BP Mets Trade Deadline Roundtable: A Snapchat To Be Named Later

On Monday night, we decided to have a little fun. Instead of doing regular trade analysis (which Kate already did and it’s boring anyway), we (Justin Birnbaum, Noah Grand, Kate Feldman, Adam Kaufman, Lukas Vlahos, Seth Rubin, Dave Capobianco, and Jeffrey Paternostro) got together in various corners of the country for a roundtable about everything that happened over the weekend. We tried to keep it organized. It didn’t work.

*****

justinbirnbaum
The most important trade is the acquisition of the We Follow Lucas Duda instagram account by TB.

noahgrand
Granderson didn’t get enough back

justinbirnbaum
I forget who tweeted it, but I really like “A Snapchat To Be Named Later”

kateefeldman
Okay well that’s the headline of this now

justinbirnbaum
I can die happy now.

noahgrand
is too old for snapchat

kaufmana315
You know who isn’t too old for snapchat? 23-year-old Drew Smith!

kateefeldman
Man you’re good

justinbirnbaum
That’s an excellent segue if I’ve ever seen one.

lukas.vlahos
I thought the Duda trade was good. Nothing particularly amazing, but the market for rental bats was freaking terrible (just look how little J.D. Martinez, a legitimate offensive star got). Drew Smith has a live arm, decent minor league results, and should reach the majors when rosters expand or early next season. It’s also the right kind of play for the Mets to target, they need RP depth and they should be going for it in 2018/19.

noahgrand
Did Mets retain any of Duda’s salary?

kateefeldman
Pretty sure the Rays picked all of it up
Which fits with history

noahgrand
That’s what I thought

lukas.vlahos
It’s just a boring trade. Smart, but boring. I’ll miss Duda though.

kateefeldman
It was a necessary trade
I was a little worried they were going to hold on to him

justinbirnbaum
Who would have thought that Lucas Duda would crack the top 5 bats traded at the deadline.

kateefeldman
So to me it boiled down to “get whatever you can get”

kaufmana315
It’s a real shame that it’s going to take a Duda trade for most Mets fans to grasp just how Good a player he was for us

justinbirnbaum
^

noahgrand
Agree, but Rays don’t have a ton of cash in the vault. I always wonder if mets 9or any other team) could eat sunk cost of contracts they trade away as a long-term investment.
(or any other team)

kaufmana315
As a form of essentially buying prospects you mean?

noahgrand
Yes. Easy to say since I’m not paying, of course.

kateefeldman
I mean, you have to assume that if they were to take on money, they’d be able to get back bigger names
But the Rays (or whoever else) very well could have turned around and said never mind

lukas.vlahos
I look forward to fans extolling Smith’s mostly empty batting average as better than Duda. (That’s too harsh on Smith I know)
justinbirnbaum
I wonder what the world would look like if the Mets had successfully extended Duda around the time they did the same for Lagares.

kaufmana315
The painful truth is that Lucas Duda is probably something like the 80% outcome for Dominic Smith’s career, no?

noahgrand
Lagares (via Cot’s): 15:$528,696, 16:$2.5M, 17:$4.5M, 18:$6.5M, 19:$9M, 20:$9.5M club option ($0.5M buyout)
That could look meh, but off topic?

justinbirnbaum
Duda was asking a similar amount if I remember correctly?
And then extension talks broke down and never picked up again

kaufmana315
So Dominic Smith would be a trade chip at this point?

noahgrand
Don’t remember what Duda wanted…and he was 28 for his first arbitration season so that hurts his leverage for longer term deal I think.

lukas.vlahos
I would have been on board with a Duda extension and would rather have him starting at first next season than Smith, but the timing just doesn’t work out, and they need Smith to be a cheap contributor in order to have a shot next year

noahgrand
Duda got 1.6375m, 4.2, 6.725, 7.25 his last four years (all avoiding arbitration)

kaufmana315
Thoughts on what he gets as a FA in the winter?

lukas.vlahos
3/45? Back issues will hurt him I think

justinbirnbaum
16-18 over 3/4 if he finishes strong with Tampa

kateefeldman
Depends if he’s looking to stay on the field, probably too, right?
It’s a weak market again

noahgrand
It’s not strictly Duda vs. Smith. It’s Duda + other roster spot vs. Smith + at least $10m more to spend on that roster spot.

kaufmana315
Keeping in mind that Encarnacion got 3/$60 I can’t see Duda more than 2/$30-$35

noahgrand
I’m probably low contract estimate on Duda because of health, questions on whether he stays in field, not checking enough to know if there’s another bat surplus and he gets left in musical chairs.

kateefeldman
Well Noah hits another point there: in theory, saving the $10M difference between Smith and Duda _should_ get spent elsewhere
Because that’s going to be a cheap infield with Flores and Rosario
And whoever else they rotate in

lukas.vlahos
One could argue they’ve already spent it on Ramos.

kateefeldman
Before we move on to Ramos (although that was the perfect segue), anyone have actual thoughts on Smith?
The pitcher not the first baseman

joshburton
Gonna be saving a lot of money on Granderson/Cabrera/possibly Walker too

lukas.vlahos
Yeah writing up a trade with two D. Smith’s related to it was annoying. I do like Smith, Javi had a very positive writeup on the main site and his minor league numbers are nice, though I wish he had more upper minors experience at 23.

kateefeldman
That’s fair. Although there’s room to move up quickly since there’s literally no one blocking him

noahgrand
I hear Vegas is lovely this time of year!

kaufmana315
One vote here for getting him some MLB innings in Sept. to give the front office an idea of how much he can be counted on in ’18

kateefeldman
Think he’s ready?
Or is it a “might as well” situation?

kaufmana315
Does it matter?
Yeah…

kateefeldman
I’ve been saying that about Rosario for two months at this point. But we’ll get to that later
So the other sale was Reed, which was, one could argue, the other _necessary_ trade
And I think that one looks a little underwhelming too, although we all could have overestimated the market…again

justinbirnbaum
Obligated Sandy Alderson is a baseball maverick by acquiring Ramos and cornering the market statement

kaufmana315
Don’t think we overestimated the market actually. Was reported that as many as 10 teams had interest. Hard to believe that this was the best offer fielded with all of the suitors.

noahgrand
I think he tried to corner the market like I used to do in certain video games…and failed.
(Like I did)

lukas.vlahos
I think my opinion here may tend too far into general strategy, so feel free to move it there if you want. The return was fine given the market, but underwhelming considering what could have been. Familia and Reed are arguably as valuable as Miller and Chapman last season, and the Mets’ and Yankees’ situations weren’t so different. Cashman recognized his team was mediocre and capitalized on a fantastic seller’s market. Sandy limped a mediocre team into the wild card game, then sold in one of the worst seller’s markets of the decade.
tl;dr – the return was fine for this year, but garbage when considering the bigger context. I think I like Smith more than any arm the Mets got for Reed.

justinbirnbaum
I agree with Lukas

kateefeldman
I think saying Familia/Reed and Miller/Chapman are comparable is pushing it a bit…

kaufmana315
Don’t think it’s completely fair to say with hindsight that Sandy should have sold last season either.

noahgrand
Exactly
Also we don’t know when he got the OK to sell this year.

justinbirnbaum
The return was underwhelming, but for an expiring contract dealing with overusage and a sketchy medical, getting a deal done with a decent return in a bad market was the right ply

lukas.vlahos
I think we can debate the merits of selling last year in general strategy portion of this, but I was beating that drum very loudly at the deadline last year as well.

kateefeldman
The medicals brings up an interesting point because that caused a bit of a hesitation this morning
And we saw (I forget who) some reports that GMs were hesitant because of overuse
Which, yeah, me too

noahgrand
Mets and medicals…I know I’ve written about that before…

justinbirnbaum
Well in a greater context, the Mets bought Reed low and sold him for a better return than they sent for him
The problem is that due to the timing the context is the Ramos trade

lukas.vlahos
Just another example of Terry’s negative effect on the team. Pitching Reed multiple innings twice in a row, using him three days in a row…both are idiotic.

kaufmana315
To the untrained eye though, Reed certainly hasn’t looked fatigued despite the workload.

noahgrand
At least he traded his closer before his closer could join a mutiny. Learned from his Anaheim days.

lukas.vlahos
He’s definitely been worse this year than last. FB velo down a bit.
I think Justin makes an excellent point though – Reed’s tenure here is a huge victory. Acquired him for nothing, got 140 innings of elite reliever, then traded him for three prospects better than what they gave up to get him in the first place.

sethrub
Yeah and he will be a free agent at the end of the season where they would have gotten nothing. I think it’s better to be happy with something that could ultimately help the future

kateefeldman
Oh, Reed’s tenure in Flushing I think is an undisputed success
Which we can’t say very often
So it’s the same as Duda: it’s better than nothing

kaufmana315
Sandy mentioned at the BP meet up at Citi last month that during that deadline (Salas, Reed), they were looking for guys who had turned it around recently. and both Salas and Reed had been lights out in June 2015.

justinbirnbaum
That sounds like a jeopardy category: “Successful Tenures in Flushing”

noahgrand
Buying low on RP with some track record seems like a solid lottery ticket because the price is often so low.
Just need to sell at the right time before they turn back in to a pumpkin.

justinbirnbaum
Mets 2017 slogan “it’s better than nothing”

sethrub
But I think that’s unfortunately it. If teams don’t want to overpay for limited innings of relief pitching or of a player they are going to use sparingly and the Mets ultimately will get nothing at the end of the season, I just believe that we should be happy we got something for now. Whether the prospects work out is another story but that’s all we can hope for.

kaufmana315
Agreed, one of the main mistakes that teams like the Phillies, or Tigers have made is not fully committing to buying or selling.
I, for one, was worried that Thor’s “we are a 2nd half team” might trick some people into holding these assets and hoping for a ridiculous 50-20 stretch.

noahgrand
This team isn’t the Dodgers

kateefeldman
^^^My fear exactly
And by “people,” I mean the FO

noahgrand
FO or ownership?

kateefeldman
Do we know where that line is?

lukas.vlahos
There isn’t one with Jeff around.

justinbirnbaum
Not dumping Grandy Asdrubal Reyes Walker (basically every tradeable asset except Bruce) was a mistake

kaufmana315
Whoops.

justinbirnbaum
Even if you had to take 50 cents on the dollar

kateefeldman
I guess you see what comes back in August
And I don’t see how Walker has any trade value unfortunately
Reyes, well, yeah

noahgrand
Yeah. My point is I don’t think that Sandy has a ton of power to decide whether to sell quickly vs. try to make a run.

lukas.vlahos
All of those guys have big enough salaries to get through waivers. And Bruce is not gonna accept the QO apparently, so they’ll get an oka pick for him.

sethrub
No one is going to sign Bruce and give up a pick

kaufmana315
On topic question: Can we really feel more confident about a 2018 trio of Familia – Ramos – Blevins than we can about this year’s Familia – Reed – Blevins trio?

lukas.vlahos
No. They need to add more. They won’t though.

justinbirnbaum
No we can’t
The gold standard is Betances-Miller-Chapman

noahgrand
I mean Familia is such a question mark

kateefeldman
Blevins isn’t going to be your seventh inning guy anyway
They’ll still use him as a LOOGY

sethrub
I think that’s where teams, especially the Mets need to start investing in relief pitching more instead of signing guys towards the end of the off-season

lukas.vlahos
I don’t agree there.

noahgrand
Blevins has faced 90 LHB, 50 RHB this year. Pretty LOOGY-ish.

lukas.vlahos
Relievers, despite the value of good ones, are still terrible investments because of volatility. If you’re trying to build a long term contender, you shouldn’t be dishing out big reliever contracts.

noahgrand
Agree w/ Lukas

lukas.vlahos
However, if your team is about to crash (like the Mets), you shouldn’t give a damn about the back ends of those deals, and you should go all in for them.

sethrub
Sorry. Not big contracts but more proven relievers such as Joe Smith instead of Ben Rowen

justinbirnbaum
It has to be a revolving door of talent realistically

lukas.vlahos
That is the ideal bullpen, but Jeff had a good thread on Twitter about how the Mets, for some reason, have no damn relievers in the minors.

kaufmana315
As the Nationals have proven, it’s not too difficult to make significant upgrades to a bullpen mid-season for minimal cost.

kateefeldman
But the Nats had players to trade for talent
The Mets…don’t

lukas.vlahos
Hopefully, having Callahan, Smith, and the Oregonian reliever whose name I forget will help with that and give them some options to cycle through with Robles, Goeddel, and Sewald.

kateefeldman
I still like Smoker too

kaufmana315
Nats didn’t really deal away top talent for any of those guys.

sethrub
Yeah that’s what I am hoping for. I think that’s the change we will see is more development of relievers

noahgrand
Nogosek. Yeah I looked it up. We went to same high school.

lukas.vlahos
If his shoulder isn’t shot, yeah.

sethrub
Also on the nationals. It’s great they upgraded now but I’m sure they would have preferred a better bullpen all season

lukas.vlahos
That’s kind of cool actually.

sethrub
I wouldn’t want to rely on being able to get help half-way through the season. Which is why these young guys could be very good for the Mets in the future

kaufmana315
But instead of making a 2 or 3 year commitment with big dollars, they traded mid-level prospects for proven relievers.

lukas.vlahos
So, Ramos deal?

justinbirnbaum
I was high on Merandy Gonzalez but A. An eighth inning bridge is much more important and B. What happens if Familia can’t close?

noahgrand
How panicked was everyone when they saw Mets trading for a player?

justinbirnbaum
Reed 2.0

sethrub
I was very confused at first reading that notification

lukas.vlahos
I was not panicked, but I still feel they chose the wrong reliever (already had this debate in general, forgive me repeating myself). Ramos is going to be making $10 million, which is basically elite reliever money, and he doesn’t strike me as one. Certainly a good reliever, but not worth that much.

kaufmana315
Yeah I had a little sticker shock too hearing his arb eligibility.

lukas.vlahos
If this was a team with a significant future, it’d be a very nice move, only committing one year to a very nice reliever. But as I said earlier, it isn’t. They should go out and spend on Reed/McGee/Davis for only a slightly higher AAV and better performance. Who cares about the back end.

justinbirnbaum
Not to ruin everyone’s night but Gio Gonzalez has a no-no going lol

sethrub
Well I guess the Nats won’t need to worry about the bullpen tonight

kaufmana315
Mets: “We’ve acquired 5 lottery ticket minor league relievers!
Nationals: “Our fourth starter is throwing a no-hitter”

noahgrand
The Nats will always worry about the bullpen

justinbirnbaum
^^^

kateefeldman
I’m not a fan of Ramos and the price tag is high, but he’s better than…Paul Sewald, eighth inning guy?

kaufmana315
Let’s play this game again: What does Reed get in FA?

justinbirnbaum
Paul Sewald eighth inning guy gives me hives.
2 at $7M? I feel like Reed will not come close touching $10.
Blevins-ish money

sethrub
Ziegler got $8 million per year

kaufmana315
Seems light to me. He’s only 28. Guess I’d have preferred to trade him away then resign.

noahgrand
Who knows what Reed’s medicals look like at the end of the year?

lukas.vlahos
If Reed gets that little A – I will be astounded, B – the Mets should 100% bring him back

justinbirnbaum
In MLB the Show 17 he asks for $4.5 million when he hits FA
Not that that matters lol
I lowballed him based on his medical

sethrub
Although at either of those prices he’s cheaper than Ramos

kaufmana315
Someone is going to offer him a closer job this winter, and the Mets won’t be able to do that.

kateefeldman
Keep in mind that he has #closer status now
Okay Adam beat me

kaufmana315
^

sethrub
True. But will a team really pay him to close?
I guess the white sox paid for Robertson

lukas.vlahos
I am going to beat the Trevor Cahill drum as a starter, which should push Wheeler and/or Matz to the bullpen.
I’d also like to see them pursue David Hernandez.

kaufmana315
I could see the Rockies & D-Backs as suitors for him.
(Reed that is)

sethrub
But would reed go back to the d-backs? They messed him up

justinbirnbaum
I think Zack Wheeler to the ‘pen is definitely a solid play.

lukas.vlahos
Cubs will need a new closer.

kateefeldman
Well before we move guys to the bullpen, I have no idea what the 2018 rotation looks like
Syndergaard is MIA, Matz is always hurt, Gsellman…I literally don’t even know

lukas.vlahos
Thor, deGrom, Harvey, Matz, Wheeler, Montero, Flexen, Gsellman, Lugo, (Cahill if I get my wish)
Throw that group at the wall and see what sticks. Move two of them to the bullpen, perhaps not immediately, but at some point during the season.

noahgrand
See how many are healthy at any one time.

justinbirnbaum
Our worst nightmare will come true and it ends up being Thor

davec
*parachutes in*
Speaking of Lugo, I wouldn’t have minded if they seriously explored trade options for Lugo, or any non-Thor starter.

kateefeldman
The health is what always scares me, and moreso with this group
Let’s save deGrom trade talks for a bit later
Because I need to prepare to get really sad about that

davec
Lol okay

lukas.vlahos
On Ramos, he’s just underwhelming to me at that salary. He’s 29 in FIP over the last four years, 25 over the past three.
And noticeably worse the last two years.

kateefeldman
Mostly the walks scare me
Especially with the defense behind him

lukas.vlahos
Yes, pitching to a terrible framer hurts him, but he’s never had any control whatsoever.

kateefeldman
Well I meant the infield, but that too

davec
Feels like it has Salas-ian bust potential

kaufmana315
I too see some similarities between Ramos and Salas unfortunately

both prone to the HR as well

kateefeldman
Well Salas was good! For a while! Until…Terry

noahgrand
Got to know when an RP’s streak is up. Terry doesn’t have that skill.

davec
Those first two weeks in April this year were special

noahgrand
Gio headed in to 9th btw

kateefeldman
Yup Noah’s exactly right
Playing the hot hand and also not overplaying relievers
We saw that this year with…everyone

davec
Tyler Clippard sends his regards

noahgrand
That’s why you need more than a starting bullpen’s worth of players.
Well, injuries mainly (also rotation)

sethrub
Well if you move a player such as Wheeler or Gsellman to the pen then you can at least get more innings

kateefeldman
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I miss Logan Verrett

noahgrand
No
NO NO NO
Had to recap him way too much

sethrub
But players such as him are useful

kaufmana315
Generally speaking, the Mets can’t plan on having SPs move to the bullpen. They don’t have 5 healthy arms now, they can’t count on them next year either.

noahgrand
And now the Nats have to worry about the bullpen

kaufmana315
If they actually have 6 or 7 healthy starters pitching well at the same time, that’s when you can think about shifting someone to the bullpen.

davec
And that’s why the Ynoa trade made no sense
Went from Gsellman to bad Montero right to Tyler Pill.

kateefeldman
This is where Jeffrey normally pops his head in

davec
That’s not depth

noahgrand
And Mets got nothing for him. Just a bit of cash and clearing a roster spot. See why I keep going back to ownership being cheap.

kaufmana315
$10 million AJ Ramos waves hello

noahgrand
But ownership has always been cheap on the minor moves. Which does things like kneecapping the team’s depth.

davec
And they don’t pay for anyone in trades, which limits the return
Which might’ve impacted the return for Reed, and might be why Asdrubal Cabrera is still a Met

noahgrand
Watching the Nats…now that Doolittle is in DC…I wonder if anyone has told him there used to be a Congressman named Doolittle.

kaufmana315
Hey, no Nats-watching in BP Mets trade roundtable!

noahgrand
Just Nats trolling!

davec
But then they’ll blow a QO on a Walker or Bruce or give Cuddyer a two-year deal. The team can spend money, but only a very finite amount, and they’re not as efficient with it as they probably can be.

lukas.vlahos
Should we mention Rosario, or was that not on our agenda?
Oh, this front office is _awful_ at building a contender.

kateefeldman
Let’s leave Rosario to the end so we can finish on a happy note

lukas.vlahos
They’ve had one legitimately good offseason, when they swung Niese for Walker and got Cespedes back. No, I don’t hold Daniel Murphy against them that year, because that was totally unpredictable.

jpaternostro
Did someone mention Gabriel Ynoa

kateefeldman
The Paternostro siren goes off again

lukas.vlahos
Jesus f–king christ haha.

davec
His Ynoa senses were tingling

lukas.vlahos
Jeff’s got a server of bots trawling the internet for any mention of Gabriel Ynoa

kateefeldman
So I guess the question now is the moves they didn’t make, which we touched on a little before
Cabrera, Grandy, Bruce
Even Blevins, although that’s a little different
I expected at least someone to go

lukas.vlahos
Walker – not surprising, he’s hurt
Granderson – should have taken whatever the Brewers offered
Bruce – it’s fine, he’s gonna decline the QO. More problematic is that they want him back for some idiotic reason
Cabrera – I don’t get this one

kaufmana315
I don’t mind holding players like those guys as long as it doesn’t impact the playing time of Conforto & Rosario
If there was no market, there was no market. But we all know Conforto is going to be on the bench more than a 24-year-old All Star should be

lukas.vlahos
The last one is odd to me specifically because they bitched all this time they couldn’t bring Rosario up because Cabrera would be a cancer, but now all of a sudden moving him to third is enough to fix the issue?
Oh you’ve been on the Collins train long enough, you should know it’s gonna impact their playing time.

kaufmana315
I think he’s come around on Conforto actually. We’re going to have to go through this all over again with Rosario I’m afraid.

noahgrand
Cabrera has a 2m buyout on his club option. How many teams would be willing to just take his contract if it was available on waivers?
Let alone giving up something for him
Not sure what market was for him

lukas.vlahos
I’m surprised there wasn’t a team to take him if the Mets’ paid his buyout. He’s bad at short, but not totally unplayable, and is still a league average switch hitter at up the middle spots.

noahgrand
Lukas: Who has a specific need?

kaufmana315
Mets likely weren’t trying to pay his buyout this time around, see what they can do in August instead.

lukas.vlahos
Indians MI is beat up. The D-Backs MI isn’t exactly great, and Owings just went on the 60-day DL. The Nationals have zero bench depth, though they got Kendrick and Turner should be back.

sethrub
True and he would be a good fifth infielder option

noahgrand
Thanks. I was blanking on that.

lukas.vlahos
What’s the Yankee’s depth behind Castro and Didi? Or the Red Sox options behind their infield?

kaufmana315
Red Sox just got Nunez

lukas.vlahos
If the Mets paid his salary, he’s a legitimately good bench infielder. They shouldn’t pay him $8.75 million to do that next season, but some team out there should have thrown them a RP flier their way for that.
Oh, fair on the Red Sox.
Forgot about that.
But again, dependent on the Mets paying salary and the buyout. And who knows if they were gonna do that.

noahgrand
Then again, he could still be traded.
It doesn’t have the pure “what the heck just happened?” of designating Edgin for assignment without lining up a trade.

kaufmana315
I think we’re overstating how often players have their contracts paid down. It happens for super expensive guys (Justin Verlander & co.), but rarely does a utility infielder come with money.

kateefeldman
But if the Mets threw in a million?
They could have actually gotten something rather than hoping for waivers
And a million isn’t real money

noahgrand
To a baseball team. It’s certainly real money to my bank account!

justinbirnbaum
Can I take these imaginary millions to the nearest casino?

kateefeldman
Listen, I just had to put down a security deposit for my apartment. I get it
But for the Wilpons, not so much

kaufmana315
IMO, most of the value of trading Cabrera would have been:
1. Don’t pay his salary in 2017
2. Don’t pay his buyout
3. Open roster spot
4. Easier Rosario transition

lukas.vlahos
Well, an extra reliever flier (which is the realistic return) would have been useful.
To steal Jeff’s point from twitter, the Mets have f–k all for relievers in the upper minors.

kaufmana315
Right, but nothing beyond that. He’s been worth -0.2 WAR this season.

kateefeldman
It all comes back to our motto for the night: it’s better than nothing
Except for now, it is nothing

justinbirnbaum
Trademark pending

kaufmana315
This is one of those situations that WAR is perfect for. In theory, every team has a replacement level player who should provide more value than Cabrera down the stretch.
Obviously there’s more that goes into it, but it’s not hard to see why there weren’t any takers.

noahgrand
Thus my initial question of whether anyone would just claim him if they could.

lukas.vlahos
If they don’t, cut him.
Better to give Rosario / Flores / Cecchini / whoever might contribute next season more playing time

kateefeldman
Okay so let’s play that game: what’s the 2018 infield?

davec
I think they view Cabrera as a legitimate option for next year

kaufmana315
Lukas good point. I’d also argue that we should take a hard look at Cecchini.

lukas.vlahos
How much do I get to spend in free agency?

kaufmana315
Is he AAAA-player or could he play a Ruben Tejada role?

kateefeldman
Do we think Cecchini is good?
Because I don’t think I do

kaufmana315
We should probably find out.

lukas.vlahos
He’s not.

kateefeldman
Yeah, I give him 2017 to find out
But I don’t think it turns out like we’d like

noahgrand
Is Matt Reynolds going to remind anyone he’s on the team?

kaufmana315
Matt Reynolds is absolutely a AAAA-player

lukas.vlahos
that depends, is he going to develop any useful skills?
Anyway, if I had my way I’d sign at least one of Moustakas and Walker. Realistically it’s just Walker, so you’re looking at Flores – Rosario – Walker – Smith, with a bench of Rivera and Reynolds.

kateefeldman
I think I take Reynolds over Cecchini?
Maybe?
For now?

lukas.vlahos
I think Reynolds is better at short, so give me Reynolds.

kateefeldman
I’m going with Walker at second
I also think he’s cheap

kaufmana315
Ok no cheating here: Guess how many PAs Cecchini has in the majors?

kateefeldman
50

lukas.vlahos
He’s got like 30 now right?
Or are you asking what he’ll wind up with for his career.

kaufmana315
Right now, we’ve seen him take 21 plate appearances.

davec
I think I’d take a beaten-down Cabrera as the sixth infielder over Reynolds

kaufmana315
Way too early to make any judgements

kateefeldman
God is that really all?

lukas.vlahos
He’s putting up a .307 wOBA in Triple-A and has no skills to complement an okay hit tool.
He’s not good.
kaufmana315
I can get on board with that.

kateefeldman
Unfortunately, I think they bring back Reyes

lukas.vlahos
If Collins is the manager and Reyes is on the team, I’m done.

noahgrand
Why do you think they bring back Reyes?

kaufmana315
I don’t think Reyes is getting anything more than a minor league deal.

noahgrand
Because Mets?

kateefeldman
Because Mets and #OldFriends and I am a pessimist at heart

kaufmana315
He’s been among the 20 worst players in the MLB there’s no reason to guarantee him anything next year.

kateefeldman
He’s cheap and they know him

davec
This team is properly infatuated with him and apparently he still moves the needle ticket/mercy wise
*merch

kateefeldman
Man I had some questions there

noahgrand
I figured he must be moving needle and that’s why they keep promoting him

kateefeldman
There is also a chance that they just don’t get it
Which is entirely possible

lukas.vlahos
I mean, Reyes was my favorite player when I was little, but even without the DV issues I’d be sick of him getting promoted because he’s just fucking awful.

davec
Really how he finishes the season will be important. If it’s April-May again he won’t be back, but if he’s like a 90 wRC+ bat down the stretch then I legit think he’s back

lukas.vlahos
Market Conforto. Market deGrom. Hell market Flores, IDGAF. Not a washed up, shitty, former star who has major off the field issues to boot.

kaufmana315
So let’s see here… without any major acquisitions, the infield looks like this:
1B: Smith
2B: Rivera
SS: Rosario
3B: Flores

lukas.vlahos
Which is awful.

davec
That’s el brutto

kaufmana315
I don’t have a huge problem with that, I have a bigger problem with one injury turning Matt Reynolds into a starter.

lukas.vlahos
They need to add at least one infielder. Walker is a perfect fit really, Rivera can caddie him against lefties too if he doesn’t bounce back.

davec
Still not at all comfortable with Rivera as a starter

kateefeldman
If Walker’s healthy, I really think he’s the right move

lukas.vlahos
I’d like to see them give Stephen Drew a shot.

kateefeldman
He’s not getting anything on the market with his back

lukas.vlahos
As a bench bat. Can back up short, is a lefty bat to complement Flores / Rivera / Rosario.
So you could sign Walker and Drew pretty cheaply, run out Flores / Rosario / Walker / Smith and have Rivera / Drew on the bench.

kateefeldman
I’d take that

kaufmana315
Other FA infielders of interest: Eduardo Nunez, Zack Cozart, Mike Moustakas

kateefeldman
I don’t know that Drew doesn’t get a better offer though

lukas.vlahos
He won’t get a starting offer, but yeah.
Nunez is bad, Cozart is gonna be overpaid because he can be a starting shortstop somewhere and the Mets don’t need that.
kaufmana315
Why do we want Stephen Drew again?

davec
Oh no. The Stephen Drew to the Mets speculation has returned.

lukas.vlahos
Backup SS, lefty foil as a bench bat. I’m not married to the idea, but if he’s cheap I’d take it. Better than Matt Reynolds sitting on the bench I think.
The way I look at it, they have room for one big free agent bat. We all know it’s gonna be Bruce but let’s pretend it isn’t for a minute.
I’d say choose one of Cain, JD Martinez, and Moustakas.

kaufmana315
He’s better than Reynolds, sure. Not better than Rivera or Flores though, who I’d rather have as bench bats.

kateefeldman
I still have no idea what to think about Rivera

lukas.vlahos
Well, in that scenario, Flores is your starting 3B.
Also, if your bench is Flores / Rivera, you have no backup SS.

kaufmana315
*whispers* Flores was the SS for like all of 2015 including the World Series

kateefeldman
That doesn’t mean he should have been

lukas.vlahos
Do we _really_ want to relive FloreSS?

kateefeldman
Not for a playoff team

davec
Well FloreSS was the situation the only time this team has seen real success in the last decade
So

noahgrand
Doesn’t mean Flores @ SS caused the success

kaufmana315
2015 Flores: 835 innings, -2.5 UZR -10 DRS
2017 Cabrera: 386 innings, -4.7 UZR, -9 DRS
Just saying

davec
I’m being facetious, though I think people overestimate how bad he was once he got comfortable there

noahgrand
Can I get SS who can field option C?

kaufmana315
Flores’ struggles as a shortstop were overstated in 2015

lukas.vlahos
That’s a fair point, it’s not the worst idea if he’s the backup.
My fear is Rosario struggles and Flores has to step in full time.

kaufmana315
Gotta run everybody, it’s been fun!

lukas.vlahos
Though I guess if Rosario struggles that badly, the team is doomed anyway.

noahgrand
Does it make sense for Mets to continue emphasizing bat-first infield and punt fielding if they are signing more infielders?

kateefeldman
I don’t think the Mets care about defense whatsoever

lukas.vlahos
Rosario will help a ton. I think Walker is a solid defender. Moustakas would be nice on defense too.

kateefeldman
Well, if they’re only making one big FA signing, I’d prefer a center fielder
It’s going to be Bruce though

davec
Who though?

lukas.vlahos
I’m just not that interested in investing big money in 32 year old Lorenzo Cain.

kateefeldman
And there’s the rub

lukas.vlahos
I’d rather leave Conforto in CF and sign Martinez or sign Moustakas and grab a platoon CF with Lagares (who I think is continually undervalued).

kateefeldman
I don’t even know if Lagares is alive right now

lukas.vlahos
Give Jarrod Dyson a small deal, platoon him with Lagares, stick them in the 8 spot. That’s elite defense and slightly above league average offense from CF.
Patch the infield with Moustakas and Walker, add two pitchers on the cheap, go from there.

kateefeldman
You just spent a hell of a lot of money

lukas.vlahos
They have $50+ coming off the books.

jpaternostro
I just finished recording a two hour podcast with a Jarrod Dyson stan and now I come here

lukas.vlahos
Didn’t think that idea would be popular, heh.

kateefeldman
I didn’t know there was such a thing as a Jarrod Dyson stan

jpaternostro
They are gonna play Conforto in CF everyday and it might actually be fine, or at least Jarrett sort of convinced me it won’t be awful

lukas.vlahos
I am okay with that, but then they’re gonna bring Bruce back and the infield is left unfixed.

jpaternostro
Well for an org that clearly doesn’t care about defense it won’t be the worst thing they have done at least
That is happening Lukas

lukas.vlahos
Oh I know, and it makes me want to shoot myself.
They’re gonna piss away the last chance they have with this core with a garbage infield

kateefeldman
Yeah but Rosario is pretty and shiny or something, right?

jpaternostro
I mean if they sign like Moustakas and play Flores and Smith on the right side it’s going to be well down the list of issues.
The fact that they have exactly two healthy starters for 2018 is a pretty inextricable obstacle

lukas.vlahos
If they bring back Bruce and Walker, things will be at least okay. Rosario will improve the defense a bunch.
Or I hope he will.

kateefeldman
It can’t be worse

lukas.vlahos
They should be pushing all in though, and signing starters isn’t really feasible, so might as well go for position players.

jpaternostro
Their only real option is to build a high variance 85 win team, which they have done successfully for three years basically
The variance went negative this year

noahgrand
Agreed

kateefeldman
The injuries didn’t help though, and I don’t know that it gets any better next year

noahgrand
Sandy needs to learn about the 10 day DL and stop seeing it as a last resort

kateefeldman
Someone asked him about that at the BP event and he said the team uses it exactly as it should
I almost cried I was holding in my laughter

jpaternostro
It’s literally a 10-day DL

lukas.vlahos
He is not as smart as we gave him credit for early on.

jpaternostro
Part of the problem there is they don’t really have great 40-man position options

lukas.vlahos
Maybe the next time they rebuild (in 3 years), the new GM can point to the Astros / Cubs and convince the Wilpons to go nuclear.

noahgrand
They’ve made some…unusual 40-man roster moves right?

jpaternostro
They really don’t like DFAing guys or churning the backend of the roster generally
Again part of this issue is one of depth. The Yankees aggressively do this, the Yankees also have literally ten+ viable upper minors arms
They are basically selling them off for IFA pool money and Jaime Garcia at this point because they don’t have the 40 room
The Mets have to go get Indy ball arms to fill those same spots in Bingo and Vegas
Which is one of the reasons they sold (and bought) at the deadline for RHRP

lukas.vlahos
Kate, just try not to cry too much when editing this rambling, pessimistic mess haha.

kateefeldman
I’m literally not editing this at all, so you’re good
It’s almost too late to figure out the 40-man though, right?
Like you can’t just decide to stock up one day and then it’s fixed

lukas.vlahos
You could always just not draft like garbage?

kateefeldman
Well if it’s that simple
I mean, it’s not like they’re trying
It just…hasn’t worked
I guess let’s wrap this up on the happy news of Rosario’s call-up

lukas.vlahos
Well, maybe Jeff can shed some light on this because I don’t get it.
They go from “Cabrera will bitch too much” to “oh, we just moved him to third, so it’s fine.”
Calling bull on that. So did Sandy get to read Terry the riot act or something? What changed so that they could assure Rosario playing time all of a sudden.
Also interesting that Sandy, in the press conference, specified Rosario was playing SS. Reinforcing a message to Terry? Sounded like it to me, but I’m probably just projecting my hatred of Terry onto things.
It’s not like he’s any more ready, and there’s not a huge service time benefit unless they plan to hold him down for half the season next year too, which they pretty clearly don’t.
See Kate, I just took your happy concept and had a pissy take on it. My power is infinite.

kateefeldman
I have so much faith in you, Lukas
Has anyone looked at attendance numbers recently?

noahgrand
I’m just standing back and watching you burn it down

kateefeldman
I think there’s a chance they need the publicity
There’s no reason to go to Citi anymore
Like, it’s literally just Conforto and Cespedes
And that’s not really a draw
So Rosario brings you a gate

noahgrand
DeGrom day?

kateefeldman
Jesus, I literally forgot about him
So there’s three guys

lukas.vlahos
Except Cespedes can’t hit for whatever reason right now.

kateefeldman
I’m choosing to believe that’s just a weird fluke
Jarrett and I were actually talking about Sandy v. Terry earlier in terms of Rosario and he rudely pointed out that there’s really no way to force him to play Rosario

noahgrand
Well Terry has been forced out due to a player revolt once in his career…
You think Sandy has any real authority to say “play the kid or you’re fired?”

kateefeldman
Well, it’s probably his job officially. Whether he actually gets to do that is a different question

noahgrand
Exactly. You seemed to be implying Sandy doesn’t have that authority…

kateefeldman
Well, no physical way to force him. Other than threatening his job (and then there’s the question of who takes over), Terry’s in charge of the lineup

noahgrand
Not quite Mike Scioscia getting GMs fired in Anaheim though

kateefeldman
Not quite
I assume that if Rosario’s up, he’ll play
Feel free to make fun of me in a week when he’s pinch-hit twice

lukas.vlahos
Ownership just telling him he can’t fire Terry, so he can’t do s–t.
And Terry is just terminally incompetent.

kateefeldman
I thought we were going to get away with ending this happy and not with an angry Lukas rant
Anything else anyone wants to add?

davec
To end it on as happy a note as we can, just remember that Rosario flopping is something that this org will take years to recover from
Enjoy baseball

kateefeldman
Thanks, Dave

Photo credit: Kelvin Kuo – USA Today Sports