year deal.
If 1M is signing bonus and 9.5 is regular pay does it really matter for baseball purposes or is this more how the player is paid personally?
Prediction:
Batting Average: 0.243
On-Base Percentage: 0.275
Home Runs: 17
Walks: 44
Seems like a lot of money to spend on mediocracy, especially given the glut of OFs in Free Agency but the Mets ownership has lots of money to waste so why not?
This is the player the Yankees got over Jordan Montgomery. Then hes released and claimed off waivers. That team doesn’t resign him either. Must be a new Dork thing. Montgomery is lights out in the playoffs and gets a ws ring.
Mets also sign LHP
Sean Manea to a 2-year contract.
The Mets are adding a lot of mediocre depth. Seems that they try to follow the dipoto 54% playbook:) and hope for a wild card.
Right now fangraphs depth charts has them projected for 84 wins so they are still behind 54% (87 wins) but they could get there with some more minor moves.
I don’t hate it really either (I’m not a Mets fan so it is easy to say of course), if everything goes right they could win 90 and make the playoffs but when it goes wrong and they are on pace to win 78 they could also flip some of those 1-2 year reclamation projects at the deadline for more prospects.
It seems like Cohen tries to follow a long term plan and build a more sustainable way so that path could work out decently.
Of course as a Mets fan you would hope that the success comes quicker but I think really you want a team that can be good every year and while the Mets farm system has improved it still needs to get better.
A big issue of course will be the young players hitting their ceiling or at least their 50th percentile outcome. Apart from Alvarez the young guys coming up last year have been quite disappointing, especially baty and vientos.
They need some of those guys to step up a little.