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Michael Conforto To Reject Qualifying Offer

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Free agent outfielder Michael Conforto will reject the Mets’ $18.4MM qualifying offer and explore the free agent market, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN (Twitter link). Should he sign elsewhere, the Mets would be entitled to draft pick compensation.

Conforto is coming off a down platform year, leading some fans to suggest he could accept the QO in hopes of re-testing free agency next winter off a better showing. Anthony DiComo of MLB.com reported in mid-September that the Mets expected Conforto to reject the offer even in spite of his atypically poor numbers, though, so today’s development comes as little surprise.

Heading into the 2021 season, Conforto looked to be one of the top position players in this year’s class. From 2019-20, he’d hit .274/.376/.499, numbers that were 35 percentage points above the league average by measure of wRC+. That placed him in the top twenty qualified hitters, seemingly making Conforto a candidate to exceed nine figures with a typical platform year.

2021 was anything but typical, though, as Conforto slumped to a .232/.344/.384 line with just 14 home runs across 479 plate appearances. Those were his worst results since 2016, but they came with a career-low 21.7% strikeout rate and batted ball numbers not too dissimilar from his marks of years past. Entering his age-29 season, Conforto looks to be a prime bounceback target for suitors, and Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports his representatives at the Boras Corporation have already heard from upwards of twelve teams during the early stages of free agency. Depending on his priority, Conforto could still look to land a solid multi-year deal and lock in some long-term security or try to top the qualifying offer value on a one-year deal with designs on hitting the market again after 2022.

Teams who sign a qualified free agent will have to surrender at least one draft pick, and potentially some international bonus pool money depending on their status as revenue-sharing recipients or whether or not they exceeded the luxury tax threshold. Last month, MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes broke down which picks each team would forfeit in so doing. As a team who neither exceeded the luxury tax threshold nor received revenue sharing in 2021, New York will receive a compensatory pick after Competitive Balance Round B (typically around 70-75 overall) in next year’s amateur draft were Conforto to sign elsewhere.

Pedro Feliciano Passes Away

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Former major league reliever Pedro Feliciano passed away last night, according to Eduardo Pérez of ESPN. He was 45 years old. The Mets, with whom Feliciano spent his entire major league career, released the following statement:

“The Mets are so saddened to hear of the loss to their family today. Pedro Feliciano will be remembered as a beloved member of the Mets organization for his impact as a great teammate as well as his reputation as one of the most competitive, durable and reliable relievers during his time in Queens. Our thoughts and prayers are with the entire Feliciano family. Rest in peace, Pedro.”

Feliciano appeared in parts of nine big league seasons from 2002-13. He led the major leagues in pitching appearances each season between 2008-10, serving as a situational option who was particularly effective against same-handed hitters. Over 383 2/3 career innings, he pitched to a 3.33 ERA, including four separate seasons of sub-3.40 ball. Feliciano also spent time in the Dodgers, Reds, Yankees and Cardinals organizations and pitched for a season in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball.

MLBTR joins countless others around the game in sending our condolences to Feliciano’s family, friends and loved ones.

14 Players Receive Qualifying Offers

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Today was the last day for teams to issue qualifying offers to eligible free agents, as teams had to make their decisions by 4pm CT.  With the deadline now behind us, here are the players who were issued the one-year, $18.4MM offers…

This is the highest number of qualifying offers issued since the 2015-16 offseason, when a record 20 players received the QOs.  Only six players received qualifying offers last winter, which was the lowest ever issued in an offseason, yet not really surprising given the pandemic’s impact on the 2020 season and league revenues.

These 14 players now have until November 17 to decide whether or not to accept the offer.  If they accept, they’ll receive $18.4MM next season, and can’t be traded until June 15, 2022.  They also won’t be eligible to receive a qualifying offer in any future trips to free agency (players are also ineligible for the qualifying offer if they haven’t spent at least one full season with their current team).  Since the qualifying offer system was introduced in the 2012-13 offseason, 10 of the 96 players to receive a QO have taken the deal.

If a player rejects the qualifying offer, draft pick compensation is now attached to their market, unless they re-sign with their former team.  Teams who sign a QO free agent will have to surrender at least one draft pick, and potentially some international bonus pool money depending on their status as revenue-sharing recipients or whether or not they exceeded the luxury tax threshold.  (Here is the list of what every team would have to give up to sign a QO free agent.)

If a QO free agent signs elsewhere, that player’s former team receives a compensatory draft pick based on this criteria….

  • A draft pick after Competitive Balance Round B will be awarded if the team losing the free agent did not receive revenue sharing or if the free agent in question signed a contract worth less than $50MM in guaranteed money.
  • A draft pick after Round 1 will be awarded if the team losing the free agent received revenue sharing and the free agent in question signed for more than $50MM.
  • A draft pick after Round 4 will be awarded if the team losing the free agent paid luxury tax penalties in the preceding season.

As always, several factors are weighed by both teams and players about whether or not to issue or accept qualifying offers.  This winter provides yet another wrinkle — this could be the final year of the current qualifying offer system due to the expiration of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement on December 1.  It is widely expected that the owners could lock out the players if a new deal isn’t reached by that date.  In the event of a lockout, MLB would institute a roster freeze on all transactional business involving Major League players, thus bringing the free agent market to a halt.

With this deadline looming, it is possible we could see some QO recipients (those less certain of landing big multi-year contracts) choose to accept the one-year deal in order to guarantee themselves some financial and contractual security prior to a possible lockout.  By that same token, this could make teams warier about extending the qualifying offer to certain players due to a larger suspicion that they would accept…or perhaps a player’s willingness to accept could make a team more inclined to issue a QO to a so-called borderline case.

Mets Extend Qualifying Offers To Michael Conforto, Noah Syndergaard

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The Mets announced that they have issued qualifying offers to outfielder Michael Conforto and right-hander Noah Syndergaard.  The two players have until November 17 to decide if they will accept the one-year, $18.4MM offer, or if either will reject the offer and test free agency.

It was already expected that Conforto would receive a QO, though there wasn’t as much clarity on Syndergaard, considering the righty has missed virtually all of the last two seasons.  Syndergaard underwent Tommy John surgery in March 2020 and then his return was further delayed by elbow inflammation, before he got back in time to pitch two innings over two games late in the Mets’ 2021 campaign.

Before the TJ surgery, however, Syndergaard had exhibited some front-of-the-rotation stuff over his first five seasons with New York.  The peak was a 2016 season that saw “Thor” earn an All-Star nod and finish eighth in NL Cy Young Award voting, though over 716 innings from 2015-19, Syndergaard posted a 3.31 ERA, 26.4% strikeout rate, and a 20.7% K/BB rate.

If Syndergaard is able to deliver close to those types of numbers when healthy in 2022, that is certainly worth an $18.4MM payday.  With this in mind, the Mets clearly felt comfortable issuing the QO to Syndergaard knowing that he very well could accept the one-year deal now, and re-enter free agency next winter in search of a longer-term contract (and an actual platform year on his resume).  Syndergaard returning to the fold would go a long ways towards bolstering a Mets rotation that might lose Marcus Stroman to free agency, plus Jacob deGrom and Carlos Carrasco are coming off injury-plagued seasons of their own.

New York is now also eligible to receive a compensatory draft pick if Syndergaard rejects the qualifying offer and signs elsewhere, and that possibility can’t be ruled out.  Another team might feel Syndergaard is worth some kind of multi-year commitment right now, or possibly a multi-year deal that contains an opt-out clause after a year so Syndergaard could end up re-entering the 2022-23 free agent class after all.

Conforto seemed like a surefire bet to receive a qualifying offer prior to the 2021 campaign, yet some doubts were raised when the outfielder struggled for a big portion of the season.  A strained right hamstring cost Comforto over a month on the injured list, and he hit .232/.344/.384 over 479 plate appearances — a large step back from his .259/.358/.484 slash line over his first six seasons.

Looking at the advanced metrics, there isn’t any clear reason behind Conforto’s dropoff, apart from an increase in his groundball rate (a career-high 44.7%), which combined with a .276 BABIP could have resulted in just some bad batted-ball luck.  Apart from that one stat, however, many of Conforto’s 2021 metrics were pretty close or even better than his career rates.

It would seem like Conforto might also be a candidate to accept the qualifying offer, if he wished to enter free agency on the heels of a better platform year come next winter.  However, reports suggest that Conforto will likely reject the QO and test the market this season.  It stands to reason that multiple teams will still have interest in giving Conforto a nice multi-year contract (especially since 2022 will only be his age-29 season), though it will be interesting to see just how big a deal he lands in the wake of his somewhat average 2021 numbers.

Latest On Mets Search For A General Manager

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Another couple of names have been withdrawn from the Mets’ search for a new general manager. Sig Mejdal is now out of the running, per Andy Martino of SNY (via Twitter). Mejdal is an assistant general manager and vice president with the Orioles who came to Baltimore from Houston with Mike Elias. Mejdal’s strength is analytics, and he’ll continue to ply that trade to build towards a better future in Baltimore.

Red Sox assistant GM and vice president Raquel Ferreira pulled her name from the running as well after having discussions with Mets official this past week, per Alex Speier of the Boston Globe. Ferreria’s name has been bandied about as a potential GM candidate around the league after 23 years in Boston.

Given how the last year has gone for Mets’ front office officials, it’s no surprise that Ferreira would pull her name from consideration. The organization’s culture has been repeatedly called into question, as has the autonomy of whoever takes over as GM, given Alderson’s continued presence in the organization.

Frankly, given the short tenures of Alderson’s first two hires as GM, it’s a touch surprising that he’s being given a third crack at this particular egg in the same calendar year. On the other hand, setting up the Mets front office for the future is the exact job that he was hired to do, and as of now, that task is incomplete.

Mets, Kevin Pillar Decline 2022 Option

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Veteran outfielder Kevin Pillar is headed back to the open market after both he and the Mets declined the dual options on his contract, per MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link).

Pillar held a $2.9MM player option for the 2022 season, which did not carry a buyout, while the Mets held a $6.4MM club option with a $1.4MM buyout. Pillar’s decision was due first, and he opted to decline his end knowing that he had least the $1.4MM buyout of the Mets’ club option waiting for him. It’s a bit of a bet on himself, but so long as he tops $1.5MM in 2022 earnings, he’ll come out ahead in the gambit.

It was a rather unconventional contract that essentially boiled down to one of three outcomes: two years and $6.5MM (if Pillar exercised his end); two years and $10MM (if the Mets exercised their end); or one year and $5MM (both parties declining).

It was a convoluted way to get there, but the Mets effectively were able to sign Pillar for a year and $5MM while utilizing a player option (which counts as “guaranteed” money for luxury-tax purposes) to reduce the luxury hit to $3.25MM. The Mets wound up a good bit shy of the luxury threshold anyhow, but Pillar’s unique contract structure would’ve provided some additional in-season flexibility had they sought to add some payroll at the deadline.

Pillar’s 2021 season was disrupted by a grisly injury that saw him sustain multiple nasal fractures when an errant Jacob Webb fastball hit him in the face. Down on the field for several minutes following that frightening hit-by-pitch, Pillar was eventually able to walk off the field under his own power. Remarkably, Pillar missed only two weeks of action — a welcome outcome after what carried the potential for a far more severe injury.

With the Mets, Pillar tallied 327 plate appearances and turned in a .231/.277/.415 batting line with 15 home runs, 11 doubles, a pair of triples and four stolen bases. His 3.2% walk rate was  the lowest in baseball for any player with at least 300 trips to the plate — an ongoing theme throughout Pillar’s career that has continually curbed his on-base percentage. Defensively, Pillar clocked in below average by most measures. Although he was once an otherworldly defender in center, he hasn’t turned in a positive mark in Defensive Runs Saved since 2017.

It’s  a thin market for free-agent center fielders, though, and Pillar’s extensive experience there (and ability to play both corners) ought to generate some interest. He’s also a career .280/.312/.459 hitter against left-handed pitching (104 wRC+), so he could land a spot as a part-time outfielder on a contender’s bench next year or perhaps a larger role on a rebuilding team in search of an affordable veteran option.

NL East Notes: Anthopoulos, Mets, Afterman, Nationals, Bones

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Alex Anthopoulos couldn’t celebrate the Braves’ World Series triumph with the rest of the organization last night, as the president of baseball operations had to watch from home after testing positive for COVID-19 on Saturday.  The diagnosis left Anthopoulos “surprised,” as he told Scott Miller of The New York Times, but fortunately, “I’m fully vaxxed, I don’t have any symptoms, I feel great….My family is fine.”  To avoid any distractions for the team, Anthopoulos told only manager Brian Snitker and team chairman Terry McGuirk about his diagnosis.

As unusual as the situation was, Anthopoulos got to celebrate with his wife and children, adding to the special moment.  The Braves have reached the postseason in each of Anthopoulos’ four seasons at the helm of the front office, and the 44-year-old has now captured his first championship after 10 total years as a general manager (counting his six years with the Blue Jays from 2010-15).

More from the NL East….

  • Yankees assistant general manager Jean Afterman declined a request from the Mets to interview about their front office vacancy last week, SNY’s Andy Martino reports (Twitter link).  Afterman has worked with the Yankees in the AGM role since 2001, and she received an additional promotion to senior VP in 2012.
  • The Nationals officially announced their 2022 coaching staff, including three previously-reported new hires (first base coach Eric Young Jr., third base coach Gary DiSarcina, hitting coach Darnell Coles) and one more newcomer in bullpen coach Ricky Bones.  Former bullpen coach Henry Blanco is staying on the Nats’ staff in the new role of catching/strategy coach.  This is Bones’ second time working with Washington’s organization, as he previously served as a pitching coach for the Class-A advanced team back in 2005.  Bones has been the Mets’ bullpen coach from 2012-21, with a brief stint as a minor league pitching coach in 2019.

Dellin Betances Qualifies For Free Agency

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The Major League Baseball Players Association released its initial list of major league free agents this afternoon. Among them was Mets’ reliever Dellin Betances, who failed to trigger the innings threshold necessary to vest a $1MM player option (h/t to Tim Britton of the Athletic).

The past two seasons have been disastrous for Betances, who has tallied just 12 2/3 combined innings because of injuries. He’s allowed ten runs in that span, certainly not what the Mets had in mind when signing the big right-hander to a $13.5MM guarantee over the 2019-20 offseason. Betances was one of the game’s most fearsome relievers during his peak with the Yankees, but it’s now been three years since he’s remained healthy. The 33-year-old missed almost all of this past season thanks to a shoulder injury that required surgery.

Now that he’s back on the open market, Betances might need to throw a showcase whenever he’s back to full health. He could be looking at minor league offers after three straight lost seasons, although there should still be plenty of teams willing to at least give him a look in Spring Training if he’s healthy.

Latest On Mets’ Front Office Targets

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The list of names connected to the Mets’ front office continues growing with each passing day. The newest addition is former Angels’ general manager Billy Eppler, as Andy Martino of SNY reports that the Mets “have interest” in Eppler, though he has not yet been interviewed for the position.

Eppler has around 20 years of organizational experience at this point in his career, having been hired by the Rockies as a scout in the year 2000. He moved over to the Yankees in 2004, eventually getting promoted to the director of the scouting department, and then to assistant general manager prior to the 2012 season. He became the Angels’ general manager prior to the 2016 season and stayed in that role until being fired in September of 2020. Two months ago, it was revealed that Eppler had joined the William Morris Endeavor agency as a business partner. Given that Eppler is not currently employed by a rival club, he could seemingly avoid the typical song and dance that the Mets have had to go through with many other candidates, asking the club for permission for an interview and often being denied. At this point, it’s not clear if the Mets’ interest is reciprocated from Eppler’s side or if he’s committed to a new role on the other side of the bargaining table.

It was recently reported that the Red Sox were going to give assistant GM Raquel Ferreira permission to speak with the Mets, and it now seems a conversation is imminent. A report in the New York Post from Ken Davidoff, Joel Sherman and Mike Puma says that Ferreira and Mets’ officials will be speaking in the coming days, although it may not exactly be a formal interview. “It’s believed that the talk will be more of a ’Get to know you’ session,” says the article, “in which both sides will determine whether they want to take this idea any further.” However, Jon Heyman of MLB Network does use the word “interview” in a tweet about the matter. Regardless of semantics, it seems that Ferreira’s process is further along than many other executives, who have either been denied permission to speak with the Mets or quickly turned down their advances.

That same article also confirms previous reporting that the Mets are interested in Orioles’ assistant GM Sig Mejdal, although it’s not known if the Orioles will allow the Mets to interview him and, as the piece states, “There is uncertainty within the industry whether Mejdal wants to run a baseball operations department.”

Elsewhere in the Mets’ organization, they also have a vacancy at the manager level, and Heyman reports that they spoke with Bob Melvin before he made the leap from Oakland to San Diego, but that his preference for remaining on the West Coast kept talks from coming to fruition. There were no rumors of Melvin leaving Oakland before it was announced that he had been hired by the Padres, but it appears it that at least a few teams knew he was available and were discussing things behind the scenes.

Latest Mets’ Front Office Rumblings

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As names continue to be bandied about in the Mets’ front office search, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports that Twins assistant general manager Daniel Adler will be staying put. It’s not clear whether Adler had a formal interview. He was previously reported to be “on the Mets’ radar,” but both Heyman and SNY’s Andy Martino suggest that Adler prefers to remain in Minnesota rather than pursue outside opportunities — be it with the Mets or another club.

Adler has spent the past four-plus years in the Twins’ front office. Initially hired as the team’s director of baseball operations, he was bumped up to assistant general manager over the 2019-20 offseason. Prior to being hired by Minnesota, the now 34-year-old Adler spent a few seasons working in research and development with the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars.

Apparently, Adler has decided to spend at least one more season with the Twins, although it wouldn’t be a surprise if his name comes up in other executive searches in future offseasons. For now, his decision to stay put removes another candidate for the Mets, whose search for a new baseball operations leader has already seen numerous targets either take themselves out of consideration or not receive permission from their current clubs to interview with New York.

While Adler’s no longer in the running for the position, another candidate has emerged. The Mets are considering Orioles assistant GM Sig Mejdal as part of their ongoing search, report Dan Connolly and Britt Ghiroli of the Athletic (Twitter link), although they caution it’s unclear as of yet whether Mejdal has interest in the position.

Mejdal has spent the past three seasons as an AGM with Baltimore, serving as a top lieutenant for baseball ops leader Mike Elias. Mejdal, 55, followed Elias to the O’s after six years working together in the Astros’ front office. A former NASA biomathematician, Mejdal has been a key member of Elias’ analytics staff in Baltimore.

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