Well, so much for leaving Fmart in the minors a whole year. According to Adam Rubin’s sources, Fmart has been elevated to stand by mode to potentially activated to fill in for a DL’ed Ike Davis. As every Met fan knows by now, the majors have not been very kind to Fmart. He has a career .248 average with 1 home run and 10 RBI’s in the majors. Compare that to just 19 games played in the minors this season where he is hitting .292 with 3 home runs and 7 RBI’s. Could this be the time that Fmart finally puts everything together? What would the theoretical impact be from an Fmart putting up those minor league numbers at the major league level?
To me, a successful campaign by Fmart may not have a whole overall impact other than maybe nudging the Mets to make a decision about Jason Bay. Jason is due 16 mill until 2013 with an option for 2014 that based of his current production, probably wont get picked up. Jason is hitting .213 with 1 homer and 5 RBI’s. Compare that to his “replacement” in Jason Pridie who is hitting .250 with 3 home runs and 8 RBI’s while making most likely a fraction of Bay’s contract. With Carlos Beltran almost certianly gone in my mind come the trade deadline (due to the ability or rather inability of the Mets to offer arbitration for him in the offseason to get something in return for his departure), Fransisco Rodriguez and Jose Reyes possibly going as well in order to cash in on some top tier talent in return that would help the club overall, it is not entirely out of the realm of possibility that Jason could be packing his bags as well. Some would call it a fire sale, some would call it salary dump, I would call it prudent given the Mets uncertain situation going forward.
Sandy already hinted at a lower payroll come next year(indirectly of course, he really said that he may not invest all the money that comes off the books on new contracts which logically would mean a lower payroll) so why not just go all the way and dump more dead weight. I dont know how much money the Mets would have to eat to move these contracts but as my economics teacher always said, money saved is money earned. Its not secret that the Mets have inefficiantly spent their money over the last 5 years and have only 1 division title to show for it. Its also no secret that even with a new minority stake holder, the Mets finances are suspect at best. Would it really be out of the realm of possibility to have an outfield of Fmart, Pagan, Pridie/Duda going forth after July and next year? This outfield combined I believe would cost the Mets less than one year of Jason Bay’s current contract.
Now admittedly, I dont know how strong Sandy’s Jedi Mind powers are to pull off a trade for Jason along with Beltran and/or Reyes but I would imagine he would have to at least kick the tires on this. By the way, when Ike comes back, for the love of god please send down Willie or Hu because there really isnt any need for BOTH of them to be up here at this point. Turner has done great and can cover 2b along with Pridie excelling at the OF spots. Do you guys think Jason will be traded along with the other potentials? Does he fit in for next year? What do you guys think we can expect from Fmart?
27 comments
kingman 26
5/12/2011-12:28pm at 12:28 pm (UTC -4)
What exactly would we get for Bay, and how much of his salary would another team take on?
My answer to this would be very little and even less.
Dirtysanchez
5/12/2011-12:34pm at 12:34 pm (UTC -4)
I have no idea…Probably not much in return but you would save a few bucks the next couple of years.
kingman 26
5/12/2011-12:36pm at 12:36 pm (UTC -4)
Don’t get me wrong—I think the Bay signing is on track to make George Foster and Bobby Bonilla look like Seaver and Piazza in Met history. Getting rid of him would be a dream.
But damn, he will be under .200 by the end of the week, as more pressure will be on his extraordinarily weak shoulders.
Dirtysanchez
5/12/2011-12:44pm at 12:44 pm (UTC -4)
No doubt about that…just i guess wondering out loud if he could be blocking someone(fmart) from getting a good look and if its justified. He has a mega contract and virtually 0 production for it…id feel a whole lot better with a .200 fmart making next to nothing than a guy getting paid 16 million to do the same.
TRS86
5/12/2011-12:48pm at 12:48 pm (UTC -4)
Bay is going nowhere this year. The Mets are not going to eat THAT much cash just to make him go away. Even if the Mets agreed to eat say 18M he would still have a TON of money left on his contract. Best thing we can hope for is a rebound to respectability because he will be here.
kingman 26
5/12/2011-12:52pm at 12:52 pm (UTC -4)
Dirty, I was the first on here to suggest waiving Bay.
TRS86
5/12/2011-12:54pm at 12:54 pm (UTC -4)
Sounds good in theory but will just never happen on the MLB scale. Besides, it’s not like he is a clubhouse cancer so even if they do determine he is too washed up to start they would most likely move to platooning him THEN to bench THEN to release. That process could take a long time.
kingman 26
5/12/2011-12:58pm at 12:58 pm (UTC -4)
Oh, I am kidding on the waiving! I can dream can’t I!
Hey, maybe he IS a cancer…..last year he and Francoeur angrily defended the status quo when leadership and work habits were questioned….and he sure wasn’t in camp early this year after making 8 figures for 60% of a season and a rotten one at that!
TRS86
5/12/2011-1:06pm at 1:06 pm (UTC -4)
LOL, I am refusing to even acknowledge this one. This will lead to nowhere between us so I am sparing the children.
kingman 26
5/12/2011-1:10pm at 1:10 pm (UTC -4)
That’s why you’re the boss!!
gategem
5/13/2011-12:32am at 12:32 am (UTC -4)
Holy heart failure, TRS, for once I actually agree with you. I have not seen a legitimate correlation between a players spring training report date and his success in the upcoming season.
Dirtysanchez
5/12/2011-12:55pm at 12:55 pm (UTC -4)
Im just fed up with it. The guy shows no sign of bouncing back. Talk about ollie pt 2 in terms of production. The guy hustles, works hard and plays a good OF but I think we can get the same from someone much cheaper.
TRS86
5/12/2011-12:58pm at 12:58 pm (UTC -4)
Sure we can but we already have Bay and we are stuck with him for now. Just like we can get more production from SP than Johan or more production from RF at 18M even with Beltran playing well.
TRS86
5/12/2011-12:46pm at 12:46 pm (UTC -4)
Is it put up or shut up time for Fmart? Nope.
metsfan4decades
5/12/2011-12:47pm at 12:47 pm (UTC -4)
I’d love nothing more than to move Bay’s contract. I highly doubt that happens this year.
And yes, I want to see FMart has made strides since that first 20 year old call up he had. I know injuries has cost him much development time down in the minors. But young man, it’s time to show us something that warrants all the hype bestowed on you in your early going down there.
TRS86
5/12/2011-12:52pm at 12:52 pm (UTC -4)
What I don’t agree with is taking Fmart when he is finally healthy and hitting and making him a bench player that will get a few starts.
“AdamRubinESPN: Terry Collins says Fernando Martinez will be a bench player, with sporadic corner outfield starts — perhaps on Carlos Beltran days off.”
stickguy
5/12/2011-12:58pm at 12:58 pm (UTC -4)
I agree that this makes no sense at all.
maybe it is him instead of Duda again becaue the big guy has a bad back at the moment?
Literally the only reason I can think of to bring F Mart up is he has options, so they don’t have to worry about him clearing waivers, and his service time clock already started.
So I hope it is that, and not that they have written him off as someone to hit the scrap heap soon so no reason to worry about him.
At least give him a couple starts for Bay also.
Dirtysanchez
5/12/2011-1:04pm at 1:04 pm (UTC -4)
Terry did say that he would have perfered a 1b man instead but apparently duda and lutz are injured plus evans is not producing. I agree its a waste for him to sit here and enjoy sunflower seeds all day.
stickguy
5/12/2011-12:55pm at 12:55 pm (UTC -4)
No, it isn’t. Mostly because I don’t even understand why he was activated.
If he is going to sit on the bench as the LH PH guy (replacing Harris), he will get a few ABs, maybe a couple of starts, and it will again not show much of anything.
But, he is certainly still in the mix to come up and start if one of the corner OFs goes down (or gets moved).
and yes, if someone made an offer for Bay, Sandy would be happy to drive him to the airport.
TRS86
5/12/2011-1:04pm at 1:04 pm (UTC -4)
Bay’s contract:
10:$6.5M, 11:$16M, 12:$16M, 13:$16M, 14:$17M club option ($3M buyout)
So after this year he is still owed 35M including the buyout. If the Mets agreed at the deadline to eat 18M he would still be owed around 22-25M for the next 2.5 seasons. At Bay’s current production even factoring in defense he would be worth 5-6M per season TOPS. Thus the Mets in theory would have to eat 30M. There is NO, none, notta, zilch, percentage of that happening nor honestly should there be.
At this point as I said earlier the Mets have to hope that he rebounds to respectability and just let some time and cash pass by.
This is not an Oliver Perez situation here or even a Luis Castillo. Bay is regarded as a very professional player who works hard and is a good teammate. Thus the Mets know that he is trying to fix it.
Dirtysanchez
5/12/2011-1:10pm at 1:10 pm (UTC -4)
And oliie/luis were not regarded as players who work hard and are good team mates?
njstuckintx
5/12/2011-1:13pm at 1:13 pm (UTC -4)
Uh, no. Ollie, definitely not. Luis was mr. pout pout, at least from my perspective.
Mr North Jersey
5/12/2011-1:05pm at 1:05 pm (UTC -4)
FREE FMART!!!
TRS86
5/12/2011-1:06pm at 1:06 pm (UTC -4)
Come on he’s bound to be worth something.
kingman 26
5/12/2011-1:11pm at 1:11 pm (UTC -4)
And with it comes a free Duda….
metsfan4decades
5/12/2011-1:38pm at 1:38 pm (UTC -4)
Why?
Why is it the likes of Harris, Hairston, Hu can’t wind up on the DL?
No, instead we’ve got Young, Ike, Pagan, Parnell on the DL up here
and Duda, Luzt and Havens, etc. injured down there.
Heck…even KRod to the DL would likely net us a good result in the long run.
It’s 2009 all over again. Who is next? My money is on Wright.
IB_Twaddle
5/13/2011-3:40pm at 3:40 pm (UTC -4)
For what it’s worth, I seem to remember Martinez had a very solid spring training – I was surprised he was among the first cuts. But then, they had their sights pretty much set on a Harris/Hairston bench.
The kid can hit. I’m rooting for him big time but don’t know how much opportunity will be there