Master Index of Archived Threads


Guess Who's Skeptical About the Mets Spending $$$ for 2014?

batmagadanleadoff Sep 09 2013 11:04 AM

Money To Spend? Go Ahead! 09 September 2013, 10:43 am by Howard Megdal in Today's Mets headlines - No Comments Sandy Alderson went on Mike Francesa’s show last week and declared, “We’ve got some money to spend.” According to Jim Bowden, he told MLB Network Radio that “Mets will have dollars to spend on the FA market this winter”. You can be forgiven a ton of skepticism, since both statements were far less specific than Alderson was back in June, when he told Joel Sherman he expected payroll to be between $90-100 million. But you don’t have to take anybody’s word for it. The Mets have money to spend? Great. They don’t even need to wait until this winter to spend it. Cuban infielder Alexander Guerrero, a second baseman with a plus bat, is available to sign with teams. So is first baseman Jose Dariel Abreu. The two are both 26 years old, making them years younger than the kind of impact players the free agent market will have this winter, and would give the Mets a chance to put two stars on their infield opposite David Wright at third base, while allowing them to deal Daniel Murphy, Lucas Duda, Ike Davis and Wilmer Flores for help in the outfield or the bullpen. Even if Abreu costs the $60 million his agent floated, over, say, six years, that’s still just $10 million outlay for next year. Let’s be crazy, and give the same contract to Guerrero. Total outlay next year? $20 million. Well. The Mets currently have $25 million total, on the books for next year: David Wright’s $20 million, Jon Niese’s $5 million. That’s if you don’t count Johan Santana’s buyout or Jason Bay’s deferral, and you shouldn’t, since the Mets assured us the reason they couldn’t add salary in 2013 is because they were fully accounting for both Bay and Santana in 2013’s budget. So, adding Abreu and Guerrero brings commitments all the way up to… $45 million. That leaves plenty of room to even just sign outfielders on the free agent market, and deal Murphy/Duda/Davis/Flores for depth, or even pitching prospects if the Mets wanted to augment their system, or for a veteran starter, or a shortstop… the possibilities are endless. Of course, this all relies on determining two numbers: what they Mets say their commitments are for 2014, and what the budget is. Subtract the second number from the first number, and boom, there’s your offseason budget. The rest is just noise. And the extent to which the Mets are keeping those numbers under wraps, even more than back in June, is disturbing. And with that big loan coming due next June, while the Mets haven’t paid it off or re-financed it, the money out situation appears much more complicated than just adding payroll. http://mets.lohudblogs.com/2013/09/09/m ... -go-ahead/

Edgy MD Sep 09 2013 11:28 AM Re: Guess Who's Skeptical About the Mets Spending $$$ for 20

I'm the first guy to point out that dollars laid out don't have to be on the market for MLB free agents, but possibly instead to Cuban and Japanese League vets, but the go-ahead-and-prove-something-to-me-by-doing-it-now act isn't helpful. Firstly, due diligence includes scouting these guys meaningfully before making a commitment. Secondly, the agents for these guys have motivation to wait until the offseason when all teams are in the marketplace and space on their rosters and the budgets presented. Lastly, and most obviously, it's not about you, Howard.

Edgy MD Sep 09 2013 11:30 AM Re: Guess Who's Skeptical About the Mets Spending $$$ for 20

Well. The Mets currently have $25 million total, on the books for next year: David Wright’s $20 million, Jon Niese’s $5 million. That’s if you don’t count Johan Santana’s buyout or Jason Bay’s deferral, and you shouldn’t, since the Mets assured us the reason they couldn’t add salary in 2013 is because they were fully accounting for both Bay and Santana in 2013’s budget. What kind of goofy math is this?

metsguyinmichigan Sep 09 2013 12:39 PM Re: Guess Who's Skeptical About the Mets Spending $$$ for 20

So unless the Mets throw money at two unproven players Medgal likes, they're not spending money next season?

Ashie62 Sep 09 2013 01:52 PM Re: Guess Who's Skeptical About the Mets Spending $$$ for 20

So Medgal will not be happy unless the Mets make a serious run at these two expensive imports? Who gives a poop what he wants....Put him back in his bomb shelter....

Lefty Specialist Sep 09 2013 02:43 PM Re: Guess Who's Skeptical About the Mets Spending $$$ for 20

So the rest of the roster is playing for free? Montgomery Wilpon says, "Exxxxxcellent!!!!!!"

Edgy MD Sep 09 2013 03:20 PM Re: Guess Who's Skeptical About the Mets Spending $$$ for 20

With a $480,000 minimum salary, all payroll math begins at $12,000,000, and that's assuming that every single player aside from those you're lusting after just to prove a point is getting the actually major league minimum. But outfitting the team with 100% died-in-the-wool rookies is, of course, unprecedented and a really really hard way to dig your professional grave (sorry, Harvey... GONE!) Even avoiding free-agency eligible veterans, you're going likely outfit your roster with a fare share of guys with two-six years of experience earning... $2-6 million dollars. Assuming a $2.8 million dollar average among the guys who aren't Wright and/or Niese, that puts them at $89.4 million. Alderson's paring has them in a position to have it be less than that with a lot of second-year types around, but that's a lot more realistic starting point. For a guy whining about what year the buyouts count against, that's a lot of basic logic he's forsaking.

Zvon Sep 09 2013 04:54 PM Re: Guess Who's Skeptical About the Mets Spending $$$ for 20

Megdal likes the smell of his own feces. Whats not allowing the team to deal Daniel Murphy, Lucas Duda, Ike Davis and Wilmer Flores for help in the outfield or the bullpen in the off season? Those two players? I just don't understand him.

d'Kong76 Sep 09 2013 07:49 PM Re: Guess Who's Skeptical About the Mets Spending $$$ for 20

Q: Guess Who's Skeptical About the Mets Spending $$$ for 2014? A: batmagadanleadoff Rinse and repeat.