2021 New York Mets Offseason Thread

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

7 minutes ago, '7' said:

NY is not THAT big a deterrent. I mean it is to a point...but we should've had someone hired by now. This is something else clearly and too weird to simply say people are scared of NY. 

Scared of NY, no.

Scared (or leery) of the Mets, maybe.

Scared of Cohen and Sandy, definitely.  And as we've said many times before, Cohen learning the hardest way possible that all of the money in the world can't buy you prestige and respect.  He's truly become a person non grata in MLB.  And as I continue to wonder...what the hell are people saying about him behind the scenes?  NO ONE wants to come here...I get some people not being interested in New York, or the Mets, but EVERYONE?!

I can see Sandy resigning...I gotta imagine he's in "Why the hell did I come back here?" mode.   

['7']

17 hours ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

Scared of NY, no.

Scared (or leery) of the Mets, maybe.

Scared of Cohen and Sandy, definitely.  And as we've said many times before, Cohen learning the hardest way possible that all of the money in the world can't buy you prestige and respect.  He's truly become a person non grata in MLB.  And as I continue to wonder...what the hell are people saying about him behind the scenes?  NO ONE wants to come here...I get some people not being interested in New York, or the Mets, but EVERYONE?!

I can see Sandy resigning...I gotta imagine he's in "Why the hell did I come back here?" mode.   

I have no clue what could make him seem like such a pariah? I mean most of the nonsense he inherited here has been festering from the Wilpons. Wouldn't they know that he wants to clean it up? What exactly is floating around behind the scenes that are making people so afraid of this job? Is it just Sandy? Or does Cohen already have a reputation of being an awful owner to work for behind the scenes?

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

44 minutes ago, '7' said:

I have no clue what could make him seem like such a pariah? I mean most of the nonsense he inherited here has been festering from the Wilpons. Wouldn't they know that he wants to clean it up? What exactly is floating around behind the scenes that are making people so afraid of this job? Is it just Sandy? Or does Cohen already have a reputation of being an awful owner to work for behind the scenes?

I don't either, but there's gotta be a reason why NO ONE wants to come work here, even in positions that represent a promotion and a real chance to be "the man" in building a team.  Like I said, in complete spite of themselves, the Wilpons could at least get people to come in for interviews.  Cohen has been continually stiff-armed.  It's hard to believe, but somehow this guy (in one season as owner) has managed to facilitate a worse rep than the Wilpons.  Like you, I have no idea why...on the WFAN today, it was suggested that BVW could be telling people to steer clear, but his experience was with the Wilpons, and why would anyone listen to Brodie anyway?  He'll be remember for making a colossal all-time trainwreck of a trade (we know which one) than he'll ever be for anything worthwhile.

What Cohen really should do is hire a PR department to help him with a serious image makeover.  It's clear that having lots of money and trying to be "one of us" is not working at all.  Potential execs either see him as a flat-out bad guy, or simply just a bad guy to work for.  But if this team is ever going to have any future success, this can't continue to be a place that's just universally blackballed.      

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

God when you read Scott Boras’ quotes re:  Michael Conforto, it reminds you what a complete unlikable douchebag Boras is.  Hey Scott…solid OPS aside, your client is a complete loser…no one expects him to come through in big spots…he scares no one.  

Edited November 11, 2021 by Colorado Rockies 1976

[NJDevs4978]

So basically a tank search that leads to Sandy pulling the strings, great

And yeah Bora$ is a first class douche (though I could easily picture Conforto being next year’s Steven Matz and finally being consistent outside of NY) but Sandy doesn’t do himself any favors trying to go tit for tat with his ‘comedy’ that Met fans don’t find funny when the team sucks, as it has most of his two tenures.

Edited November 11, 2021 by NJDevs4978

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Sandy’s largely been a disaster for most of his time here…I don’t expect him to suddenly improve.

Matz did pitch pretty well down the stretch, but was also pretty crappy for a couple of months too.  Not so sure he’s magically figured anything out.

This has been a trainwreck of an offseason already.  Which is exactly what I would’ve expected with fvcking Sandy involved.  

Edited November 11, 2021 by Colorado Rockies 1976

[NJDevs4978]

Now the latest rumor is the Mets are waiting out Stearns who’s on the last year of his deal, which is all well and good long term IF it works out, but at this rate I’m fully expecting him to re-up at the last minute 

 

Edited November 11, 2021 by NJDevs4978

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Seriously, could this whole mess be any more...METS?!

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Oh shut up Scott:

Scott Boras calls out MLB on tanking: 'We have got a real cancer in our game' (msn.com)

The problem Scotty is that baseball, as you should well know, is made up of small, mid, and big market teams.  There's wildly different amounts of money that these teams can afford to spend on players.  Some teams can only afford young, cheap talent, during their early years, where they're never going to be more cost-effective then they will be for those first 3 years or so, before they start to clean up in arbitration.  You do a killer job getting your clients a lot of money...as douchey and as hard to listen to as you often are, no one could really say that you're not good at what you do.  But the premium to be paid for many free agents (or soon-to-be free agents) means that some teams have to attempt to compete on the cheap...that means windows of opportunity with young players, hopefully having young guys to replace those players with from within, and yes, having to tank to hopefully nail high picks as you accrue them.

But yeah, in the current system, there's likely to be 10-13 teams with little designs on "trying" to win, and why should they?  So they can overpay a couple of mid-tier guys in FA who won't move the needle much?  So that they can maybe win 80 games or so?  At that point, yeah, might as well shoot for 65 wins, take your picks, build from within, and hope it pays off.  

As much as I despise Boras, I can't really call HIM a cancer...as long as there are owners and GMs willing to pay for Boras' players, the problem lies with them...but if Boras is so concerned about teams not trying, then tell one of your players to go sign with a less-wealthy team who could really use one of his players to take a discount.  I'm not a fan of tanking either, but what the hell do you want Scott?  What's your solution?

Edited November 11, 2021 by Colorado Rockies 1976

[NJDevs4978]

The truly laughable part of that whole schpiel (not in this piece) was his sour grapes over a .500 Braves team being alive and getting a few players at the deadline and that being the only reason they won, as if the 100-win teams out West didn’t also benefit from ‘low cost’ acquisitions and make even splashier moves at the deadline. But I’m sure Bora$ clients Kris Bryant and Max Scherzer would have rather just finished their season playing meaningless baseball in Chicago and Washington.

Edited November 11, 2021 by NJDevs4978

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

3 minutes ago, NJDevs4978 said:

The truly laughable part of that whole schpiel (not in this piece) was his sour grapes over a .500 Braves team being alive and getting a few players at the deadline, as if the 100-win teams out West didn’t also benefit from ‘low cost’ acquisitions and make even splashier moves at the deadline. But I’m sure Bora$ clients Kris Bryant and Max Scherzer would have rather just finished their season playing meaningless baseball in Chicago and Washington.

The Braves did what a smart, well-run franchise does...there's a reason why they're continually competitive, and why even when they're in a valley, it doesn't seem like it's too long before they find a way out of it. 

Boras can go screw.  Just stay in your fvcking lane and get your clients every last penny...like I said, you're terrific at that.  No one wants to hear from you about anything else...even your voice makes people's skin crawl.  You're an irritating nudge...god, the way he blows up his players to be SO much more than they are just makes you wish you could ram your fist right into his annoying face.  

['7']

On 11/11/2021 at 7:28 AM, NJDevs4978 said:

Now the latest rumor is the Mets are waiting out Stearns who’s on the last year of his deal, which is all well and good long term IF it works out, but at this rate I’m fully expecting him to re-up at the last minute 

 

 

Of course what will really happen is we will finally get the opportunity and probably lose Stearns to some other team in the 11th hour during the 2022 offseason

[NJDevs4978]

If I didn't know better I'd swear this was a George move, he used to love to tweak us like this by bringing in all sorts of ex-Mets.  But vaya con dios, he'll probably be more than fine as a behind the scenes coach.

[NJDevs4978]

Whoopee the Mets finally have a GM and someone they could have had weeks ago before about fifteen nos, whatever at least it's not the guy from the lawfirm so maybe Sandy won't be as omnipresent, one good thing at least

 

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

So basically, the Mets got the one guy in baseball who actually wanted the job.

I have no reaction really, other than "Well he's our GM now, guess we gotta give him a chance and see what he does."  Hopefully Sandy is not involved in the baseball side of things anymore.  

[NJDevs4978]

Huh? What the hell are they offering, $25-30 million? And they’re giving us compensation for a one year deal since he’s turning down the QO?

[NJDevs4978]

Basically $2.5 million more than the QO, so either he didn’t want to stay or we’d rather have the draft pick instead of a one year deal

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

3 hours ago, NJDevs4978 said:

Basically $2.5 million more than the QO, so either he didn’t want to stay or we’d rather have the draft pick instead of a one year deal

It's not like the Mets aren't familiar with having to live without Syndergaard.  They've done it over the past two seasons, save for a pair of innings.  He was meh the season before that.  And overall has been more hittable than he should be.  Oh well, soyonara.    

['7']

To me it's not a huge loss. He is too much in love with his own myth of Thor, the long hair, the nordic imagery, being some sort of 100mph unhittable fireballer. Well he's not that, he hasn't been that in forever...he hasn't developed the cerebral part of his game and we can't be sure he will hold up physically. He's more hype than reality at this point...and he's probably another in a long list of people associated with this franchise that's fed up with things. You know the way we're treated you'd think this team is the absolute worst and most pitiful organization in baseball. The reputation we have hanging over our head is absolutely wretched. The Wilpons left and things somehow got worse

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

16 minutes ago, '7' said:

To me it's not a huge loss. He is too much in love with his own myth of Thor, the long hair, the nordic imagery, being some sort of 100mph unhittable fireballer. Well he's not that, he hasn't been that in forever...he hasn't developed the cerebral part of his game and we can't be sure he will hold up physically. He's more hype than reality at this point...and he's probably another in a long list of people associated with this franchise that's fed up with things. You know the way we're treated you'd think this team is the absolute worst and most pitiful organization in baseball. The reputation we have hanging over our head is absolutely wretched. The Wilpons left and things somehow got worse

Yeah, he's got a little bit of Harvey in him, in that just like Matt was all about "The Dark Knight" crap, Syndergaard seemed more interested in being this "Thor" caricature than a real pitcher.  I'd say that Harvey (in his short prime) was actually more of a real pitcher than Noah ever was.  Syndergaard seemed content to just try to power his way through everything, instead of developing the mental side of his game, just like you said.  The sad thing is he had a PERFECT role model to follow in deGrom...a guy who wasn't ever worried about being a character or a nickname, but who simply wanted to be the best that he could.  No BS with him.    

As far as the Mets' rep thing goes...believe what you will, but according to the WFAN (Boomer and Greg), the word is that people are far from bullish about working with/for Sandy (and not thrilled about his son being involved).  Color me not remotely surprised...this really needs to be Sandy's last season here.  At least we can bury the myth that Sandy's this great respected baseball man (among people who matter, anyway).  

[NJDevs4978]

Angels take another Mets pitcher

Too bad we lost this guy after a great year, the Mets definitely have work to do with their pitching 

Apparently he got a 2 year, $17 million deal…8.5 a year is a lot for most non closers but it’s only money yet we keep coming up a day late and a dollar short

Edited November 22, 2021 by NJDevs4978

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

A lot of money for Loup, but the guy was really friggin’ good last year.  Would‘ve liked him back, but guess Sandy was too busy blowing out birthday candles.  (I know the Mets have a GM, but I still think Sandy is likely involved in player transactions…probably TOO involved.)

[NJDevs4978]

Dear god, only the Mets would needlessly throw this guy out with the trash to get bupkus back then overpay to get him back after a career year

 

Edited November 23, 2021 by NJDevs4978

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Complete joke if they sign him.  Which Matz are they getting?  The one who pretty much sucked from 4/23 through 7/28 (5.38 ERA, .301 BAA)?  Or the one who pitched pretty well down the stretch but only averages about 5 IP per start?

Enough when just right for him in that his year looks better than it really was.  14 wins and a season ERA under 4.00.  His WHIP last season was 1.334 (right around his career WHIP)...he's a completely ordinary pitcher, nothing more.  This is not a guy you sign if you're looking to improve significantly...great, he personally went 14-7, but the Jays went 15-14 overall in games Matz started.  Mets probably won't get any better results than that, and I consider that absolute top-end.

This is the latest case of Sandy and Co signing some "unheralded underrated asset", hoping to surprise...except Sandy never seems to hit on these kinds of signings.  I could see Matz going 8-14 with an ERA over 5.00...would that shock anyone?  

[NJDevs4978]

To be fair a 4.3 ERA in the AL East might be 4 or 3.9 in most other divisions, but yeah at best it just comes off as not evaluating your own properly to do an about face a year later. They cashed in on him for Sean-Reid Foley and let Lucchesi and David Peterson be the #5 then had zero depth when Noah and Carrasco were out longer than expected.

What’s even more annoying is they arguably lost Noah and Loup over a couple million (and a second round pick in Noah’s case) then you turn around and overpay Matz?! Matz I’m fine with if money is no object and you bring in like five or six other pitchers with him but if that’s our key target this offseason, yikes. It’s like what they pulled with McCann last offseason, just throw a lot of money at a second tier option early.

 

Edited November 23, 2021 by NJDevs4978