Allocating Jose Reyes’ Money
By Mike Silva ~ November 2nd, 2011. Filed under: New York Mets.
The Mets need to fill a few holes on their roster whether or not Jose Reyes is playing shortstop. Without any arbitration figures they have $67 million dollars tied up in 6 players. They have five arbitration eligible players that probably will add another $8 million to the payroll. I expect them to only sign three (Pelfrey, Bucholtz, Parnell), trade/non-tender two (Pagan, Paulino). That brings the payroll to about $75 million. It’s pretty clear ownership wants the final number to be south of $100 million, so could the Mets field a competitive team with $20 million dollars of available capital?
First, it should be clear why Reyes will not be back. Can you justify bringing him back for $15 of that $20 million and still field a competitive team? Probably not, and even less likely considering it would require the type of long-term commitment they are trying to move away from. As I see it they need a centerfielder, closer, setup man, and another starter to even be considered an 85 win team.
This may not excite you, but a plan to bring in Joe Nathan as the closer, Grady Sizemore or Nate McLouth to play centerfield, trading Pagan or Paulino for a middle reliever, and signing a pitcher like Joel Pineiro, Jason Marquis, or Jeff Francis to round out the rotation might be a decent alternative. All those players would be no more than a 1-2 year commitment and probably total around the $20 million dollar magic number.
Nathan would be your big acquisition in this scenario. I see McLouth as more realistic than Sizemore, and the middle relief/fifth starter is interchangeable based on their internal preference and dollars.
If they hang around the Wild Card and the attendance is pointing in the right direction, perhaps there will be another $5-$10 million available mid-season to bring in July reinforcements.
I know this doesn’t excite you, but Mets fans better realize their team is going to look more like other mid-market teams. Forget being in the top five of payroll as long as the Wilpons are owning the team.
St. Louis won a title with one star pitcher, one big bat, and a bunch of middle relievers. Of course, their role players stepped up and produced- something the Mets haven’t seen in a long time- but Lucas Duda, Daniel Murphy, Ike Davis, and Ruben Tejada showed great promise last year. Of course, David Wright needs to return to form and stay healthy. It would also be critical for Jason Bay to be somewhere in the 25 HR/85 RBI range. Want to know where Reyes’ potential money went? Look in leftfield next season.
This team is far from a guarantee, obviously, but not all that worse of a team than what we saw on the field in 2011.
November 2nd, 2011 at 12:50 pm
St. Louis only had one “big bat”? Seems to me like they had three, with Berkman and Holliday along with Pujols. Maybe you meant payroll-wise, since Berkman was a surprise at 35 and a bargain at $8million. But Holliday was nearly as valuable as the other two guys and he was paid more than Berkman or Pujols.
I dunno. St. Louis had the best offense in the NL. You don’t do that with one big bat.
November 2nd, 2011 at 1:55 pm
No Reyes (and his career year), no half year of Krod, and half year of Beltran,I’d say they will not be as good next season. Terrrible bullpen,terrible OF. Punt and rebuild as quickly as possible.
November 2nd, 2011 at 3:52 pm
Nice article,
I had the same thoughts about you regarding the club not having the money to keep Reyes.
I went with bringing in Kelly Johnson at 2B, Laynce Nix in the outfield, Aaron Harang and Brad Penny into the rotation and Matt Capps, Todd Coffey and Joel Pinero to help in the pen. I would choose my closer from the best relivers, rather than bring in somebody specifically to close.
I’d also punt Pelfrey.
Thanks.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/922200-new-york-mets-free-agency-previewing-the-2012-team-and-offseason-roster-moves
Ash
November 2nd, 2011 at 5:41 pm
@BE Earl: Excellent point. Plus Freese didn’t suck down the stretch and in the postseason.
November 2nd, 2011 at 10:23 pm
The payroll was said to go up to $110 million and I’ll take Alderson’s word over your “source”.
Sizemore sucks, and McLouth sucks. If you must get at least one crappy outfielder, go for DeJesus, or hope Capt Kirk is ready.
Next year’s team, with a full season of Wright and Davis, plus a real bullpen should be a better team. I still say Reyes comes back if they give him a backloaded contract that kicks in around 2014 when the albatrosses known as Bay and Santana are off the books. By then the team will be homegrown enough that they’ll be able to afford what he’s earning.
November 2nd, 2011 at 10:43 pm
If the Mets’ payroll is around $110mm and Reyes gets paid $17mm next season, that leaves over $10mm to play with. Not a lot at all, but I’d rather the Mets suck next year and have Reyes going forward to when they can seriously field a good team.
November 3rd, 2011 at 12:52 am
IF THE METS DO NOT RE-SIGN REYES THE METS ARE GOING TO LOSE ME AS A LOYAL MET FAN AND I AM NOT THE ONLY ONE THAT IS GOING TO DITCH THE METS IN 2012.LISTEN TO THE PULSE OF THE MET FAN BASE AND TELL ME IF WE ARE BUYING INTO THE METS PLAN FOR 2012.
November 3rd, 2011 at 8:39 am
@Edwin: Too bad for you if you’re such a fair-weather frontrunner, and we would have gotten the message even if you hadn’t typed IN ALL CAPS LIKE A WIRED NUTJOB!