Thanks to the great work of Ken Davidoff, we now know that Henry Blanco has “failed” his physical with the Mets. Usually failing a physical means a voided contract and a trip back to free agency, but the Mets took a different route. Blanco’s contract has been renegotiated, and how includes much less guaranteed money.
Davidoff says the contract now only guarantees $750,000 (previously $1.45MM), though it also includes incentives that can get Blanco up to $2.225MM. About half of these incentives, $700,000, escalates based on how many days Blanco spends on the roster, reaching its max at 150 games. The remaining $775,000 can be obtained through means that only a starting catcher should be able to obtain, so unless something goes terribly wrong, Blanco won’t get a dime of it. Davidoff reveals the details of the ridiculous incentives in his post.
If Blanco goes on the DL, he loses money. If the Mets release him due to anything other than “shoulder issues” (how he failed his physical), they still owe him the extra $700k in roster bonuses.
I think this can only be described as a positive for the Mets. It may give them a little more spending room, and there’s no need to worry about Blanco getting injured now. It would save them money, and the team will have plenty of back-up options holding up the fort in AAA (Coste, Santos, Thole).
22 comments
darknova306
12/10/2009-7:32am at 7:32 am (UTC -4)
Santana must REALLY like Blanco. Bleh.
metsfan4decades
12/10/2009-7:42am at 7:42 am (UTC -4)
Is the FO really THAT convinced the problem with the pitching were the catchers?
And someone please explain to me why it’s day 4 of these Winter meetings already and all we’ve heard from the Mets camp is deals on rumored deals on catchers???
Sigh….
trs86
12/10/2009-8:17am at 8:17 am (UTC -4)
What did you expect 4D? I know we are all getting impatient and things are starting to move but nothing that involves the Mets directly has really happen yet. We know that Omar wants one of the big 3 (and Molina) and all are still out there with seemingly their market shrinking daily. I for one think Omar is playing this off-season well so far.
metsfan4decades
12/10/2009-8:28am at 8:28 am (UTC -4)
I know, I know…
Count me in on those that are getting impatient. However, if Omar has a plan and it takes all damn off season to get it done – AND it’s a definite upgrade, then I’ll be happy.
I’ll just have to take some patience pills in the meantime…
trs86
12/10/2009-8:41am at 8:41 am (UTC -4)
LOL, that’s the problem too that I think everyone is getting to bent on. Omar does not have ONE plan in my opinion, he has about 10 plans. As easy as it is for us to say go get Lackey Cameron and LaRoche it is much more difficult to make that actually happen and sometimes no matter how hard you try it won’t happen. Thus you need other plans. What if Lackey cost 6/100 but the market for Holliday bombs, in my opinion your plan changes… or if you sign Lackey and then suddenly the Redsox sign Holliday, who is getting Bay?
metsfan4decades
12/10/2009-7:47am at 7:47 am (UTC -4)
NY Post tweet:
‘Spoke to a Mets official tonight who glumly admitted that ticket renewals are slow. Fans are in “wait and see mode,” they said.’
Uh….ya think?
Then someone going by the name of Metstweets (don’t know who that is) responds with:
‘Fans are not in “wait and see mode”. They’re in “you wasted our money last year, it’s a terrible economy, and we don’t trust you” mode.’
The natives are getting restless, Omar.
metfreak
12/10/2009-8:12am at 8:12 am (UTC -4)
I think if the economy were good fans would still be holding out spending there hard earned money on them
trs86
12/10/2009-8:19am at 8:19 am (UTC -4)
That’s fair to be in wait and see mode in a bad economy. But as I said above the big names are still there and there is still even potential because of the market to get 2 good players for LF and SP.
metfreak
12/10/2009-8:23am at 8:23 am (UTC -4)
I know we should wait and see the final results of the off season before we go nuts on the Front office but I can’t see how a player like Santana and Beltran not demand a trade if the Mets don’t bring in fire power to help them go all the way and if they do I don’t blame them one bit
trs86
12/10/2009-8:38am at 8:38 am (UTC -4)
That’s just silly. The Mets as currently stands, ON DECEMBER 10th, have 4 annual all-stars and Krod. It’s not like they are on the Pirates. Omar will get a big name but if he were to back fill (which I don’t expect) they are still on a competitive team and getting paid very well.
Kingman 26
12/10/2009-8:46am at 8:46 am (UTC -4)
+ Many
trs86
12/10/2009-8:51am at 8:51 am (UTC -4)
Manny? Manny? Not that again….
Oh, my bad.
QnsNative718
12/10/2009-9:32am at 9:32 am (UTC -4)
They will be the same team from last year. And we all saw how successful that turned out…
trs86
12/10/2009-9:44am at 9:44 am (UTC -4)
So the entire team will get injured and Omar will sign no one? OK.
trs86
12/10/2009-8:47am at 8:47 am (UTC -4)
Now that the Cubs are desperate to unload Bradley would you guys consider Bradley again? Castillo and Redding (trying to unload him because he may be non-tendered. Cubs could use him in the pen to replace Heilman) for Bradley and Soto? How badly do they want to rid themselves of Bradley? I know Bradley is volatile and did not have a great season last year. Even at his worst he still had an OBP of .378. He is not a great guy to roam the OF all season but you would still have Pagan for a good sub.
fongy2
12/10/2009-9:14am at 9:14 am (UTC -4)
I read this headline and LOL!
You’ve got to be kidding with
this. If the guy can’t pass
a physical,why not “hey,thanks but
no thanks”?…There still are back-up
Catchers out there. Omar knows this
right??…Why is it with this guy,
nothing is simple?…Everything has
some sort of question or drama associated with it.
trs86
12/10/2009-9:28am at 9:28 am (UTC -4)
Perhaps the injury is not detrimental to his job or even one that they feel will be healed by ST. According to the deal if the Mets release him due to the shoulder issues then he get NOTHING. How is that a bad move?
fongy2
12/10/2009-9:37am at 9:37 am (UTC -4)
Why bother TRS??
If the guy can’t pass
his physical??
There aren’t any other
options? Who can pass
a physical. Is this guy so important that
he NEEDS to be signed
despite the dangers?
After what this team
went through last season? And you mean to tell me that every
other GM at these meeting didn’t snicker
and shake their heads after hearing this?
I’ve gotten to the point with this Omar
where I’m not even pissed any more…
These type stories just make me laugh.
trs86
12/10/2009-9:47am at 9:47 am (UTC -4)
Obviously they have seen something with Blanco’s ability they like. Most likely even lead by Johan and feel like the injury is not bad enough to warrant no offer at all. Also Blanco gets to come here and try and prove that he is healthy with NO risk to the Mets. They pay him NOTHING if he gets released due to the injury. It’s basically a ST invite.
QnsNative718
12/10/2009-9:33am at 9:33 am (UTC -4)
This has Torrealba written all over it.
fongy2
12/10/2009-9:39am at 9:39 am (UTC -4)
Amen. Omar didn’t want another
greivence filed so, O.K.,we’ll
give you half the money Henry.
Very funny guy this Omar is.
trs86
12/10/2009-9:47am at 9:47 am (UTC -4)
He is not GIVING him ANY money. If the Mets release him because of the injury he gets squat.