From the desk: HEAD-BUTTING MR. MET
Trucking Down I-90
With Mixed Bags of Goods
I think it safe to say this winter's free-agency period hasn't gone quite the way most fans anticipated.
After a decade of penny-pinching by the previous regime, new incoming owner Steve Cohen, who finalized the purchase of the team in November, was rather matter-of-fact in stating that here on out, things would be different.
Without yet naming a general manager, Sandy Alderson, addressing the team's need at catcher, elected to not play the market. The Mets pounced on James McCann at the very reasonable if not bargain price of $40.6 million over four years. That transaction was negotiated back in mid-December. Whereas just one week ago, JT Realmuto finally re-upped with Philadelphia for $115.5 million over five years - a net difference in total compensation of $74.9 million. That's nothing to sneeze at.
McCann is a solid backstop. The Mets may even get more than what they paid for. The soon to be 31-year old is an improvement (from Wilson Ramos) both defensively and as a receiver. His rate of caught stealing is well above average. He has never played in more than 118 games (72.9%) nor achieved 500 plate appearances in any of his five-plus full seasons in the bigs. However, the Mets are signing him on an offensive uptick. In 2019 while with the White Sox, McCann registered career highs in all batting categories for a season that somewhat resembles JT Realmuto-like production. Last season, he was arguably on track to surpass those numbers.
Sandy Alderson followed up with the signing of free-agent reliever Trevor May. Along with the trade acquisition of Francisco Lindor, all seemed well.
And then, all of a sudden, things changed. I still ponder why the Mets seemed disinterested in reliever Brad Hand who signed on with rival Washington. Meanwhile, the matter of Jared Porter, GameStop, and the subsequent halt of Steve Cohen's own Twitterverse cannot go unspoken.
George Springer, who when considering where to sign, supposedly said he would like to be close to his home state of Connecticut. Therefore, he elected to take his talents to Toronto rather than Flushing, Queens. Because nothing is more alluring than the Canadian tax rate and an eight-hour drive after work.
Most recently, Trevor Bauer finally agreed to sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers. After all, he is from North Hollywood. This would be a fine time to make Bob Nightengale jokes, but I won't. Bauer's agent, meanwhile, was busy creating her own Twitter maelstrom.
In the instances of Springer and Bauer, the Mets were financially competitive. Money, for a change, was not an insurmountable issue. The decision not to out-bid Toronto was arguably a sound one. Whereas the Mets appeared willing to reset the bar in average annual value with Trevor Bauer.
Now, I, for one, do not believe Bauer is worth that kind of dollar. At the same time, I'm less interested in short term average annual value than I am crippling long term commitments. In Bauer's defense, teams may recognize they are paying for what he will do, rather than what he has done.
All this being said, I have a saying: once is an event; twice is a coincidence; three times is a trend.
Two players chose not to play in Queens. They used the Mets to secure comparable contracts elsewhere. I'm trying to find blame with Sandy Alderson, but the truth is told, I can't.
... and people were worried about Steve Cohen upsetting MLB's financial landscape with his spending potential.
I recall the last time Toronto went on a spending spree, a fellow named J.P. Ricciardi was writing those checks. How did that work out for them? The Dodgers are big spenders, have been ever since Magic Johnson's group took over control of the organization.
Moving forward, I also have no real interest in free-agent center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. If my choice is between JBJ and Brandon Nimmo, I'd rather stay put.
