Official 2013 New York Mets Thread

[nmigliore]

Marlon Byrd is signing with the Phillies for 2 years. I would've liked him back for 2/16ish but we'll see what the terms are. There's also the chance he completely falls apart again, so yeah, I'm not going to cry either way.

 

The Mets have been connected heavily to Granderson and Peralta so far, which I'm okay with. Alderson basically shot down any possibility of pursuing Ellsbury or Choo. Sure seems like they will go the strategy of pursuing mid-tier types like Granderson, Peralta, maybe Corey Hart for 1B, etc. I'd be happy signing those three and trading Ike or Duda to an AL team, maybe the Rays for Matt Joyce. Josh Johnson and Scott Kazmir are by far my favorite 2 starting pitchers to pursue. 

Edited November 12, 2013 by nmigliore

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Marlon Byrd is signing with the Phillies for 2 years. I would've liked him back for 2/16ish but we'll see what the terms are. 

 

The Mets have been connected heavily to Granderson and Peralta so far, which I'm okay with. Alderson basically shot down at possibility of pursuing Ellsbury or Choo.

 

Admittedly, it's easy to go into "Here we go again with the fvcking Wilpons, thinking small as always", and Sandy's passive, meek nature as the Met GM makes it even easier, but I think both Ellsbury and Choo are going to be overpaid for what they are.  I can't kill Sandy for not throwing his hat into those rings, and at least they're not going to do the half-assed "well we tried" crap. 

 

I would've liked Byrd back too, but it would've been risky.  I'd like to see the terms too.

 

Boomer and Carton said it perfectly...basically said that if the Mets then say that Granderson is too rich for their blood, then they're a joke.  I actually don't have a problem with the Mets not going too crazy with signings this year, with Harvey being out for the season, and the FA crop this season is not great, meaning there will be overpayments.  But if nothing is happening next offseason, I am going to be furious.  Hopefully, at the very least, the Mets will have a pitching staff that does its job well enough that they don't necessarily have to go out and get huge bats. 

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

And I know this isn't Met-related, but what a complete joke:

 

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/9965245/turner-field-demolished-atlanta-braves-leave-new-stadium-2017-mayor-says

 

How the fvck can a stadium that the Braves have been playing in for a whopping 16 seasons already be obsolete?  Especially when renovations were made in 2005.  I know the "Ted' got kind of meh reviews when it opened, but it's not like the Kingdome, which was a trainwreck upon its opening.  I just think knocking down a decent ballpark after roughly 20 years of play is ridiculous. 

[nmigliore]

$16M over 2 years for Byrd, which is exactly what I expected. I would've been totally fine with that but again, there's enough risk there that I won't lose sleep over it. In a maybe-good-way, it also prevents the front office from bringing Byrd back and claiming he's their "big get" in the outfield. Byrd would have been a nice re-addition, but more so as a complimentary piece to another player.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Deal is fair, for sure, but is really contingent on Byrd performing at close to last year's level.  Playing in the Phillie bandbox should be nice for his power numbers (if he gets off to a hot start for the Phils, and the Mets start slow, there's going to be plenty o' bitching on the WFAN and just about everywhere else for that matter). 

 

And one thing Sandy needs to stop doing is being a smart ass in the papers.  It wasn't funny when he did little with the outfield last year, despite it being a glaring need.  He got very lucky with Byrd having a "from out of nowhere" season, and EY playing over his head for a while, otherwise that outfield could've been an expansion team-type disaster.  And now he's cracking jokes about his financial situation, basically saying all the Mets have is a stack of five-dollar bills to spend, and that the stack isn't very high.

 

Hey Sandy, if you don't want the job, or don't think you can do it...then get the fvck out.  There's GMs who find ways to get it done and be competitive under payroll restraints.   

 

Like I've said, I don't have a problem with him not overpaying the top FAs of a meh class, and I can even live with another 75-win type season, provided guys like Syndergaard and Montero show progress and get their feet wet next season, but I get the feeling that Passive is going to try to sell us on a full season of EY, and how Duda still has potential, hey Furcal can help us, blah blah blah.  I just have a hunch that this team is coming back more or less intact, with very slight improvements. 

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

This is good news...would love to see Syndergaard get about as much time as Wheeler did in the majors last season:

 

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/11/08/report-mets-plan-to-put-noah-syndergaard-on-fast-track/

[nmigliore]

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The Astros, Brewers, Orioles, Rays and Rockies have all inquired with the Mets about Ike Davis, CBSSports.com reported. 

The Mets expect to trade a first baseman -- Davis or Lucas Duda -- this offseason, and team officials appear to prefer dealing Davis. 

One team official said this week a half-dozen teams have at least expressed interest. The official added that the Mets could wait until deeper into the offseason to trade a first baseman, when free-agent prices and availability prompt more teams to investigate trades.

 

I'm 100% for trading Ike and/or Duda, but I'm not expecting much in return. I know I threw out a possible Matt Joyce-for-Ike Davis swap, which would be nice, but that seems more like the best outcome. But anyway, it's still good to see they are drumming up interest.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

I really don't want to see Doofus in a Met uniform ever again...the guy hits some home runs and draws some walks, but simply isn't any good.  He's had multiple chances to build off 2011, and hasn't done it.  Sandy needs to move on from him...don't even try to sell me on him Sandy. 

 

Ike is intriguing from the standpoint that he started getting on base like crazy once he came back up.  That's not necessarily what could make him valuable (the Mets need him to hit, and with power), but I would give him one more chance, just to see if he can put it together from the beginning of the season.  I'm pretty sure any team that is interested in Davis is looking to buy as low as possible...the Mets would basically be giving him away.  I could live with that if Doofus wasn't the other option.  Either option isn't exactly ideal, but I feel like Doofus has zero upside.   

Edited November 13, 2013 by Colorado Rockies 1976

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Scott Boras trying to be clever and failing miserably:

 

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/9972675/scott-boras-bashes-new-york-mets-chicago-cubs-houston-astros

 

I know this tool is very good at his job, strictly from a "get my client as much $$$ as possible standpoint, at the expense of everything else", but he's just such a DICK.  Sorry Scott, not every organization is stupid for not falling over themselves to sign your clients to absurd dollars.  Yes, the Mets have gotten their fair share of deserved criticism lately, but does this ass think cracking jokes will get the Mets to say "Geez, Scott's making astronaut jokes, we'd better overpay for his client immediately?"  fvck Boras.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Spend less time on the radio and more time improving the team Sandy.  No one is going to believe a word you say until you deliver...both you and the Wilpons have done nothing to earn the trust of Mets fans.  End of story. 

 

http://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/mets/sandy-alderson-we-re-not-testing-the-market-we-want-to-do-something-1.6445885

Edited November 16, 2013 by Colorado Rockies 1976

[nmigliore]

I'm so tired of Alderson's shtick. He loves talking up a big offseason game and cracking jokes, most of which are a shot at his OWN TEAM. Just shut up already and put words into action. He deserves kudos for a few trades (Beltran, Dickey), contract extensions (Dickey, Niese), and squeaking great value out of Byrd for pennies, but otherwise his tenure has been incredibly passive/boring/uncreative. Are we sure we aren't in the same place with some run of the mill GM at the helm after Omar was canned? (Oh yeah, friendly reminder that Harvey was an Omar-era pick). It's clearly not all his fault given the mess Omar made and the Wilpons' tightening purse strings, but still, I expected more. Maybe this offseason will finally shed some light and make me look foolish for questioning Sandy's abilities to GM a team in this day/age.

Edited November 16, 2013 by nmigliore

['7']

Alderson seems coldly detached from the plight of the Mets fan...he really doesn't know how deep it cuts when he cracks jokes about money or last years "what outfield" sometimes it seems like he's basically acting like this is a retirement gig for him and he really doesn't give a sh!t if the ships gets turned around or sinks. I just wish he was more in touch and realize that there are thousands of fans who make large financial investments in this team...and you can't have the GM insulting the franchise and its current state of affairs

 

Can anybody here imagine Lou going "What offense?" or "yea another crowd like Friday and we'll have to start curtaining off the entire upper deck"

 

No! Because he treats the logo with respect, while Sandy walks all over.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Sandy is starting to strike me as a guy that doesn't have a whole lot of passion for being the Met GM (for all of their flaws, I do believe that Omar Minaya and Steve Phillips at least had THAT)...I wonder if he ever really did...not like he was all that thrilled about taking the job to begin with.  Clearly, the Met GM job isn't an easy one, and it comes with serious challenges...starting with dealing with the incompetents who own the team (and aren't going anywhere). 

 

But if Sandy has reached that stage in his life where he's not really interested in giving any more of himself than he has to, and doesn't have that much energy...then quit.  If you're as unhappy in your job as you seem to be (does a guy taking shots at his franchise and cracking lame jokes really seem like someone who really wants to be here?), then just go.   

 

Not going to give Sandy major kudos for the Beltran, Dickey, or Byrd.  Beltran was playing well enough and had a good enough rep and track record that Sandy was going to get something of significance for him.  Dickey had a career year at just the right time...Cy Young Award winners are going to also bring back a nice return...basically, Sandy was able to cash in on two teams that were in "Go for it" mode.   

 

Byrd was complete blind luck...a what-the-hell stopgap move that actually paid dividends.  No way Sandy dreamed he'd do anything close to what he did. 

 

nmig stated it perfectly...very little creativity and excitement in the Alderson era.  Much more meek, passive and "woe is me" more than anything else.

[NJDevs4978]

Everyone knew Sandy was kind of nudged into the job by Bud to turn the Mets around.  He hasn't done it, and I don't know how long the statute on him staying lasts but it's not like he doesn't have capable lieutenants with GM experience (DiPodesta, the other guy who was the Jays' GM) that would be able to take over.

 

7 had a pretty good contrast with Lou/Sandy.  Sandy's as tone-deaf as the Wilpons are.  

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Everyone knew Sandy was kind of nudged into the job by Bud to turn the Mets around.  He hasn't done it, and I don't know how long the statute on him staying lasts but it's not like he doesn't have capable lieutenants with GM experience (DiPodesta, the other guy who was the Jays' GM) that would be able to take over.

 

7 had a pretty good contrast with Lou/Sandy.  Sandy's as tone-deaf as the Wilpons are.  

 

In defense of Sandy, his plan was never a quick-fix one, and he did inherit a mess (and had some bad luck, like Santana breaking down, and now Harvey being out for 2014) so I can't get on him for the team not having contended with him as GM to date.  His original plan called for patience. 

 

But his public behavior this season and last is inexcusable...no other way to put it.  His quotes are terrible (what the fvck kind of salesman are you Sandy?!), and like nmig said, don't talk the big fvcking game if you can't deliver.  I think most Met fans are actually being pretty fair...I think most of them were not ticked off that the Mets aren't going to add $100 millon deals to the 2014-and-beyond payroll.  I think we're fine with some mid-tier signings that make sense and have the potential to get the Mets to low-to-mid 80s win totals...if the focus is on 2015 to REALLY try to go for it, and possibly THEN add a big contract, with 2014 being a building block, I can get behind that.

 

But I feel like there's a better than 50-50 shot that Sandy will be telling us he was in on the guys he was "targeting", he really was, right until the end...but in the end, he just couldn't make it happen.  Then he'll try to tell us how EY solidified the leadoff spot (even though he really didn't...he was lousy after his first month as a Met), and he'll talk up how Syndergaard might be a mid-season call-up, and how D'Arnaud wil be getting his first full MLB season, blah blah blah.

 

Sandy will make SOME moves, but I'm starting to get the sinking feeling they'll be more lateral, stop-gap, what-the-hell moves, and though Byrd was a nice story, those kind of moves don't usually pay off that handsomely.  I really hope Sandy proves me wrong, but I have almost no confidence in him to get anything truly productive done.      

[nmigliore]

LOL:

 

Robinson Cano a Met? It sounds outlandish on the surface, but Cano put his best man on the job Monday night.

Yes, it turns out Jay Z is as hands-on as promised. So hands-on he’s willing to shop his client across the RFK Bridge into Flushing.

The hip-hop impresario joined Mets COO Jeff Wilpon, general manager Sandy Alderson and assistant general manager John Ricco for dinner at a posh Manhattan hotel to discuss Cano’s free agency, two sources familiar with the situation told The Post. Cano’s group, which also featured agents Brodie Van Wagenen and Juan Perez, initiated the meeting; Cano himself didn’t attend.

 

Alderson doesn't want to hand out any $100M contracts, so we'll meet with the agent of Robinson Cano, the likely $200M man. Okay, then. In fairness, it was arrange by Cano's reps, not the Mets, and it would be stupid to turn it down, I suppose. But this will just continue the usual: build up expectations and act like you were seriously in on every big name player only to walk away with scrap like David Murphy, Nate McLouth, Clint Barmes, and Bronson Arroyo. Yawn. 

Edited November 19, 2013 by nmigliore

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Waste of time, unless the Mets are trying to be stealthy about the amount of money they really do have to spend (which we know they're not). 

 

Arroyo actually wouldn't be that bad of a pickup...he competes, and he's put up ERAs of 3.74 and 3.79 the past two seasons (26-22 record), while pitching in a bandbox to boot, and he never misses a start.  Wouldn't be a bad "hold the fort" type for a year, until Harvey comes back.   

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Mets add four to 40-man roster:

 

http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/mets/post/_/id/79685/mets-add-4-to-40-man-roster

 

DeGrom, who as the article states, gets overlooked with all of the attention paid to Syndergaard and Montero.  Didn't exactly have "Wow!"-type numbers overall last season, but pitched decently in Vegas (didn't give up a lot of HRs, had decent control).  Could get a shot if some arms aren't ready to go in spring training, or if some arms go on the DL during the year...based on last season, that's an excellent possibility. 

[nmigliore]

DeGrom, Walters, and Matz were all must-adds. There was apparently some debate as to whether Matz would be added, which is weird considering he's the best LHP prospect in the system and would've certainly been scooped up fast in the Rule 5 Draft, but thankfully they didn't screw that up. 

 

The team doesn't have any open spots on their 40-man but there is plenty of dead weight to come off; possibly one of Ike or Duda with a trade, Quintanilla, Valdespin, Atchison, Nieuwenhuis, Lutz. Harvey and Hefner will also be 60-day DL'd eventually.

Edited November 21, 2013 by nmigliore

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Yeah, Mets were doing this for Rule 5 protection.  Makes sense. 

 

And yeah, there are bodies on the 40-man that don't have much business being there...some of them will be gone.

['7']

Mets have signed outfielder Chris Young formerly of the A's. 1 year deal

 

http://www.amazinavenue.com/2013/11/22/5133038/new-york-mets-chris-young-deal-contract-sign

 

Has speed and some pop. But his avg and obp have been in a steady slide since 2010. 4th outfielder type.

 

7.25 million. ick

Edited November 22, 2013 by '7'

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Wow, that's awesome.

 

fvck the Wilpons.

 

http://www.amazinavenue.com/2013/11/21/5131836/new-york-mets-wilpons-payroll-sandy-alderson?utm_source=amazinavenue&utm_medium=nextclicks&utm_campaign=blogs

[nmigliore]

I like the Young signing. He was top 20 in OF fWAR from 2010-2012. He's only 30. Silly to write off a player based on 375 PA with a .237 BABIP in one year. My biggest fear with this is the role he's used in. Ideally he's a short-side platoon player in a corner OF or a starter/insurance policy to Lagares in CF. If the Mets try to push him as an everyday player in a corner, we got problems. 

Edited November 22, 2013 by nmigliore

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

I like the Young signing. He was top 20 in OF fWAR from 2010-2012. He's only 30. Silly to write off a player based on 375 PA with a .237 BABIP in one year. My biggest fear with this is the role he's used in. Ideally he's a short-side platoon player in a corner OF or a starter/insurance policy to Lagares in CF. If the Mets try to push him as an everyday player in a corner, we got problems. 

 

I think that might be where this is going.  Sandy hoping Young somehow becomes Byrd 2.0. 

[nmigliore]

Yeah it also seems unlikely Sandy would blow $7M+ on a platoon player. So for now I'm in wait-and-see with this move. I like the idea of signing Young in general, but the role they have in mind for him is what will make or break my opinion on it. Starting CF over Lagares, sure. Short-side platoon player, sure. Starting corner outfielder? No thanks. The idea of he and Lagares making up 2/3 of the outfield would be scary. 

 

The Mets keep getting linked to Nelson Cruz, which is a disaster waiting to happen. There is an ENDLESS list of red flags there. I'm pretty much finished with Sandy if he signs him.

Edited November 22, 2013 by nmigliore