The free-agent season is upon us and Mets CEO Jeff Wilpon insists the Mets have the money to spend to fill their various needs. But the question is, do they have money to OVER-spend? And, if so, should they?
Here’s the problem for the Mets — and to a lesser degree the Yankees now that they can no longer guarantee free agents a legitimate chance for a World Series ring: All things being relatively equal, the Mets, a team that has had five straight losing seasons, are one of the least desirable free-agent landing places. It’s kind of like the guy who applies for a job and is turned down because of a lack of experience. “But how can I get experience if I can’t a get a job?” he asks. In the answer to free agents who express reservations about the Mets’ commitment to winning, they respond: “But how can we get better if free agents won’t sign with us?”
This is not to say the Mets aren’t going to sign free agents to fill their corner outfield, shortstop and middle-of-the-rotation needs. Just don’t expect them to sign any of the most coveted free agents, Shin-Soo Choo, Stephen Drew or Jhonny Peralta. Choo’s rep, Scott (Avenging Agent) Boras has already tabbed him a $ 100 million player. Maybe for someone, but not the Mets. Been there, done that kind of thing with Jason Bay and Bobby Bonilla, neither of whom would have signed with the Mets were it not for their overpaying. With Choo, Boras is talking 7-8 years at $ 14-$ 15 million per for a 31-year-old player who’s a .243 lifetime hitter against lefties. That would be overspending. Boras is cornering the market this winter with the two most-desirable outfielders, Choo and Jacoby Ellsbury (for whom he’s said to also be seeking seven-plus years at $ 15 million-plus per), and if it’s any consolation to Mets fans who think they should spend whatever it takes to sign Choo, the Red Sox have been quietly putting out the word that, much as they want the oft-injured but integral Ellsbury back, they don’t intend to overspend to do it. They’ll probably offer Ellsbury 5-6 years at about $ 15 million per but if there’s another desperate team — like the Seattle Mariners, the nearest “hometown” team for the Oregon product — willing to give him seven or eight years, the Sox are prepared to let him walk.
Other than Choo and Ellsbury, the free-agent outfielder market is pretty unappealing. The next-best option might actually be former Met Marlon Byrd, whom the Mets conceivably could sign without grossly overpaying, and who has shown he has no problem with playing in New York. Otherwise, it does not seem to matter how much extra money the Mets have to spend this year, as they’re probably going to have to fill their needs via the trade route.
As for the Yankees, assuming catcher Brian McCann, Carlos Beltran, possibly Peralta and even righty Ubaldo Jimenez are their top free-agent targets, they’d better be prepared to also overpay. The 29-year-old lefthanded-hitting McCann figures to have a number of suitors, even though he’s coming off an injury-plagued year in which he played the fewest games and had the fewest RBI since 2005 when he played just half a season as a rookie.
Charlie Riedel/AP
Jhonny Peralta figures to have plenty of pursuers this offseason.
Peralta, too, figures to have plenty of pursuers because of his versatility, but if he wants to remain at shortstop, his primary position, the Yankees might not be high on his list now that Derek Jeter has been re-signed for $ 12 million. And while Beltran has had two straight productive seasons with the Cardinals and has stated he’d love to play for the Yankees, he’ll be 37 next year and his brittle past with the Mets still lingers.
And as much as the Yankees need a top-of-the-rotation starter, especially if Hiroki Kuroda doesn’t return, are they really prepared to put a five-year, $ 12-15 million per year deal on the table for Jimenez, an amount he figures to command as the top starter in a largely mediocre market — especially if they’re to stay under that $ 189 luxury tax threshold? Four years ago the Yankees grossly overpaid to convince CC Sabathia to pitch in New York — and then included an opt-out clause, in case he didn’t like it, that made it an even more onerous contract.
SKIPPING AHEAD
With World Series opponents John Farrell and Mike Matheny as Exhibits A and B, there appears to be a trend developing in this offseason’s manager hiring season and that would be: No major league experience necessary. The Nationals last week hired Diamondbacks third-base coach Matt Williams, whose only managerial experience was in the Arizona Fall League for five weeks in 2007, to succeed Davey Johnson, as their skipper. Said Nationals GM Mike Rizzo: “We went with the best candidate available. We just felt Matt’s message, the way he communicates the message and his demeanor and character was kind of a difference-maker for me.” In other words, Williams, who becomes the first manager to have appeared in the Mitchell Report on steroids use in baseball, was hired on his personality — and the fact that Rizzo has known him since 1999 when he was Arizona’s scouting director and Williams was the D-Backs’ third baseman. Nevertheless, Rizzo appears to be hedging his bet a little by not allowing Williams to pick any of his coaches and retaining bench coach Randy Knorr, who was one of the candidates that lost out on the manager’s job. Apparently, other general managers looking to fill their manager’s jobs are taking the same approach as Rizzo, as none of the three leading candidates for the vacant Cubs, Mariners and Tigers jobs — Dodgers third base coach Tim Wallach, Red Sox bench coach Torey Lovullo and Padres assistant to the GM Brad Ausmus — has ever managed in the majors. Ausmus, in fact, has never managed anywhere. As of Saturday, Lovullo still hadn’t interviewed anywhere because of the Red Sox being in the World Series, but both the Tigers and Cubs are said to have strong interest in him. The Tigers would be a kind of homecoming for Lovullo. He started his major league career as a utility infielder with them in 1988 and in the spring of ’89, Tigers manager Sparky Anderson called him “one the best natural hitters I’ve ever seen. I’ll die before he comes out of the lineup.” After 29 games that year, Lovullo was hitting .115 and was demoted to the minors, never to return until the Yankees acquired him in 1991. Unless twice-fired Eric Wedge and Manny Acta, who both interviewed with the Cubs, or former Pirates manager Lloyd McClendon, who interviewed in Seattle and Detroit, get hired, it seems like GMs this offseason are looking for new-blood managers over retreads. Just ask Dusty Baker, who reportedly called the Nationals and was told he need not apply.
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ROBERTS, FRANCES/FREELANCE NYDN
Mr. Met will have to work his magic in order to attract free agents to a franchise with five straight losing seasons.
IT’S A MADD MADD WORLD …
- We’re still wondering where Robinson Cano’s market is. Dodgers big Magic Johnson said the club was not going to be in on Cano and then L.A. signed Cuban free agent second baseman Alexander Guerrero to a $ 28 million contract. The Rangers don’t seem inclined to move Ian Kinsler off second base, and even if they did, it would be to give Jurickson Profar, despite his disappointing rookie season, a full shot there. The Cubs keep getting mentioned, but after just getting out from under their idiotic eight-year $ 136 million contract they gave Alfonso Soriano, do they really want to do that again with another over-30 player? The Tigers are already loaded with long-term commitments and will have to deal with Miguel Cabrera in two years. Ditto the Angels. The Orioles need a second baseman, but their owner, Peter Angelos, won’t spend the money. Things can always change and One Dumb Owner might yet emerge from where it’s least expected, but right now, when it comes to Cano’s pie-in-the-sky 8- to 10-year, $ 250-$ 300 million demands, the Yankees would only be bidding against themselves.\
SAY IT AIN’T SO …
“It also serves the interests of the next 18-year-old coming into the league, to be sure he doesn’t step into the same house of horrors that I am being forced to walk through.”
- Alex Rodriguez on his suit against Commissioner Bud Selig and MLB. Might that 18-year-old be one of the kids in the Taylor Hooton Foundation whom he counseled about the evils of steroids at the same time he was allegedly doing them himself?
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