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Mets 2015-16 Offseason Thread


'7'

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3 years @ AAV of $12.5 mil per season.  He didn't get as many years as he wanted (he was probably thinking at least four), but the per-year seemed to be about what was being speculated.  

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Could be as simple as the Nats putting the best offer out there.  Taking the QO would have been as risky as accepting this offer.  If Murph had missed a slew of games due to injury or just not had a strong season, he would've left some pretty serious coin on the table. 

Too hard to say that Murph cost himself money down the line.  What's surprised me is how many people remember Murph's comments about Billy Bean and how he "disagrees with the gay lifestyle"...I admittedly hated his quotes about that at the time (they just came off as so backwards to me, for many reasons), but I didn't realize how many fans would hold that against him for this long. 

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2 hours ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

Could be as simple as the Nats putting the best offer out there.  Taking the QO would have been as risky as accepting this offer.  If Murph had missed a slew of games due to injury or just not had a strong season, he would've left some pretty serious coin on the table. 

Too hard to say that Murph cost himself money down the line.  What's surprised me is how many people remember Murph's comments about Billy Bean and how he "disagrees with the gay lifestyle"...I admittedly hated his quotes about that at the time (they just came off as so backwards to me, for many reasons), but I didn't realize how many fans would hold that against him for this long. 

There's probably some of the 'he's a rival player now so let's smear him' mentality Red Sox fans and management have had over the years...I don't really hold Murphy's comments against him, I don't actually think he was being hateful per se - more ignorant and nieve.  But anyone that grows up in the bible belt like he did is quite likely to hold the same or even more extremist views.

And maybe not taking the QO winds up costing him but it's really hard to make the case he should have taken the QO when he could easily have had less of a market even after next season than now (it seemed like it was limited as it was).  It's $37 million guaranteed vs. $17 million guaranteed, nobody's going to turn down that difference even if it was quite possible he could have made up the $20 million after this year in the next two years.  I don't think anyone was offering him a bigger contract this offseason either, it wasn't about spite.

Edited by NJDevs4978
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Has, re:  the fans ripping Murph, the ones I was mostly referring to were actually Nats fans who weren't thrilled with the signing...and some outsiders too, who basically think Murph is a zealot and a homophobe.  I was surprised that so many people (especially outside the NY market) remembered this stuff. 

I don't necessarily think Murph was being purely hateful either (though guys like him could stand to keep their opinions to themselves), but I do think a lot of his ilk are, and I don't like that there's a large portion of Christians who think nothing at all of telling homosexuals that they're all sinners and abominations who will eventually all burn in hell.  I don't know what the big friggin' deal is in what is about to be 2016, as far as homosexuality goes...there will always be people who are sexually wired to be attracted to those of their own sex, and they go through enough crap in life that they don't need to be told by a bunch of fairy-tale-believing zombie cultists that they're terrible and awful for daring to be true to who they really are.

Anyway, yeah, $15.8 mil guaranteed vs. $37.5 mil guaranteed for a guy who has gotten hurt, has some clear warts in his game, and is about to enter his age 31 year can't really be seen anything more than a reasonable risk on his part.  $37.5 mil is a lot of coin for a guy who's made less than half of that for his entire career to date. 

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Rumors are Cespedes is about to sign with Chicago for 5 years 84mil. 

Wow...honestly he's a steal for that kind of money. I'm going to be pretty pissed if those are the numbers. They essentially get him from 30-34 years old, 16.8 mil a year

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I was never in favor of the Mets bringing Cespedes back (and I'm still not), but I'd say that more than half of this fanbase was.  If that indeed is what Cespedes signs for, that more-than-half crowd will be furious.  The Wilpons never seem to have trouble getting their fanbase to find new reasons to hate them.  

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WTF!

Paul DePodesta just left the Mets to join the Browns

THE BROWNS. 

The hell is going on here? Why would anybody join the Browns for any reason? And if you're the Wilpons how do you lose any asset to this gutter dwelling franchise?

Edited by '7'
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Sandy did offer up a glowing assessment of Depo

"Paul completely reorganized the Mets scouting and player development functions and had an extraordinary impact in both areas, but he was also very directly involved in our trade and free agent acquisitions," Mets GM Sandy Alderson said in a statement. "His commitment to excellence and his passion for innovation will be missed by the Mets and all of Baseball."

 

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Well, it's also been announced that the Mets will be celebrating the 30th anniversary of the 1986 Mets.  Because this franchise hasn't gotten enough mileage out of that championship yet.  They're not quite as bad as the Rangers are with '94, but they're not lagging far behind either.

What an insane move for DePodesta...guess the guy really wanted a challenge.  Hard to think that the Browns didn't pull out all of the financial stops to make that happen. 

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Too bad.  He was a nice depth piece and simply a professional. 

Though I can't really kill Sandy and his assistants on the offseason moves made to date, with LaPodesta leaving (under circumstances that seem like they can only happen to the Mets) and the moves not being the kind that get fans excited, it feels like the Mets are going to have to get off to a big start right out of the gate to get fans to get jacked up again (they did this last season obviously in the short term, but they can't do that and putz around at .500 again through July). 

This is what I think the offseason is going to get remembered for, for now (a lot of accentuating the negative):

Not getting the guy they wanted in Zobrist (not arguing circumstances good or bad here, just pointing out that those who feel that the Mets never go the extra mile for "their" guy will say, "Yep, saw that comin'.  Same ol' Metsies."). 

Seeing Zobrist then sign with their competition.

Seeing Murphy also sign with another key competitor.

Eventually seeing Cespedes sign elsewhere.  The real Randy Quaid-types will say "Of course they didn't sign either guy" (though we all kind of already knew that, shouldn't have come as that big of a surprise).

A smattering of dull signings that reek of small-market penny-pinching and not "hey, we were close, let's get over the hump!"   

Duda and Wright being given endless opportunities to fail with seemingly no chance of ever being dealt (I get it with Wright, I don't with Duda). 

And a general feeling of "Is this Met team really better than the one that ended the 2015 season?"

 

What probably should be noted, but won't:

Murph's warts that never really went away and were on full display last season.  The postseason made a lot of people overlook that; on the flip side, Cespedes reminded us all in the postseason why he's never quite stuck with one team for too long...and why teams are taking their time not locking him up to the big money some other players have received.

Getting Niese off the books.  I think people forget how fragile both physically AND mentally this guy can be...and he had some good money coming to him if the Mets were to pick up his option years after 2016.  Neil Walker was a nice acquisition that made sense for a number of reasons, most of which is that he's a better fit in 2016 than Niese.  Starting pitching depth took a hit for sure, but one can argue that this was probably as good of a chance as any to get a useful piece back in a Niese deal. 

Getting Cabrera, who should be an upgrade over what was there (just don't know by how much).  Flores will never be a comfortable fielder, but at least he can get 400 or so AB with not too many of them coming as a SS. 

A full season of Michael Conforto, which is a hell of a lot more comforting than a full season of Michael Cuddyer. 

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Good for Mike!  Should've been a first-ballot, but some think he juiced.

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Definitely no excuse now, as far as having a number retirement ceremony goes.  Makes sense to have it with the Dodgers in town too...hell, Fred Wilpon is probably hoping Piazza goes in with a Dodger cap on.  

He was clearly a better player as a Dodger, but more memorable as a Met.  2001 and 2002 really say it all...even when Piazza was starting to decline, in those two seasons he was still a terrific hitter, especially for a catcher...most catchers would be thrilled to have peaked with Piazza's 2001 and 2002 seasons, and for Mike, those actually represented a little bit of a slide.  

And though he clearly had issues with baserunners, he was fine behind the plate defensively and actually quite good at handling  a pitching staff.  Read his book if you haven't yet...it's a good one, and he doesn't shy away at all about acknowledging his faults, both on and off the field.

Edited by Colorado Rockies 1976
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Sandy is apparently getting tired of the perception that the Mets aren't willing to spend money.  

Though I think he's gotten a reprieve from the fans for the moment, and that what he's actually said has a little merit, he has to understand that his team is still operating like a small-market franchise, and that a lot of fans still don't trust the franchise and continue to despise the easy-to-hate Wilpons.  It's going to take a while before fans trust the Mets again...even if the fact that they haven't spent big for the sake of spending has made some sense to date this offseason.  

That being said, the Mets continuing to spend $85 million or so on payroll would have been unacceptable unless the team had a number of can't-miss kids playing at several positions...Sandy can't make it sound like it's some major deal that the payroll has increased since then.  That's the kind of condescending nonsense that made him really easy to dislike previously.  

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It's not spending big for the sake spending ala Jason Bay. He needs a big bat now so it doesn't cost player assets later. You always have to overpay in free agency we all know that. But, having that dynamic bat in the lineup is the difference between running away with the division and staying in the race. Right now, the Mets are content on staying in the race and moving an asset later. We also have to think about that you always over pay for needs in terms of assets later. Not bringing back Cespedes turns into an over pay for a rental. Yes, he was great but we now have nothing to show for it and are forced to watch Fullmer turn into someone's else's gem.

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Two things:

1) Cespedes is not that good and is too risky to lavish big money on, and

2) Though it would have been nice to have kept Fuller, opinions on him vary.  Some think he may not even be a starter if he reaches the majors.  

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1) Cespedes is a better offensive player than anyone on the current roster. Defensively he was very good in center until he got hurt.

2) one of things that I admired about LL as the gm is he didn't believe in the rental, not that he never did but it wasn't his style. I hate the rental. A NY team should never have to go that route. The Mets made big money last year and stand to make bigger money this year. They need to spend and make the money back in the contract when it is still a value and settle for breaking even on that player.

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