MATZ JUST NOT FAIR!
Steven looks good but Met bats are dreadful again in shutout loss to Rays:
So what would constitute the type of outsidethe-box thinking that interim GM John Ricco said ownership would like to see from the Mets’ new front office?
Creativity primarily, if the team is going to hold as tightly to Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard as Ricco made it sound on Friday.
One person close to the situation says he expects the new front office, featuring Ricco, Omar Minaya, and J.P. Ricciardi as a triumvirate, to be aggressive in packaging players for potential trades, either as a way of maximizing the return or freeing up money that could be used in free agency.
For example: the Mets believe there is a fast-improving market for either Zack Wheeler or Steven Matz, in part because of the lack of quality starters available, but obviously neither is going to bring back what deGrom or Syndergaard could.
However, what if the Mets attached Jay Bruce to any deal involving Matz or Wheeler, as a way of unloading his contract?
And if taking the remainder of Bruce’s three-year, $39 million deal is too much for another team, the Mets could try to do the same with Jason Vargas, Anthony Swarzak, or even Todd Frazier, each of whom has one year remaining on their contracts.
Any such savings would add to the $36 million the Mets have coming off the payroll after the season from the contracts of Jeurys Familia, Jerry Blevins, Asdrubal Cabrera, A.J. Ramos, and Matt Harvey.
The problem there, of course, is that if they’re not using such money to make a run at 26-year old Manny Machado, they’re almost certainly spending on veterans in their 30s, as they did this past winter.
And while it’s hard to imagine them spending $300-plus million on Machado, based on the way they’ve operated since the Madoff scandal, it’s at least worth noting that Minaya holds great sway with the Wilpons, and he’s certainly more willing to push for a big move like than was Sandy Alderson.
Otherwise there will be some tempting names in free agency at positions of potential need, such as: second baseman Brian Dozier and old friend Daniel Murphy, third baseman Mike Moustakas and Josh Donaldson, center fielder A.J. Pollock, and top relievers Andrew Miller, Craig Kimbrel, and Cody Allen.
If the Mets are determined not to take any sort of step backward to bring in young talent by trading either Syndergaard or deGrom, they’ll have no choice but to go free-agent shopping again, with little help coming from the farm system.
With that in mind, they recognize that neither Jeurys Familia or Asdrubal Cabrera, their most obvious trade candidates, are likely to bring back premium prospects, so they’ll explore ways there also to maximize the possible return.
Would pairing them in a deal, for example, net a top prospect?
Familia has proven not to be trustworthy as a closer this
season, but there is some belief among scouts that if not overused, he could be valuable as a set-up man.
“When he’s fresh his stuff is still crisp,” one NL scout said. “But he’s had shoulder issues (including a DL stint) and it looks like he needs to be protected. Some contender will take a chance on him, knowing it’s only for a few months.”
Meanwhile, Cabrera’s range is such that he’s a liability at second base, but he’s having a good year with the bat, and scouts believe contenders would like having him as a late-inning option coming off the bench.
“Could you get more by packaging them together?” a scout mused. “If you found the right team, maybe. The Red Sox need a reliever, and they just signed Brandon Phillips off the scrap heap, so they obviously are worried about second base without (Dustin) Pedroia.”
In any case, the larger point is the Mets seem to recognize the need to be creative, which was never a hallmark of the Alderson-led front office.
I maintain the best way to do that is by dealing Syndergaard, provided he returns from his finger injury to make a couple of effective starts before the July 31 trading deadline, for a package of players that will make the Mets younger, more athletic, and more dangerous offensively — within a year or so, anyway.
But Ricco said Friday the Mets would have to be “overwhelmed” to trade either of their star pitchers, which sounded like a way of saying it won’t happen.
On the other hand, they do seem to think Wheeler and Matz will draw a lot of interest if they continue to pitch well — and stay healthy.
“I realize their injury history has to be factored in,” one Mets’ person said, “but on the merits of their performance the last several weeks, they could be the best pitchers on the market.”
One way or another, the Mets seem determined to take advantage of that possibility.