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West Notes: Giants, Cueto, Padres, Hand, Rangers, Profar

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Following his final start of the season, Giants right-hander Johnny Cueto wouldn’t tip his hand regarding his opt-out decision when asked by reporters (link via Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area). It seems unfathomable that Cueto will opt out of the remaining $84MM on his deal on the heels of the worst season of his big league career, and Cueto suggested that he’s enjoyed his time as a Giant and believes there’s a winning core in place. Backstop Nick Hundley also told the media that he “loves” San Francisco and his teammates, Pavlovic continues. His declined to elaborate on the opportunity to pursue a larger deal in free agency this winter or a potential starting role but certainly sounded open to a return.

More from the majors’ West divisions:

  • Padres general manager A.J. Preller told Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune and other reporters on Monday that upgrading at shortstop and in the rotation will be offseason priorities. The Padres will also “look to tinker with the bullpen,” Preller said. Trading left-handed closer Brad Hand would qualify as much more than tinkering, but Preller didn’t rule out dealing him. “He was similar to a few years ago when we had (Craig) Kimbrel,” Preller said. “We talked to teams about Kimbrel at the trade deadline in ‘15. There were teams that reached out early in that offseason and said, ‘OK, we’re still interested.’ I would expect that to probably be the case, but we’ll see how that plays out.” Despite vast interest, the Padres decided against trading Hand at the deadline in July. The 27-year-old obviously comes with less team control now than he did over the summer, when an acquiring club could have viewed him as an integral piece for a playoff run, but he’s still signed through 2019. Hand made a relative pittance – $1.38MM – in his first year of arbitration eligibility in 2017.
  • The Rangers just wrapped up a disappointing campaign, one that ended without a playoff berth for only the third time in the past eight years, but it’s not going to spur an offseason rebuild, according to T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com. Instead, the Rangers will do their best over the winter to return to contention in 2018. Sullivan writes that they’ll focus on bolstering their rotation via free agency and/or trades, perhaps add an outfielder, and decide where to put 41-home run corner infielder/outfielder Joey Gallo.
  • One thing the Rangers must do this offseason is trade infielder/outfielder Jurickson Profar, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News argues. Profar, 24, was once among the game’s premier prospects, but injuries and poor performance have defined his time in Texas. The switch-hitting Profar, who has batted an ugly .229/.309/.329 in 718 major league plate appearances, spent most of 2017 at the Triple-A level and was not one of the Rangers’ call-ups when rosters expanded in September. Further, Profar will be out of options next year, making it seem all the more likely that the Rangers will cut ties with him in the coming months.

Latest On John Coppolella, Braves

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7:22pm: Associates of Moore believe he’s likely to leave the Royals for the Braves, Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweets.

5:42pm: Braves president of baseball operations John Hart spoke to David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and other reporters Monday about general manager John Coppolella’s resignation, which was a forced exit, O’Brien writes.

Hart expressed deep disappointment in Coppolella, confirming he committed “an MLB rules violation that has to do with the international marketplace.” Hart also revealed that the league “dug up a number of things that were quite serious, as far as the MLB ruless” in its investigation, one that went back roughly two years, O’Brien tweets. Coppolella’s international violations were merely “the tip of the iceberg,” a source told Jerry Crasnick of ESPN (Twitter link).

As the Braves move forward, Hart will assume their GM role on a temporary basis, but a couple of potential full-time successors to Coppollela have already emerged in the rumor mill. One possibility is Royals GM Dayton Moore, who started his career in Atlanta in 1994 before eventually heading to Kansas City in 2006. Moore still “has a soft spot” for the Braves, Crasnick notes (Twitter links). Crasnick also points out that with the Royals perhaps entering a rebuild and having an up-and-coming GM prospect in J.J. Picollo, now may be the time for them and Moore to part ways.

Should the Braves strike out on a potential Moore pursuit, they might turn to Dan Jennings, who “could be a top candidate,” according to O’Brien (on Twitter). Jennings is a special assistant to Nationals GM Mike Rizzo, but he’s better known for his time with the Marlins. The 57-year-old worked as Miami’s GM from 2013-15, and he even served as its interim manager for 124 games in his final season with the club. Jennings ceded the GM position when he shifted to the dugout, an experiment that yielded a 55-69 record and led to his firing after in October 2015.

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Jose Bautista Plans To Play Next Season

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The 2017 season was easily Jose Bautista’s worst since his memorable breakout campaign in 2010, but the soon-to-be 37-year-old has no plans to retire, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet reports. If the right fielder does play somewhere next season, it probably won’t be in Toronto, which informed Bautista a couple weeks ago that it will buy him out for $500K in lieu of exercising its half of his $17MM mutual option, according to Davidi. Considering Bautista’s struggles this year, the decision was an obvious one for the Blue Jays, who gave the franchise icon a hero’s sendoff during their final home series of the season from Sept. 22-24.

A Blue Jay since August 2008, when they acquired him from Pittsburgh in a swap for catcher Robinzon Diaz (who had his last of 148 major league plate appearances in 2009), Bautista now stands as one of the greatest players in team history. Across 5,272 PAs with the Jays, Bautista slashed .253/.372/.506 with 288 home runs – second to Carlos Delgado in club history. While Bautista’s regular-season production in Toronto was outstanding, his go-ahead three-run homer and subsequent bat flip in the seventh inning of Game 5 of the 2015 ALDS against the Rangers will go down as his signature moment as a Jay.

Unfortunately for the Jays and Bautista, his offensive output began tailing off significantly the next season. At .234/.366/.452 with 22 long balls in 517 trips to the plate, Bautista logged above-average numbers in 2016, but they paled in comparison to his previous totals.

Thanks to his offensive decline and his inability to offer much value as either a defender or baserunner, he sat on the free agent market into last January until re-signing with the Blue Jays on a deal that guaranteed him $18MM this season and could have been worth another $37MM had he played out the options over the next two years. But Bautista sealed his fate in 2017 by hitting a mere .203/.308/.366 in 686 PAs and finishing with the majors’ seventh-worst fWAR among position players (minus-0.5). Along the way, he registered his worst strikeout and walk rates as a Jay (24.8 percent and 12.2 percent, respectively), his lowest ISO (.164), and his highest chase and swinging-strike rates (25.3 percent and 10.9 percent). Bautista also wasn’t the Statcast darling he had been in prior seasons, recording a paltry .304 expected weighted on-base average (via Baseball Savant) that nearly matched his actual wOBA (.301).

Judging by his stark dropoff in 2017, the upcoming winter figures to be far less lucrative for Bautista than the last one. Nevertheless, it won’t stop him from seeking another contract. Should Bautista land another deal, it probably won’t come from the Jays, though he told Davidi that he’d like to stay where is.

“All I can do is get ready for next season and be ready to contribute to the team that I’m with at that time,” Bautista said. “Right now I’m a Toronto Blue Jay, and that hasn’t changed. I’ve said it all along, this is where I want to be and finish my career. We’ll see what happens in the future. It’s out of my control now.”

Coaching/Managerial Notes: Hot Seats, Royals, Scioscia, Snitker

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Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic runs down the big league managers that could be on the hot seat (subscription required and strongly recommended). Rosenthal lists Braves skipper Brian Snitker as an immediate candidate and notes that Red Sox skipper John Farrell, too, could be on the hot seat if the Sox are bounced in the ALDS for a second straight season. Farrell was inherited rather than hired by president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski. While Orioles owner Peter Angelos isn’t likely to dismiss Buck Showalter, the tension between him and GM Dan Duquette continues to loom large in the organization. Rosenthal also covers several other managers on shaky ground that could find themselves in jeopardy with poor team showings in 2018.

A bit from MLB’s dugouts around the league…

  • The Royals and pitching coach Dave Eiland reached a mutual agreement to part ways, reports FanRag’s Jon Heyman. The 51-year-old Eiland spent six seasons as the pitching coach for manager Ned Yost in Kansas City, helping the team to consecutive World Series appearances in 2014-15 and, of course, a World Series victory in the latter of those two seasons. He also spent 2008-10 as the Yankees pitching coach, so Eiland’s considerable experience should get him some type of opportunity with another organization, even if the Royals’ pitching staff as a whole underperformed in a disappointing 2017 campaign. Rustin Dodd and Pete Grahoff of the Kansas City Star, meanwhile, report that bench coach Don Wakamatsu, bullpen coach Doug Henry and assistant hitting coach Brian Buchanan are also expected to be dismissed. Kansas City has since announced that Eiland and Wakamatsu will not have their contracts renewed.
  • Angels manager Mike Scioscia will be back with the team in 2018 — the final season of his 10-year contract as skipper of the Halos, tweets Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. Scioscia hopes to manage the Angels beyond the 2018 season, Fletcher notes, but he’s content heading into the final season of his contract without signing an extension. The 58-year-old Scioscia is Major League Baseball’s longest tenured manager, as he’s been skipper of the Angels since the 2000 campaign. The Halos were in contention for the American League’s second Wild Card spot up until the final week of the season despite a slew of injuries that decimated their pitching staff for much of the year.
  • Braves president of baseball operations plans to meet with manager Brian Snitker to discuss his future “as early as today,” tweets MLB.com’s Mark Bowman. The Braves will have a decision on the coaching staff at some point midweek, per Bowman. Notably, David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution tweets that Hart said today’s sudden resignation of GM John Coppolella in the wake of an MLB investigation isn’t likely to impact the decision one way or another (Twitter links). O’Brien guesses that the option on Snitker will be exercised, though it seems that a formal decision has not yet been made.

Braves General Manager John Coppolella Resigns

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In stunning fashion, the Braves announced today that general manager John Coppolella has resigned, effective immediately, in the wake of a “breach of Major League Baseball rules regarding the international player market.” Special assistant Gordon Blakely is also reportedly resigning from his post as Major League Baseball works to conclude an investigation that is said to have been ongoing for multiple weeks.

John Coppolella | Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

“Major League Baseball is investigating the matter with our full cooperation and support,” said president of baseball operations John Hart. “We will not be issuing any further comment until the investigation is complete.”

The Braves are immediately beginning the search for a replacement, per their release, and Hart will assume all of Coppolella’s duties for the time being while serving as the primary decision-maker in baseball operations matters.  FanRag’s Jon Heyman points out (via Twitter) that Hart wasn’t under contract beyond this year, though it seems he’ll stick around at least until the team has a replacement for Coppolella in place, if not longer.

While it’s not yet clear what transgressions the Braves have committed, the resignation of a general manager — be it forced or voluntary — would represent the most extreme outcome for any scrutiny under which GMs have come in recent years. Padres general manager A.J. Preller was suspended for one month after his team’s medical disclosure practices were revealed to be substandard, and the Red Sox were forced to tear up some agreements with international prospects they’d signed in package deals as a means of circumventing international bonus restrictions. Neither of those incidents, however, resulted in the resignation or firing of a high-ranking official.

Coppolella’s departure as the team’s general manager comes as the team concluded its first season in the newly constructed SunTrust Park and was widely expected to take another step toward contention in 2018. Atlanta had been in the process of a lengthy rebuild for much of Coppolella’s tenure as general manager, but touted young talents such Ozzie Albies, Dansby Swanson, Sean Newcomb and Luiz Gohara, among others have reached the Majors, with wunderkind Ronald Acuna on the precipice of Major League readiness as well.

The Braves have been among the most active teams on the international market in recent years, with an aggressive splash on the 2016-17 international market (headlined by slugger Kevin Maitan) resulting in strict limitations on the organization for the 2017-18 and 2018-19 international periods. Last signing period’s mass accumulation of talent helped to bolster the Braves to have one of the consensus top farm systems in the league. However, it also put them in the same position as a number of other clubs that shattered their bonus pools in recent years, prohibiting the Braves from signing any one international amateur player for more than $300K.

Yahoo’s Jeff Passan and Joel Sherman of the New York Post suggest (Twitter links) that Coppolella’s rapport with other general managers wasn’t strong and that he had a reputation for being difficult, if not unpleasant to deal with. His relationship with fans, on the other hand, seemed to be a fairly strong one; Coppolella was more outspoken than most GMs, often conducting lengthy Twitter Q&As with the Braves faithful, and he was oftentimes more candid with the media than many of his front-office peers as well. That in and of itself may have rubbed some GMs the wrong way, of course, as most high-ranking front office execs are fairly tight-lipped.

Coppolella’s ousting as GM also figures to directly impact the fate of Atlanta skipper Brian Snitker, who has a club option for the 2018 season that has not yet been exercised or declined. Snitker has told reporters that he hopes to remain in his post for years to come, though the organization has reportedly still been waffling on whether to retain him or go in a new direction for 2018 and beyond. Certainly, Coppolella’s voice would have been a prominent one in those discussions, but the decision will be left to Hart and the lieutenants of the now-former general manager.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first reported that Coppolella would resign (Twitter links). Yahoo’s Jeff Passan reported that the Braves had been under investigation regarding their international practices for weeks and that a complaint had been levied against them (Twitter links). Rosenthal reported that Blakely would resign as well (Twitter link).

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Sale Of Marlins To Sherman/Jeter Group Complete

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OCT. 2: The sale of the Marlins to the Sherman/Jeter group closed this morning, reports Jackson (on Twitter). Their group now officially owns the Marlins, and a press conference with new ownership will be held later this week.

SEPT. 27: The 29 other Major League owners have approved the sale of the Marlins to the ownership group led by Derek Jeter and Bruce Sherman, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reports (Twitter link).  As per an announcement from Major League Baseball, the 29 owners voted unanimously in favor of the Jeter/Sherman group in a conference call held this afternoon.  The approval will only be fully official once the sale closes between the new owners and outgoing Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria, though that deal is expected to be finalized next week.  FanRag Sports’ Jon Heyman reported yesterday that a vote would be coming soon, though the quick turn-around is still something of a surprise, as Heyman’s report indicated it would be a matter of days or weeks.

The news brings a somewhat abrupt end to a rather drawn-out sale process, as several prominent names from the business, entertainment, political and baseball worlds had been mentioned as candidates to buy the Marlins from Jeffrey Loria.  Jeter had long been connected to former Florida governor Jeb Bush as part of a bid, though after Bush dropped out of the partnership in May, Jeter changed course with new investors, most prominently Sherman, co-founder of the Private Capital Management wealth-management firm.  The group ended up winning the bidding at the reported price of $1.2 billion.

As per Heyman’s report yesterday, that $1.2 billion price tag breaks down as $800MM in actual cash on hand and $400MM of debt.  Sherman will own 46 percent of the team and will be the Marlins’ control person in the eyes of Major League Baseball.  Jeter will reportedly own four percent of the franchise and become the Marlins’ CEO, as well as overseeing the baseball operations department.

“I congratulate Mr. Sherman on receiving approval from the Major League clubs as the new control person of the Marlins and look forward to Mr. Jeter’s ownership and CEO role following his extraordinary career as a player,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said in the league’s official news release.

With the sale all but complete, attention will now fully shift to what the change in ownership will mean for the Marlins both on and off the field as the franchise moves on from the controversial Loria era.  There have already been early reports of yet another rebuild in Miami as the new owners are looking to cut payroll, potentially more than halving the Marlins’ $115MM Opening Day payroll from this season if Giancarlo Stanton is traded.

Cardinals Notes: Outfield, Tuivailala, Pitching Staff

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Outfielder Randal Grichuk ended not only his 2017 season but possibly his Cardinals career with a solo home run on Sunday, writes Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The Cards have an oft-discussed glut of outfielders with Grichuk, Dexter Fowler, Stephen Piscotty, Tommy Pham, Harrison Bader and Magneuris Sierra all on the big league roster, plus prospect Tyler O’Neill in Triple-A Memphis. St. Louis will look to reduce its redundancies on the roster this winter, and Goold points out that the arbitration-eligible Grichuk carries a similar profile to the powerful-but-strikeout-prone O’Neill. Controllable through 2020, the 26-year-old Grichuk brings significant power (career .239 ISO) and a center-field-capable glove to the table but has also continually struggled to make contact. Through 1386 MLB plate appearances, Grichuk has a 29.9 percent strikeout rate. In 442 PAs in 2017, he hit .238/.285/.473 with 22 long balls and a 30.1 percent strikeout rate.

More out of St. Louis…

  • Right-hander Sam Tuivailala will be out of options in 2018, and his strong finish to the season looks to have earned him a spot in next year’s bullpen, writes Rick Hummel of the Post-Dispatch. “He’s continued to move his way up in how we viewed him,” said manager Mike Matheny. The 24-year-old Tuivailala was optioned to the minors on three different occasions in 2017, his final option year, but wound up totaling 42 1/3 innings with a 2.55 ERA, 7.2 K/9, 2.3 BB/9, a 48.8 percent ground-ball rate and a strong 23.4 percent weak-contact rate. President of baseball ops John Mozeliak tells Hummel that he’s long been excited about “Tui,” but the righty simply hasn’t had consistent opportunities until late in the year. “I think he finished strong, and I think he helped himself,” said Mozeliak.
  • While the Cardinals’ bullpen gets much of the blame for the team missing the postseason, Bernie Miklasz of ESPN 101 points out that St. Louis relievers ranked well in both ERA and Win Probability Added — even late in the year after the loss of Trevor Rosenthal. However, the starting rotation faltered significantly, Miklasz writes, failing to make it to the fifth inning in six of the team’s final 13 games and posting an ERA just shy of 5.00 over the Cardinals’ final 42 games of the year. While there’s undoubtedly work to be done in the ’pen this winter, the rotation indeed looks like an area in need of reinforcements as well. Lance Lynn is set to hit the open market, and Adam Wainwright is undergoing arthroscopic elbow surgery tomorrow — further creating uncertainty on the starting staff.

Phillies Notes: Galvis, Hernandez, Bowa, Mackanin

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Freddy Galvis’ pinch-hit double for the Phillies on Sunday may very well have been his final plate appearance with the team, writes CSNPhilly.com’s Jim Salisbury. Top prospect J.P. Crawford arrived in the Majors in September, and while he hardly set the world on fire with the bat (.214/.356/.300 in 87 plate appearances), he still could land the team’s Opening Day shortstop job next year. It’s likely that general manager Matt Klentak will shop both Galvis and second baseman Cesar Hernandez this winter, writes Salisbury, as the team will want to get a look at its potential middle infield of the future — Crawford and top second base prospect Scott Kingery — in 2018.

Galvis, 27, posted an uninspiring .255/.309/.382 batting line in 2017 but played in all 162 games and has generally received strong marks for his glovework at short. He’ll be due a raise on this year’s $4.35MM salary and is controlled through 2018. Hernandez, meanwhile, posted a .294 average that is identical to his 2016 mark with a .373 OBP (up marginally from .371) with improved power output. After slugging .393 last year, the 27-year-old slugged .421 with 26 doubles, six triples and nine homers in 2017. A solid defender himself, Hernandez is controlled through 2020 and will be arb-eligible for the first time this winter.

More on the Phils…

  • The Phillies have informed bench coach Larry Bowa that they want him to remain in the organization next year, reports Bob Brookover of the Philadelphia Inquirer. However, it doesn’t seem likely that it’d be in the same role, as the team has also informed the coaching staff that whoever is hired as Pete Mackanin’s replacement in the dugout will have the ability to name his own staff. Bowa could be retained as an instructor at multiple minor league levels next year, per Brookover, though he’s yet to make a decision and likely won’t do so until he meets with the team later this week. Bowa could certainly have value in that capacity; Galvis told Salisbury in the previously linked column that Bowa played a significant role in honing his own defensive skills.
  • Recently dismissed manager Pete Mackanin spoke to MLB.com’s Ben Harris about his new role in the Phillies’ front office as a special assistant to Klentak. In his new role, Mackanin will evaluate players both in the Phillies organization and on other teams to help the front office in trade decisions, and he more generally stated that he’ll be an advisor to Klentak and his staff on a variety of baseball operations issues. As Mackanin points out, he’s played, coached and managed in both the minors and Majors in addition to previous work as a big league scout, so he’ll have plenty of experience to offer the Phillies. Mackanin revealed that he’s been given permission to pursue other opportunities with other teams if presented, but the 66-year-old also suggested that he doesn’t have plans to do so. “I would truly like to be here when this team wins,” he said.

Quick Hits: Otani, Rangers, Rays, Cozart, Paulino

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Little is known about Shohei Otani’s preferred destination if he makes the jump to Major League Baseball this offseason, though in a profile of the two-way star, Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times wonders if Otani’s reputation as a “yakyu shonen” (as Hernandez puts it, “basically, a kid who lives, eats and breathes baseball”) could provide some hints.  Otani is believed to be intent on coming to MLB for competitive reasons given his outward lack of interest in money.  For this same reason, Otani may not necessarily be swayed by a wealthy team like the Dodgers or Yankees, according to Hiroshi Sasaki, Otani’s former high school coach.  When choosing schools, Otani chose to play for a lower-profile high school closer to home rather than accept offers from larger programs.

Here’s more from around baseball as we head into the postseason…

  • The Rangers seem like one of the four or five teams most likely to sign Otani, and possibly the favorite “if it comes down to the dollars available and a college-recruiting like pitch,” Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News writes as part of a reader chat.  Still, Grant doesn’t believe any team has more than a 15-18% chance of signing Otani, since any number of factors could influence his choice.
  • Perhaps with this in mind, the Rays are also “sincere” about their interest in Otani, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times writes.  The Rays usually don’t have the financial resources to compete for blue-chip international talent, though Otani’s situation presents a unique opportunity.  The Rays can offer Otani a chance to both pitch and hit, and they can point to their willingness to let fourth overall pick Brendan McKay be a two-way player as an example of their flexibility.
  • The Nationals have shown interest in Zack Cozart in the past and could be a fit for the free agent shortstop this winter, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe opines.  It may hinge on whether or not the Reds issue Cozart a qualifying offer, though if the Nats did make a move, Cozart would take over at short and Trea Turner could shift to center field.  (This would also move Adam Eaton to left field to replace free agent Jayson Werth.)  Defensive metrics indicate that Turner’s glovework is better as a shortstop than as a center fielder, though it may still be too early in Turner’s young career to make that call one way or the other.  Cozart, of course, is one of the game’s better defenders and is coming off an outstanding season at the plate.
  • Astros righty David Paulino recently underwent surgery to remove bone spurs from his throwing elbow but is expected to be ready for Spring Training, the team announced (MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart has the details).  Paulino was placed on the 60-day DL just as he was eligible to be activated following an 80-game PED suspension.  The 23-year-old was cited on top-100 prospect lists from Baseball America (51st), MLB.com (54th) and Baseball Prospectus (83rd) prior to the season and he has gotten cups of coffee in each of Houston’s last two seasons, with a 6.25 ERA over 36 big-league innings.

Mets Notes: Alderson, Warthen, Payroll

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The latest from Citi Field…

  • Sandy Alderson said he’ll be back with the Mets next season, the general manager told Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News and other reporters.  It has been widely expected that Alderson would return to the front office in 2018 even though his contract is up at the end of this season.  (There have been no details about an extension, and one may not yet exist, other than perhaps a handshake deal between Alderson and Mets ownership.)  There is some question as to whether or not Alderson will continue as GM, as there have been rumors that assistant general manager John Rizzo could take a larger role in the baseball operations department.  “I am very happy with the [front office] personnel we have.  The question is do we have the right organization structure, do we have all the right things that a season like this would cause us to take a look at.”
  • Noah Syndergaard gave pitching coach Dan Warthen a strong vote of confidence, telling Ackert and other reporters that “in my opinion, I think he is what’s best for our pitching staff and I want him to be my pitching coach for the remainder of my career.”  With a managerial change in the offing, there has naturally been speculation about the Mets’ coaching staff, with Warthen potentially on the way out after nine and a half years as the pitching coach.
  • Better health (especially with the starting rotation) is the biggest roster concern facing the Mets, Alderson said, via James Wagner of the New York Times.  The Mets’ offseason shopping list includes one or two hitters and Alderson likes the “foundation of the bullpen,” which could imply that New York will be looking for complementary arms to build around AJ Ramos, Jeurys Familia and Jerry Blevins.
  • The Mets are likely to cut salaries for next season, with Joel Sherman of the New York Post hearing that the payroll would drop as much as $20MM from their Opening Day 2017 payroll of just under $155MM.  Sherman lists five offseason moves the Mets could make while spending modestly, including getting mid-tier relievers or innings-eatings starters, addressing second and third base (including exercising Asdrubal Cabrera’s club option) and installing Juan Lagares as the regular center fielder to upgrade the outfield defense.

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