213 Miles From Shea

Peralta is close to a deal with the Cardinals, and it could put the Mets into a tough spot.

The 2014 off-season was pegged with two different characteristics at the start of the season. It was going to be important for the Mets and it was going to be a players market with limited players at key positions.

The positive point for the Mets though was Peralta. Peralta is coming off a PED suspension and Drew was on the shortstop market also. Peralta would then be the cheap option. As of 9:38 tonight, there are no details on the Peralta contract if he signs with the Cardinals but the Cardinals were not the team that offered 4 years, 52 million.

Personally, 4/52 would be my maximum for Peralta, but in an extreme case (ie. the Mets in a position to win in the next three years) I could stretch that in my mind to 4/60.

For the Mets, this puts them in a bind. If a player on PED’s can get 4/52, then Drew should be able to get a lot more than that. It also doesn’t help that McCann got a 5/85 today that can go up to 6/100 and players like Lincecum and Hudson got contracts well above what was expected. Therefore, Drew is probably out at shortstop for the Mets.

The Orioles dabbled with the idea of JJ Hardy earlier this offseason and asked about Davis. Here’s hoping the Mets can get creative with a Davis/Montero/Hope And a Prayer offer to land the shortstop.

At some point though, the Mets will need to overpay on a player to let the league know they are serious and not just a place for older players to stop for a season to test their abilities and then go to other teams.

A few seasons after signing Chris Young the pitcher, the Mets have signed Chris Young the outfielder.

I feel like (and I’m sure I could find articles as sources for this) the Mets have been linked to Young so many times over the last 4 years that it was inevitable that he would eventually become a Met, or maybe that was the other Chris Young…

Anyway, Chris Young the outfielder has signed a one year deal with the Mets for 7.25 million to figure out how to bring back his career which has progressed like:

• 2006 – 30 G, 2 HR, 2 SB, .243 BA
• 2007 – 148 G, 32 HR, 27 SB, .237 BA
• 2008 – 160 G, 22 HR, 14 SB, .248 BA
• 2009 – 134 G, 15 HR, 11 SB, .212 BA
• 2010 – 156 G, 27 HR, 28 SB, .257 BA
• 2011 – 156 G, 20 HR, 22 SB, .236 BA
• 2012 – 101 G, 14 HR, 8 SB, .231 BA
• 2013 – 107 G, 12 HR, 10 SB, .200 BA

Not really much of a pattern. Most likely Chris Young projects to be in a platoon with someone in the outfield, which depends on if the Mets sign another outfielder, which is still probable, especially if they move Davis.

This is not a splashy move, but its a move in the positive direction for a player who could still have something left in the tank (low risk deal). Of course, if this ends up being the only signing, then that would be pretty disappointing.

If the Mets can get 10-15 homers from him playing more than half the season, then this will look pretty good (as long as he can keep the strikeouts down)

…. I never imagined the 3,000th article on this site would be about Chris Young the outfielder. Back when this blog first started, in 2007, that would have been exciting news…

A fairly significant trade, especially in terms of money went down last night between Texas and Detroit as the Tigers moved Prince Fielder and 30 million to the Rangers who sent off Ian Kinsler.

For the Rangers, they receive a player (and hefty contract) that they wanted a few seasons ago. They also open up the middle of their infield so Profar has a position. For Detroit, they solve their middle infield problem and now create room to sign some of their other stars to long term deals.

This may have slight effect on the Mets.

The Rangers were one of the teams that could have used Ike Davis and had a surplus a position (Middle Infield) that the Mets could have used. However, the other way to look at is the Rnagers had to give up a lot for a power bat.

Granted, Davis is not on the same planet as Fielder skill/track record wise but in addition to giving up an All-Star, the Rangers had to take on a huge amount of contract. Davis won’t cost that much money wise but maybe this sees his market value bump up a bit (or sees the value for Davis package with other players bump up a bit).

If anything, this Detroit / Texas trade breaks the ice on the trading season, and hopefully we’ll start to see other dominoes fall now.

Or really, Jay Z calls the Mets to meet Cano. (Source. Source.)

According to the article in the Post, Cano wasn’t at the meeting but Jay Z was and it took place in Manhattan to discuss, among other things, Cano’s free agency.

I have to take the pessimistic view of this situation (or optimistic if you don’t like gigantic contracts). So far everything we know about Sandy Alderson suggests that he will stay away from massive contracts that go to 100 million unless they are for players that important to team in multiple ways (ie. David Wright). I just don’t see the Mets really getting into the Cano game.

The meeting was done in secret, which makes me glad in some way that the Mets are having secret meetings, and it seems more likely that this story was released by someone close to Jay Z’s group probably to put some fire to the feet of the Yankees to get them to move.

From the story it seems like Jay Z would like to keep Cano in New York to keep up the market value of Cano, the only way to gain leverage in negotiations for that is if the other New York team seems interested in the second basemen as well.

That all being said, it is fun to think about Cano in Mets pinstripes and in the middle of the Mets lineup.

Hawkins has reached a 1-year deal with the Rockies for 2.5 million (Source. Source.)

The contract comes with a 2.25 million option and a 250 K buyout.

The word right now is Hawkins will be the closer in Colorado. As of now there is no word if the Mets offered a contract but I find it hard to believe the money in this case was the issue, my gut right now says its the closer part. The Mets have a closer in Parnell and Vic Black is looking towards the closer road. In addition, the Mets have Familia and Mejia that could at some point push themselves in that position.

Hawkins is stronger in the bullpen then Black/Familia/Mejia next season and he’ll be missed as he became a rock in the back end of the rotation. It doesn’t destroy the Mets off-season, but it makes it more necessary that the Mets make a major positive move.

It’s looking more and more like the Mets will have to overpay for starting pitching with track record this off-season.

The two big pitching contracts this off-season have both come from San Francisco with a 2-year, 35 million dollar deal with Lincecum and a 2-year, 23 million dollar deal with Hudson. Teams like Atlanta were looking to offer him an amount lower than the 9 million he got last season. Tim had a great season last year but he also broke his ankle.

This means other pitchers could easily be looking at more money and more years. Before this signing I thought that Roy Halladay would have to settle for a one year deal but this deal throws in doubt.

The Mets were never in the market for pitchers like Nolasco or Ervin Santana but they are in the market for Arroyo. A two year deal for Hudson pushes the likely hood that it will take 3-4 years to get Arroyo (and if its three years, it would be overpaid). This does mean that if the Mets would trade Niese or Gee, the price for them rises considerably, but the Mets already need a starter.

I’m still curious to see what the Mets first move will be.

Nick Carfardo’s report today in the Boston Globe gave another piece of clarity to Jose Bautista trade market. According to Carfardo the Blue Jays are looking for two starting pitchers and they are willing to move Bautista and Encarncion to make that happen.

As it goes for the Mets, if Harvey was healthy, moving a starter wouldn’t be a problem. However, the Mets find themselves down a starter and moving one would be difficult. As it goes for the Mets and problems. I am in the camp that if it took Jon Niese for Bautista or Montero/Gee with Ike Davis for Encarncion/Bautista, I still think I would pull the trigger. It also goes without saying that just Niese for Bautista or Montero/Gee with Davis won’t be enough. If something like this were to happen, there would need to be some eating of salary on the Mets end and additional lower prospects with high ceilings but are far away from the majors (which happens to be what the Mets are full of). At the end of the day, the Jays are looking for pitching and they also need to retool their farm system, which is something the Mets could help with.

There were multiple reports today about the Mets could be timid in the free agent market as other teams are going to be aggressive on salaries. If that is the case, the Mets will need to be more creative in trades and how they reorganize the pieces they have (which is similar to the reports from the start of the GM Meeting).

For the Mets this off-season is looking more and more like which piece falls into place first. Who ever is acquired or moved at the start will dictate all of the following moves, which is probably why Sandy Alderson is targeting 16 players.

Sandy Alderson had a conversation with Mike Francesa today where he revealed there are 16 players on the board that he is looking at this season (Source). Seven players are free agents and Nine players would be via trade. I didn’t hear the interview but I assume this means he isn’t looking at adding all 16 (that would be insane and impossible) but he sees that he 16 options for moves to fill in the holes on the roster.

What I’m about to say is biased by how much I want to see change, but this makes me feel good. I’ll of course feel better once something materializes, but its nice to hear that the work has been laid out to get some moves done. Also, I’m curious to hear who these players are. I’d assume that Aoki and Fowler are probably on the list of 9 based on various reports we’ve heard so far this winter.

The other interesting tidbit from his interview is in regards to Syndergaard and Montero (Source). Syndergaard sounds untouchable, which is predicted but maybe Montero is more untouchable then I originally thought (or he’s trying to build more value for Montero). Montero is slightly ahead of Synergaard in terms of heading to Queens and Sandy expects both to come through at some point next year. That’s and exciting thought of having a rotation in 2014 of Wheeler, Syndergaard, Montero and Niese (and then Gee? Free Agent signing?) and even more exciting to think about 2015 of Harvey, Wheeler, Niese, Montero and Syndergaard. Crazy exciting.