Pay up!
According to a tweet from Jim Bowden, former MLB team executive and current host of a popular satellite radio show, new Mets Assistant to the General Manager J.P. Ricciardi indicates that going forward the Mets will be heavily involved in the international free agent market and will pay more than MLB suggests for talent in the MLB draft.
Obviously these and almost any words uttered by any human being can be open to interpretation but my initial reaction to this news is an unbridled “Hooray!”
21 comments
njstuckintx
11/3/2010-4:57pm at 4:57 pm (UTC -4)
Huzzah. Now, to see those words translated into action.
stickguy
11/3/2010-5:18pm at 5:18 pm (UTC -4)
writing checks is the easy part (well, assuming you got th emoney). Lots of teams do that.
Figuring out the right guys to give the checks to, now that is the tricky part.
oleosmirf
11/3/2010-6:08pm at 6:08 pm (UTC -4)
are you sure were not dreaming?
Mr North Jersey
11/3/2010-6:15pm at 6:15 pm (UTC -4)
Hip Hip Hooray!
Hip Hip Hooray!
Hip Hip Hooray!
wannybackstra
11/3/2010-6:21pm at 6:21 pm (UTC -4)
On an unrelated note, why the hell would Texas decline a $9mm option on Vlad?
saltygary
11/3/2010-7:23pm at 7:23 pm (UTC -4)
9m is a lot for a older DH on a team that just got out of bankruptcy. Their gonna need the money in other places.
stickguy
11/3/2010-10:04pm at 10:04 pm (UTC -4)
doesn’t mean he won’t be back. But basically they did the value calculation, and decided he isn’t worth ~10% of their ML payroll.
so, he either signs for less, or they find another DH only guy. that is one thing there is usually a good supply of.
TRS86
11/3/2010-10:08pm at 10:08 pm (UTC -4)
Guessing to be able to throw as much money at Lee as possible.
stickguy
11/3/2010-10:47pm at 10:47 pm (UTC -4)
putting all your eggs in the basket of a 32+ YO SP is a good way to end up with no eggs.
oleosmirf
11/3/2010-10:54pm at 10:54 pm (UTC -4)
to make room for Francouer obviously…
GravediggerHebner
11/3/2010-11:08pm at 11:08 pm (UTC -4)
I applaud the move. It’s exactly the opposite of what Omar Minaya would have done.
The Rangers got a heck of a year for $5 million from a 35 year old DH who bounced back from decline in his age 34 year. Why guarantee the 36 year old version of that DH $9 million?
I can easily imagine Minaya tearing up the option and re-signing Guerrero to a 2 year, $16 million deal with an option for a third year at age 38. But Jon Daniels is smarter than that, and I believe Sandy Alderson will be too.
stickguy
11/3/2010-11:41pm at 11:41 pm (UTC -4)
agreed about Sandy. First thing I thought of too.
Simple cost/benefit analysis, and sometimes you have to take the emotion out of it, and make tough choices. Unless of course you are the Yankees.
wannybackstra
11/3/2010-6:22pm at 6:22 pm (UTC -4)
On topic, of course this news from JP makes me feel very warm inside.
saltygary
11/3/2010-7:24pm at 7:24 pm (UTC -4)
Posted this in response to someone elses post on the earlier topic, figure I would throw it here:
Reyes option:
http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/news/story?id=5761317
stickguy
11/3/2010-10:05pm at 10:05 pm (UTC -4)
the ultimate no brainer. I assume they will still continue to talk about the extension. That is to me the biggest question about this off season (what they do with Reyes).
Ollie, Slappy, Beltran are all 1 year and gone anyway.
metsfan4decades
11/3/2010-11:51pm at 11:51 pm (UTC -4)
Agreed, this was a no brainer. Why wouldn’t you pick up the option?
stickguy
11/4/2010-12:09am at 12:09 am (UTC -4)
the only reason would be if you couldn’t handle the salary, although in this case you would expect that he could be traded (along with his entire salary) for actual talent back.
stickguy
11/4/2010-12:20am at 12:20 am (UTC -4)
well, on this topic. MLBTR has a post up that Yu Darvish is leaning toward coming over to the US for the 2012 season (he already pulled out of posting this off season).
and they note the Mets as a prime landing spot. Actually makes some sense, at least with the payroll being freed up.
if Alderson wants a chance to get (potentially) top talent that fits his ideal profile, while utilizing the new found resources, this could be the chance.
Prismo
11/4/2010-12:34am at 12:34 am (UTC -4)
Was thinking the same thing. Freed up payroll + a promise for international expansion…
To me depends on how much he’ll cost. I’ll be pissed of the Yankees or Sox bid some ridiculous number for him.
oleosmirf
11/4/2010-9:21am at 9:21 am (UTC -4)
would love Darvish to come over as a Met.
njstuckintx
11/4/2010-7:35am at 7:35 am (UTC -4)
While also not reducing the number of potential draft slots, it does fit nicely into what seems to be the Mets new MO. It’s also leading me to believe that offering arb. to Feliciano in hopes of getting the picks is also going to be a trend for others, at least going forward. Maximize opportunities & payroll flexibility.