WAIT & GEE
Mets have yet to trade Dillon or any other pitcher as Winter Meetings come to close
SAN DIEGO — When the dust settled on the Winter Meetings Thursday, Mets GM Sandy Alderson still had the one player he was trying to unload — Dillon Gee.
As the Cubs, White Sox, Angels, Dodgers and Marlins were making deals for big-name players, the Mets were talking and listening. But in the end, they did nothing of note, with some teams claiming the Mets were asking too much for their righty starter.
A source said talks involving Gee had “really slowed down,” but Alderson remained optimistic he will be able to sort out the starting pitching situation.
“I’ve refrained from making predictions, because you never know how these things are going to go,” Alderson said Thursday. “There really wasn’t any point during the week that we felt we were going to do something.”
The Mets did, however, come to terms with ex-Phillies and Blue Jays outfielder John Mayberry Jr. on a $1.45 million, one-year deal pending a physical. Terry Collins said he liked “everything” about Mayberry and was pleased to add a right-handed bat with power to the bench.
As for Gee, the righty appears to be the odd man out with Matt Harvey returning after Tommy John surgery, and with their current payroll hovering dangerously near $100 million, the Mets would not mind dumping Gee’s projected salary of over $4 million for 2015.
“We’ll see what develops over the next few days, couple of weeks,” Alderson said. “It’s a long time between now and spring training. … We anticipated a crowded market. That’s what exists. It did exist at the beginning of the meetings. It continues to exist, really, with the bulk of the pitching.”
As for improving on Wilmer Flores at shortstop, Alderson is not as optimistic.
With Jed Lowrie, Stephen Drew, Asdrubal Cabrera, Everth Cabrera and Korean veteran Jung-Ho Kang on the market, the free-agent shortstop class is not seen as containing an upgrade. And with trade possibilities limited, Alderson reiterated for at least the 10th time this offseason that he is satisfied going into spring training with Flores.
“At shortstop we have to be realistic,” Alderson said. “There just aren’t a lot of options — or attractive options. So the idea of waiting is nice, but I think you have to be realistic about what we’re waiting for. Options are limited. I go back to our original position, and that is that if we go into spring training with what we have, we won’t be unhappy about that.”
At least the Mets have checked off their want list the right-handed power hitter bat they have needed off the bench.
Mayberry could start in the outfield against lefthanded pitching if Lucas Duda continues to struggle against lefties and the Mets decide to use Michael Cuddyer at first base.
“The reason we’ve been l ooking for a righthanded bat is to try to be more effective against left-handed pitching,” Alderson said. “It would give us another option, if we had a solid right-handed bat, and a guy who could come off the bench as well.”
The Mets hedged their bets on a left-handed reliever. While they have talked to a few free agents, they picked up lefty Sean Gilmartin in the Rule 5 draft. A former first-round pick of the Braves who had been traded to the Twins, he will be in the mix for the second lefty role, Alderson said.
So will Scott Rice, with whom the Mets agreed to a deal on Wednesday night with an invite to spring training.
“We don’t look at him strictly as left-on-left,” Alderson said. “But we like his athleticism. We like his makeup. We think he’s got a chance to pitch against righties and lefties.”
The Mets lost righthander Logan Ver rett to the Orioles in the major-league por tion of the Rule 5 draft.