Oct 07
The off season is here…thank the heavens above!
Sandy Alderson has proclaimed that he will try to sign David Wright and R.A. Dickey before the World Series.
Today’s question: Is this a step in the right direction? Do you think the Mets should resign Wright and Dickey?
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22 comments
Edwin
10/7/2012-9:17am at 9:17 am (UTC -4)
To me this world series deadline means they will offer a low take it or leave it type deal and if they say no, they have the off season to trade them.
IMO, this is why they want to take care of this before the off season starts
wanny
10/8/2012-8:35am at 8:35 am (UTC -4)
Can’t agree more. The only incentive the Mets have to negotiate quickly is to turn around and trade them before other teams fill their needs through free agency. Both players are Mets property next season so there is no reason the team can’t let it play out if they truly intend to keep them both.
TRS86
10/8/2012-11:02am at 11:02 am (UTC -4)
To me it has multiple purposes. It kind of sets the stage for their entire off-season. Even if you PLAN on keeping them the favor has to be returned. If you see that their demands are too high then you need to know that early, trade them early so you can start the process. Of course you still have them under control but this way they are not holding your other deals hostage.
srt
10/7/2012-9:36am at 9:36 am (UTC -4)
I’m leaning towards the do work out a contract with Wright.
Dickey……I’m not so sure. If not for the $$ problems, I believe they’d get it done. However, from what I’m reading they’re in bad shape this off season. They’re restructuring a SNY loan to free up some cash for operating expenses. They’re not raising payroll, which leads me to think they can’t/won’t raise Dickey’s salary above the 5 million he’s guaranteed next year. If they do offer him an extension, the only way I can see it being done is if that contract doesn’t kick in until 2014.
darknova306
10/7/2012-12:41pm at 12:41 pm (UTC -4)
I must be out of the loop more than I thought, what’s this about restructuring the SNY loan? Are they that hard hit for cash that they’re still scrounging through the couch cushions for pennies to pay their operational expenses? Oy.
kingman 26
10/7/2012-4:35pm at 4:35 pm (UTC -4)
Absolutely—more refinancing to try to milk SNY’s value as the one part of the Wilpon empire probably doing well right now, to help pay off their massive bank debt, Citi bonds, and pay the waitresses at the Acela Club.
Anyone expecting Pierzynski, an Upton, Ellsbury, etc., is someone who truly should be impresses at their self-delusional abilities.
Pacific NorthTex
10/7/2012-5:24pm at 5:24 pm (UTC -4)
Isn’t it just common sense to refinance when the rates are low?
kingman 26
10/7/2012-6:01pm at 6:01 pm (UTC -4)
Absolutely.
But if they need to do it in order to continue to simply meet debt payments, bond payments, and everyday expenses, it means that they are still in atrocious financial shape.
Paul
10/7/2012-10:10am at 10:10 am (UTC -4)
I think signing David Wright is important, but unless R.A. Dickey is going to take a below-market contract, it would be smarter to trade him. Dickey is going to be 39 before a new contract would take effect, and he’s not the traditional knuckleball pitcher we know could have success into his 40s.
Pacific NorthTex
10/7/2012-11:06am at 11:06 am (UTC -4)
Either way, unless Wright is traded, next year will be like this year. I would love to see both signed. I think RA’s value will not be higher, though now he has that muscle tear to deal with… RA’s loss would be easier to deal with, as odd as that sounds regarding losing a CY type pitcher, than losing Wright. Pitching is a strength and trading strength for weakness is how you do it.
darknova306
10/7/2012-1:03pm at 1:03 pm (UTC -4)
I think the floor for Dickey’s next contract is 3/50. Can he repeat this year’s performance when the Mets are finally good again? I’d bet against it, thus it’s time to get a return for him and move on.
On Wright, it’s really hard to say what’ll happen. It kind of depends on what demands he’s got and how much of the money coming off the books after 2013 the Wilpons want to redirect into the team’s debt. The idea that they have to keep him at all costs is ludicrous to me, and is based on silly sentimentalism. The face of the franchise thing is secondary to a championship. Having a lifelong Met is secondary to winning. If the Wilpons aren’t going to commit the resources down the road to go the extra steps to improve the team, then we’re stuck watching a 70-80 win team for years (barring a Ceetarian miracle season). If that’s not gonna happen, just trade him and move on.
Pacific NorthTex
10/7/2012-4:34pm at 4:34 pm (UTC -4)
I read somewhere that it would be a floor of an Ollie type deal.
gategem
10/7/2012-2:20pm at 2:20 pm (UTC -4)
IMO Sandy is the perfect GM to help the Wilpons get their financial baseball house in order. That said when Sandy speaks he reminds me of the defense attorney presenting a passionate closing argument about the innocence of his client knowing full well his client is a serial killer. At this point in time I couldn’t care less what the Mets do and if RA and DW care about winning they will move on the first opportunity they get.
Bryan
10/7/2012-4:26pm at 4:26 pm (UTC -4)
It’s critical to sign David for a myriad of reasons. With Dickey, it might be nice to sign him long term, but he’s also old and right now he’s probably the best trade chip they have. If Sandy wants to make a splash via a trade it’s going to be either with Dickey, Niese, or using multiple prospects (think Fulmer, Tapia, Flores as a starting point, who are guys you’d like to keep).
kingman 26
10/7/2012-4:32pm at 4:32 pm (UTC -4)
Why is it critical to sign Wright? Why?
So we can watch him perform like he has the last four years, be dramatically overpaid, and have 18–20 million less per year on a financially strapped team which has incredible holes at C, LF, CF, RF, and the bullpen, and a very mediocre 2B?
It’s unreal how anyone can be for 7/125 or anything like it for Wright.
Yes, in June I was fooled–again–and ready to believe in him and this sorry, weak, pathetic team.
But despite my sappy sentimentality, after Wright led the 4th annual Met Midsummer Swoon, I won’t get fooled again. Roger and Pete, I frigin promise.
Trade Wright for prospects, and preserve financial flexibility for 2014.
kingman 26
10/7/2012-4:28pm at 4:28 pm (UTC -4)
The idea of 7/125–numbers being bandied about–for Wright, as he turns 30, and has not been great for a full season since 2008–is almost comical it is so ridiculous.
Did the team learn nothing from the Omar era? A massive, long-term deal for a player turning 30 soon, who has had injury issues for years, and, while still good, is not close to the player he was from 2005–2008?
This deal, if for real and consummated, will be a complete, laughable, Minayan disaster.
Dickey should absolutely be offered 3/30–3/40. Absolutely. A tiny risk compared to the Wright deal. Yes, he’s much older, but he actually has had the by far BEST years of his career the last 3, not the weakest, he is coming off his career year, he is a knuckleball thrower, and he has been healthy for years.
Look, I love Wright too, but how often is a 7/125 deal for a 30+ player a good one? It is insanity, truly, even by the moronic and incorrect definition of insanity thrown around by idiots on the Internet, i.e., doing the same thing again and again and hoping for different results.
Yes, Wright was a superstar for 3 months in 2012, and was a pretty average player for three months. He’s 30, has had a massive concussion, a terrible back injury, a finger injury, and who knows what else in the last 3 years—so, SIGN HIM FOR 7 YEARS!
Unreal, incredible, and completely ridiculous.
Really, in many ways, the final proof anyone needs that this team is 100% about PR and survival right now.
At Citi, Wright jerseys are everywhere. The masses and casual fans love him, even is he hit .254 for 3/4 of the last 2 seasons. And he is a cute and pretty li’l face who NEVER would consider making a controversial comment.
Truly, it keeps getting worse for this team.
If they give Wright this insane deal and trade Dickey and/or Niese, it might be approaching boycott time for Mr. Kingman.
Enough is enough with half-assed mismanagement and utter bullsh*t.
darknova306
10/7/2012-9:14pm at 9:14 pm (UTC -4)
The Mets were so awful, bland, uninspiring, weak, lazy, and just generally depressing this year that I’ve completely stopped paying attention to anything about the team since the season ended, so I missed that 7/125 number getting thrown around. Seriously? 7/125? Sure, for an early 20s Wright that’s poised for a 4 elite seasons, but not for the player we’re seeing now. He hasn’t shown any measure of consistency in years, and I’m not willing to pay a 30 year old Kaptain K that kind of Omarian disaster of a contract.
Fans that justify contract numbers like that for Wright with phrases like “lifelong Met”, “face of the franchise”, and “clubhouse leader”, etc, are full of the loser mentality that all these silly sentimental things matter more than fielding a consistently competitive team and winning a championship. Wright is currently the type of complimentary player that you bring in to a team that is on the cusp of going on a run for the next 2-4 years, not a team that’s still buried under a mountain of Omar’s crap and the Wilpons’ financial disaster.
This team needs a huge infusion of position players talent, not an uber-deal for a pretty boy.
Stick
10/8/2012-12:14am at 12:14 am (UTC -4)
I feel this team needs a major enema. Would be nice if it started from the top with new owners, but I don’t expect (barring a shocking reversal) that it will happen anytime soon.
and, the FO is here for at least 1 more year (undecided if there is any positive to that).
so, overhaul the team on the field, and get the payroll/talent level in better balance. Plus, the current mix and style of team just has not been working. They need to improve at multiple spots, add speed an D, etc.
so, I am down with shopping Wright and Dickey. If a GM caves (and I think they will) trade them, cut Bay, and move on with a radically reworked team. Hopefully with a few new position players that will be part of a nucleus to build around.
The pitching will be OK, and Wheeler will be up mid year is my guess.
and if they move Dickey and Wright, it means they can keep Ike and Neise and afford to keep them for many years. And only Santana will be sucking down big bucks (Bay of course, after being released)
so, going into 2014, they have a ton of payroll flexibility, and hopefully a much more established group on the field to build on.
gategem
10/8/2012-3:12am at 3:12 am (UTC -4)
I would like to add that I hope they give Duda another year to see if he can develop. You can’t give up on someone with his offensive potential so early in his career.
The Giants scared me but their offense powered them to a win against the hapless Browns. The Eagles lost on a last second field goal. Now if only the Yankees had lost.
Trs86
10/8/2012-6:09am at 6:09 am (UTC -4)
And play him where? He is awful in the OF. I have my own feelings on defense metrics but based on what I have read he was the worst OF in baseball ths year. You can’t go speed and defense with Duda lumbering around in the OF.
gategem
10/8/2012-4:34pm at 4:34 pm (UTC -4)
You want the Mets to accentuate pitching and speed but how do you know that’s the direction they plan on pursuing? Just because you build a club around strong pitching doesn’t mean you require speed to accompany it. The 1969 Mets had Swoboda and Shamsky platoon in right field and neither had speed. They also had Kranepool on the team and he was perhaps the slowest runner in the history of baseball. If Duda can regain his power stroke you can live with it or at the very least it would enhance his trade value.
gategem
10/8/2012-4:37pm at 4:37 pm (UTC -4)
I want to add that when Swoboda was a rookie his outfield play was atrocious and he made Duda look like a gold glover.