- The Mets drafted David Wright with the 38th pick of the 2001 draft, beginning the long association between the Amazins and their future captain. More indirectly, however, the Mets got Wright because they….drafted Jon Matlack fourth overall in 1967? MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo takes an entertaining deep dive through the transactional path that began with the Matlack pick and ended with Mike Hampton leaving the Mets to sign with the Rockies in the 2000-01 offseason, thus netting New York the compensatory pick that resulted in Wright’s selection.
Mets Rumors
Mets Notes: Realmuto, Cano
- The Mets pushed hard to land J.T. Realmuto before he was ultimately traded from Miami to Philadelphia, and Mike Puma of the New York Post writes in his latest mailbag column that the team’s pursuit of Realmuto might not yet be over. Realmuto is represented by CAA, the former agency of GM Brodie Van Wagenen, and current catcher Wilson Ramos has a club option for the 2021 season that isn’t a lock to be picked up ($10MM or a $1.5MM buyout). The Mets have acquired several of Van Wagenen’s former players since he became GM — Jed Lowrie, Michael Wacha and Robinson Cano — although CAA has a rather large base of clients and Van Wagenen has certainly added plenty of players from other firms (Ramos, J.D. Davis, etc.). Still, there’s no obvious in-house alternative if the team opts to move on from Ramos — or to pick up his option and look to trade him. Realmuto would indeed be an upgrade, particularly on the defensive side of things, which is notable given the questions that arose regarding Ramos’ glove in New York last year.
- The COVID-19 shutdown hasn’t been fun for anyone, but Cano has at least found a silver lining during the delayed season. Cano said Tuesday that the downtime has “been beneficial for me for sure” physically, as Tim Healey of Newsday relays. “My legs feel strong right now,” continued Cano, who’s champing at the bit to return to the diamond. “Just can’t wait to go back on the field, and then play.” If there is a season, the longtime star, 37, will aim to rebound after a rough debut campaign with the Mets. Cano hit just .257/.307/.428 with 13 homers during an injury-limited, 423-plate appearance season.
2 Years Ago, The Mets Cut Ties With A Former Star
It seems like ancient history now, but right-hander Matt Harvey used to be considered among the majors’ elite players. A 2010 seventh overall pick of the Mets, Harvey debuted in the bigs in 2012 and truly broke out the next season with 178 1/3 innings of 2.27 ERA ball. From his first taste of MLB action until 2015, Harvey posted a 2.53 ERA with 9.46 K/9 and 1.98 BB/9 over 427 frames, earned an All-Star bid and was part of a pennant-winning team. Harvey, Noah Syndergaard and Jacob deGrom were supposed to form an unstoppable trio atop the Mets’ rotation for the long haul, but it wasn’t to be, as Harvey experienced a dramatic fall from grace during his time in their uniform.
Injuries have been an all-too-common problem for Harvey, who underwent Tommy John surgery on his pitching elbow in October 2013 and sat out all of of the next season. Harvey made a triumphant return to win NL Comeback Player of the Year honors in 2015 – the latest season in which the Mets went to the World Series – but it wasn’t a campaign devoid of controversy for the hurler who became known as the Dark Knight. He and agent Scott Boras pushed for a limit of 180 innings for the year, but Harvey ended up exceeding that amount with ease, tossing 189 1/3 frames in the regular season and racking up another 26 2/3 in the playoffs. The workload may have been too heavy for his taste, but Harvey was actually great that October – including an eight-inning, two-run effort in a Fall Classic-deciding, Game 5 defeat to the Royals. Little did anyone know that shining moments would be so few and far between for him since then.
Rewinding to 2016, you’d have a hard time finding many regular starters who have been worse than Harvey. He underwent thoracic outlet surgery in July of that year, and that now looks like a death knell in hindsight. Now 31 years old, Harvey’s the owner of a 5.56 ERA – the third-highest figure among all qualified starters – in his most recent 390 innings.
Having seen enough of Harvey, the Mets – once justified in believing he was a true ace – gave up on him exactly two years ago. It was on May 8, 2018, that the Mets traded Harvey to the Reds for catcher Devin Mesoraco – another once-promising player who didn’t pan out as hoped. Harvey turned out OK as a Red, contributing 128 innings of 4.50 ERA ball en route to an $11MM guarantee with the Angels during the next period of free agency. Likewise, Mesoraco wasn’t horrible as a member of the Mets, with whom he batted .222/.306/.409 in 229 plate appearances. But neither player is even in baseball at this point.
Mesoraco has all but retired after sitting out the 2019 campaign. Harvey could still resume his career, but it’s not looking good. The former front-end starter was so ineffective in his lone year with the Angels that they released him in July. Harvey did catch on with the Athletics on a minor league contract after that, but he didn’t crack their big league roster at all, and there have been few rumblings about him since he elected free agency at the outset of offseason. In fact, MLBTR’s archives have just two somewhat recent news items on Harvey – one on how he auditioned for the Blue Jays as a reliever during the winter and another saying the Mets aren’t interested in reuniting with him. It’s a stunning descent for a pitcher who was among the best during his Mets heyday.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
A-Rod Reportedly Bails On Mets Bid
If you were looking forward to the spectacle of Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter squaring off from rival owners’ boxes in the NL East, this news will come as a disappointment. Per Thornton McEnery of the New York Post, A-Rod’s longshot attempt to pull together a bidding group for the Mets has been scuttled.
It seems that Rodriguez and fiancee Jenifer Lopez simply weren’t able to gain traction with potential co-investors and have decided to call off the effort. They made some headway with Wayne Rothbaum (see here and here) but obviously failed to put together a viable partnership.
The report goes on to dish about the Mets’ financial difficulties, which are a major factor in the ongoing efforts to sell the team. It seems the club could be looking at losses approaching or even reaching nine figures if the gates to Citi Field never open in 2020.
It’s certainly a suboptimal moment to be seeking a buyer for a baseball franchise. While the chance to own a New York team would normally hold great appeal, these aren’t typical times. The Mets’ longstanding financial woes loom larger than ever.
The difficult operational challenges facing a potential new owner are compounded by the fact that the current Wilpon ownership group is evidently committed to holding onto its ownership of the SNY regional sports network. Whether or not the Wilpons can keep their revenue-producing TV business while still moving the organization for a big price remains to be seen, but the marketplace seems rather skeptical.
10 MLB Teams Whose Business Initiatives Face Coronavirus Hurdles
Like most every person or business, all thirty MLB teams face tough questions during the time of COVID-19. Some are relatively similar for all ballclubs, but there are obviously quite a few unique issues — some more pressing than others.
Dealing with the implications of this pandemic is probably toughest for organizations that are in the midst of executing or planning major business initiatives. We’ll run down some of those here.
Angels: The team has been cooking up potentially massive plans to develop the area around Angel Stadium. Fortunately, nothing is really in process at the moment, but it stands to reason that the project could end up being reduced in scope and/or delayed.
Athletics: Oof. The A’s have done a ton of work to put a highly ambitious stadium plan in motion. Massive uncertainty of this type can’t help. It isn’t clear just yet how the effort will be impacted, but it seems reasonable to believe the organization is pondering some tough decisions.
Braves: Luckily for the Atlanta-area organization, the team’s new park and most of the surrounding development is already fully operational. But with the added earning capacity from retail operations in a ballpark village comes greater exposure to turmoil.
Cubs: Like the Braves, the Cubs have already done most of the work at and around their park, but were counting on big revenue to pay back what’s owed (and then some). Plus, the Cubbies have a new TV network to bring up to speed.
Diamondbacks: Vegas?! Vancouver?! Probably not, but the Snakes do want to find a new home somewhere in Arizona. That effort is sure to be dented. Plus, the team’s recent initiative to host non-baseball events at Chase Field will now go on hiatus.
Marlins: The new ownership group has had some good vibes going and hoped to convert some of the positivity into a healthy new TV deal. That critical negotiation will now take place in a brutal economic environment.
Mets: So … this is probably not an optimal moment to be selling your sports franchise. The Wilpon family is pressing ahead with an effort to strike a new deal after their prior one broke down (at the worst possible time).
Orioles: That bitter television rights fee dispute that just won’t stop … it’s not going to be easier to find a resolution with less cash coming through the door. It was already setting up to be a rough stretch for the Baltimore org, with past TV money due to the Nationals and more bills to come, even while going through brutally lean years on the playing field.
Rangers: The new park is now built. While taxpayers footed much of the bill, the club still has to pay back a $600MM loan. Suffice to say the Rangers (and municipal authorities) anticipated game day revenues of more than $0 in year one when they planned out the loan repayment method.
Rays: The club’s preferred Ybor City option flamed out and it is currently engaged in a somewhat confusing effort to split time between the Tampa Bay area and Montreal. Existing hurdles to that arrangement seem only to be taller in the age of the coronavirus.
Others: We may be missing some, but it seems most other organizations are engaged more in usual-course sorts of business initiatives rather than franchise-altering efforts. For instance, the Nats have an interest in that TV deal as well. The Red Sox have been working to redevelop areas around Fenway Park. The Blue Jays are dabbling in future plans. And the Dodgers have a new TV rights deal, though that came to fruition after the pandemic hit and may not be impacted any more than any other existing carriage arrangements.
Losing Thor
We were all dealing with much more significant problems when the shocking news came down: Noah Syndergaard, the Mets’ high-octane hurler, was headed in for Tommy John surgery. That would’ve hit like a ton of bricks — just two days before Opening Day — had it not been for the fact that the season was already on pause.
The replacement of Thor’s ulnar collateral ligament will hopefully save his career. But it’ll wipe out his age-27 season, severely denting the hopes of the Mets in 2020 (should the campaign get underway). The hope had been that Syndergaard would trend back towards his immense ceiling, giving the team the game’s best 1-2 punch alongside uber-ace Jacob deGrom.
But that’s really only part of the picture for the Mets — the toughest, but also the simplest part. The club has no choice but to soldier on and trust in the arms it has compiled. There’s no changing course in late March. But what of the longer view?
The Mets will certainly tender Syndergaard a contract for 2021, his final season of arbitration eligibility, unless there’s a serious red flag in his rehab efforts. That’ll cost $9.7MM, a match for his 2020 salary. Even if the Mets only get something like half of a season from Syndergaard, he’s almost certainly worth that kind of risk. And the team would be buying the right to make him a qualifying offer — and, if he declines it, to accrue draft compensation — at season’s end.
But wait … we’re basically now contemplating Syndergaard as something of a ten million dollar roll of the dice on upside. It typically takes about 14 months for a starter to get back to full competitive action after undergoing the surgery, which would put him on track to resume action in June of 2021. And Syndergaard will have as much personal incentive to take full care in getting back to the hill as he will to perform well when he does, as he’ll be preparing for free agency. When GM Brodie Van Wagenen plotted his recent moves, including bidding adieu to Zack Wheeler, the idea was to have a full 2021 season of Syndergaard and deGrom. Instead, it’ll be deGrom, a hopeful mid-season return of Thor, and … let’s see what else …
The notion of an in-house Wheeler replacement, in the form of Marcus Stroman, made some amount of sense in the context of the 2020 campaign. But Stroman is now headed for his own trip on the open market, likely after turning down a qualifying offer. There’s no indication that the sides have gained traction in extension talks (if they’ve seriously engaged in them at all). Recent signees Rick Porcello and Michael Wacha are only playing on one-year deals, so they’ll also be free agents.
Adding Stroman cost the Mets a near-majors prospect in Anthony Kay and a potential fast riser in Simeon Woods Richardson. The club had already moved another immediate-term rotation candidate in Justin Dunn, who went to Seattle in the Edwin Diaz–Robinson Cano deal.
[MLBTR on YouTube: Mets’ Disastrous Trade For Diaz & Cano]
Those moves have left the upper reaches of the Mets farm relatively barren of well-regarded rotation talent. David Peterson, Thomas Szapucki, Franklyn Kilome, and Kevin Smith are among the best arms in the system who could be part of the 2021 rotation picture. But they’ll all lost major developmental opportunities due to the coronavirus. There are a few other somewhat more advanced hurlers, as we discussed in evaluating the team’s rotation depth this spring, but the general talent level is rated at a step below the names just listed. It’s awfully tough to presume that the Mets will feel comfortable leaning on this group.
The biggest wild card may be Steven Matz, whose ups and downs are well-documented. He has been healthy enough to make thirty starts in each of the past two seasons, carrying a sturdy 4.09 ERA across that span, but fielding-independent pitching measures aren’t nearly as bullish on Matz as they once were. In 2019, he generated a 4.60 FIP, 4.33 xFIP, and 4.47 SIERA — all checking in north of his 4.21 ERA.
If something goes wrong with Matz, the Mets could be looking at opening the 2021 season with four new rotation pieces alongside deGrom. Even with the prospect of a heroic return of Thor buoying the team mid-campaign, that’s a tough picture for an organization that has enjoyed so much excellence from its staff. On the plus side, there will be a lot of money available to work with … depending upon how you look at things.
The Mets were set to enter the 2020 season with just under $175MM of payroll; they’re committed for about $100MM less for 2021. That’s good! But it doesn’t include arbitration spending. With Syndergaard, Matz, Michael Conforto, Edwin Diaz, Brandon Nimmo, Seth Lugo, Amed Rosario, J.D. Davis, and others, this could be a $40-45MM arbitration class. That would move the total payroll into the $120MM range.
Either way, there should in theory be some funds to work with, though it’s anyone’s guess what’ll be happening with the team’s uncertain ownership situation and how that will weigh on the situation. Thing is, the Mets will also have quite a few holes to fill. Adding as many as four reliable starters just isn’t easy to do on the cheap. The Mets also figure to have openings at catcher, in center field, and in a bullpen that will lose Dellin Betances, Justin Wilson, and Brad Brach.
This is a tough spot for the Mets. In a normal season, they’d probably adjust their mid-season trade stance to being more willing to sell. If the campaign isn’t developing quite as hoped, there’d be an opportunity to cash in Stroman and perhaps others to help prepare for 2021. But we have no idea whether that’ll really be possible in a highly unusual 2020 season format (the details of which remain completely unknown at this point). And it’d hurt to take a seller stance after building up to contend.
The Mets were dealt a tough hand here; the loss of Syndergaard really stings even beyond 2020. Suppose he had pitched well in 2020 but the team went south in other areas; he’d have been a prime mid-season or offseason trade chip. Or what if things do indeed turn out well for the club even absent Thor? A contending Mets team may end up being forced to mine the farm system to bring in an impact arm, whether in mid-2020 or the ensuing offseason or both. Planning for the 2021 season and beyond will now be quite a bit more complicated, because it’ll be quite difficult to know what the club will get out of Syndergaard. And the possibility of an extension with Syndergaard — while perhaps remote to begin with — now seems quite difficult even to imagine.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Latest On Potential Mets Sale
Mets owners Fred Wilpon and Jeff Wilpon are considering selling the franchise, though they may not make out as well as they hope if a deal does come together. Rumored bidder Wayne Rothbaum does indeed have interest in taking the Mets off the Wilpons’ hands, but only at a reduced price, according to Thornton McEnery of the New York Post.
“I think he likes the idea of $1 billion,” a source told McEnery. “It’s a round number and the Wilpons are not holding any cards without SNY.”
That wouldn’t be an ideal outcome for the Wilpons, whose financial situation has taken a hit as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even if half of a baseball season takes place this year, the Wilpons could lose up to $150MM, per McEnery.
Before the league shut down because of the coronavirus, the Wilpons nearly agreed to sell an 80 percent stake in the Mets to Steve Cohen for $2.6 billion, but those plans fell through. That transaction wouldn’t have included the SNY network, either. The Mets have recently been valued at $1.6 billion without SNY in the mix, writes McEnery, who hears that the idea of Cohen purchasing the team still isn’t off the table. A source told him “he’s the only one that makes sense” as a possible buyer.
Rothbaum, meanwhile, was part of the $1.2 billion bidding for the Marlins in 2017, but the team ended up going to a group headed by Bruce Sherman and Derek Jeter. If Rothbaum does eventually land the Mets, it’s possible one of Jeter’s former teammates could be a member of his ownership group. There has been talk of Alex Rodriguez and fiancee Jennifer Lopez owning some portion of a Rothbaum-led Mets franchise.
Latest On Michael Conforto’s Oblique Injury
Not long before the league shut down due to the ongoing pandemic, Mets right fielder Michael Conforto sustained an oblique strain that rendered him unlikely for Opening Day. The diagnosis came on March 11, just over two weeks from the since-postponed Opening Day, and the Mets didn’t provide a concrete timetable for Conforto’s expected return. The team still hasn’t put forth an official update on Conforto’s status — the indefinite delay to the season likely eliminated any urgency or obligation to do so — but the New York Post’s Mike Puma reports that Conforto is taking “regular” batting practice and appears to be largely back up to speed.
It’s been close to seven weeks since Conforto incurred what the club diagnosed as a Grade 1 strain of his right oblique. Grade 1 strains — the least severe on the scale — often sideline players for around a month or a bit more, although every injury situation is of course unique to the player in question. Still, it’s reasonable to expect based on his workout status and that historical context that Conforto would’ve been back up to speed by now. And it certainly stands to reason that whenever (or if) play is able to resume in 2020, that he’ll be ready to go for a second, abbreviated “spring” training camp.
The 27-year-old Conforto will be expected to play a pivotal role in the Mets’ offense, hitting in the heart of the order alongside the likes of reigning Rookie of the Year Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil, J.D. Davis and a hopefully resurgent Robinson Cano. Conforto, the No. 10 overall pick in the 2014 draft, has solidified himself as the everyday right fielder and a well-above-average offensive contributor in parts of five seasons in Queens. He made his first All-Star team in 2017 and, over the past three years, has posted a combined .257/.363/.492 slash (129 wRC+, 131 OPS+) with 88 home runs, 74 doubles and three triples. He agreed to an $8MM salary this winter in his second trip through the arbitration process and remains under club control through the 2021 season.
Latest On Potential Sale Of Mets
Even as a global pandemic rages, threatening the 2020 MLB season and leaving a murky economic outlook for the game of baseball, the Wilpon family continues to pursue a sale of the Mets. Indeed, it seems the desire has only increased since the collapse of a deal earlier this year with minority owner Steve Cohen.
The Wilpons would surely like to be able to reanimate that agreement, which crumbled just before the scope of the coronavirus crisis became evident. Now, as Thornton McEnery and Josh Kosman of the New York Post report, the Mets are feeling the pinch of the shutdown with the revenue spigot turned off.
Despite that apparent motivation, the Wilpon family isn’t willing to part with the profitable SNY sports network in the deal, per the report. That guaranteed cash flow would obviously be of particular interest under the circumstances, though that’s also the motivation for keeping it.
The Wilpons have reportedly set a $2.6B asking price — without the franchise control strings that had been involved in the Cohen agreement but also sans SNY. Most chatter suggests that’s now a fanciful figure under the dire economic circumstances, though as ever the market will provide the answer.
There’s even now some banter around the idea that Alex Rodriguez and fiancee Jenifer Lopez could benefit from the Wilpons’ tough spot. The celebrity duo seems to be taking serious steps towards a real bid. The Post reports that they could team up with former Marlins bidder Wayne Rothbaum to land the New York franchise. It’s anyone’s guess how this situation will develop over the coming weeks, but the stage is obviously set for a rather interesting process with quite the cast of characters.
A-Rod, J.Lo Take Step Towards Compiling Bid For Mets
April 21: Rodriguez and Lopez approached Miami businessman Jorge Mas about joining their group, per MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link), but the 57-year-old MasTec chairman declined the offer. Mas previously headed up his own group in hopes of purchasing the Marlins before the Derek Jeter/Bruce Sherman group won that bidding.
April 20: When the concept was first mentioned, it wasn’t clear whether Alex Rodriguez was seriously interested in headlining a bidding group for the Mets. But he and pop singer/fiancee Jenifer Lopez have recently taken at least one notable step towards a potential play for the franchise, Scott Soshnick of Variety reports.
Rodriguez, much like predecessor Barry Bonds, finished his playing days with one of the most impressive but deeply stained resumes in baseball history. Performance-enhancing drugs tarnished both players, though A-Rod has taken quite a different path since hanging up his spikes. With a series of major media roles, he has crafted a familiar post-PED profile.
Precisely what sort of bidding group might be compiled isn’t clear, but A-Rod and J.Lo have retained JPMorgan Chase to see about putting one together. There was never any doubt that the celebrity couple would need to participate with other, yet wealthier investors to take over the Mets. At last look, the current Wilpon family ownership group had yet to mark down its $2.6B sticker price for the organization.
It’ll certainly be interesting to see whether this story has legs — not just because of the obvious potential for gossip-rag fireworks. The Mets have had their issues over the years, but it’s awfully rare to see big-city teams hit the market. It seems all but inconceivable that the franchise value won’t take a hit in light of the coronavirus pandemic — whatever the long-term outlook, there’ll obviously be a major near-term operational shortfall — but whether and to what extent remains for the market to decide.
