Post by Deleted on Jun 6, 2013 2:35:54 GMT -5
Figured I should probably post on here since the Mets have really gone after a lot of FA
December 2nd, 2023
Zach Greinke
3 years $42,000,000 (last year is vesting option)
- Greinke is 40 but he still can pitch. He hasn't lost much in ratings or speed over the years. His numbers last year weren't the best, but we feel there was more behind those numbers when looking at his game to game stats. We aren't looking for him to be an ace out here in New York or even the number 2 man. If we get an ERA around 3.75-4 and 14-15 wins we will be extremely happy with him, even little higher ERA and we would be happy. If he doesnt play well then we pitch him under 180 innings in 2025 and we cut ourlosses. We saw what GM Derek Bobola did with 39 year old Tim Lincecum last year and we figured Greinke was worth the risk, for a possible great reward. Especially since we already have an older team and our years may be numbered as a contender.
December 8th, 2023
Ubaldo Jimenez
3 years $17,200,000 (last year is vesting option)
- Jimenez will be 40 when season start too, but he too hasn't lost much in ratings or speed. Last season he was on DL for 3 months coming out of spring training with a torn meniscus and never got going strong. He started 15 games last year and had ERA of 5.20 but in 2022 in a full season he pitched great. We don't expect amazing numbers here but as a 4th/5th starter he could make huge difference compared to those slots this last year struggling with Bucci and Moore. If Jimenez can give us around a 4.20 ERA and 12 wins that be amazing and well worth his salary, but he is even capable of much better numbers. His contract is similar to Greinke with a vesting option for that 3rd year at 180 innings in 2025. That year is at $6,650,000, while the first two are $4,850,000 and $5,700,000 respectively. We are extremely happy with this contract and Jimenez in New York.
December 14th, 2023
Barton Ayers
3 years $11,100,00 (last year player option)
- Ayers is probably our favorite signing this offseason. Talent wise he is no where near best of the lot might even be least talented, but he brings in a type of player we really like. A guy who is overall good at everything. You can't call him a star but he has all the tools needed to play the game right. Ayers is another older guy at 35 but like the others, hehasn't shown much decrease in talent. Last year his at bats were limited by the number of outfielders the Dodgers had. In fact GM Tomas Bekker brought his name up in possibly sending him over to New York when the Mets were in market for an outfielder, ultimately GM Matt Williams brought in Jack Hogan (now a Free Agent) and Luis Rios. Ayers will get more playing time on the Mets and will find himself in lineup every time a lefty is on the mound, but with depth in the outfield they look to rotate 4 or 5 outfielders (rumors are going around about possible trade in last years Rule V pick and team rookie of year Edgar Olvera.) We expect good things out of Ayers in a Mets uniform.
December 24th, 2023
Carlos Gonzalez
3 years $15,000,000 (last year vesting option)
- In early May last season Gonzalez went down with an injury (broken kneecap) that put him out till end of September. He only played in 13 games for the cubs last year. In 2022 in just under 400 at bats he had a batting average of .278 with 11 HR, 58 runs scored, 47 RBI and stole 15 bases. His OBP was at .374 as well. Anything close to those numbers and Mets GM Matt Williams will be a real happy camper. Gonzalez brings one thing that the Mets of last year didn't have much of and that was stealing ability. Though Gonzalez is 38 now he is still a good runner. If he has a good start of year the coach may try him out in lead off spot since the team is lacking in that department, unless the GM can find someone via trade. Look for Gonzalez to play a lot for the Mets this year if healthy (one downside is he is fragile), but he will too have to split time with the other 4 or 5 outfielders since all are talented.
January 14th, 2024
Dashenko Ricardo
4 years $68,860,000 (last year is team option)
- When the Mets went into this off season, GM Matt Williams didn't expect to sign a big time catcher. In fact they were really happy with the breakout year that Brian Ricks had. He went from a previous season highs of 16 HR to 22 HR last year and 65 RBI to 96 RBI last year, but now he is on trade block because of this signing, with lots of interest from other teams around the league. Look for Williams to trade him soon, since he deserves a starting job and the team drafted Beau Brooks via the rule V draft to be the team's back up. He doesn't have much MLB experience for a 36 year old but he has a HR threat swing, which could allow him to be an useful pitch hitter as well. With Richardo though the team didn't even look at him until January 1st when they realize he hadn't been signed yet and it got them curious. The two sides begin in talks and the asking price was below what the Mets expected for the top Free Agent of this winter. The offer was made $16,590,000 for the first year, $16,890,000 for the second year, and $17,190,000 for third year, meaning he will be a Met till he is 37. There is also a team option for a four year which Ricardo ultimately said was the kicker since teams were only offering 2 years with option for 3rd. The salary for option year would be $18,190,000 if the team decides to accept it, other wise the buyout is $4,570,500. This contract is a huge one and it is a big risk to take considering he will be 37 years old making 17 million, but we see Ricardo as one of the top 5 or so catchers in PBL right now. In the Mets lineup we feel he could be a .270+ hitter with 30 2B, 25+ HR, 100+ RBI, .345+ OBP. We expect him to be a star for us in New York. And we are extremely happy he fell into our hands.
Final Thoughts
Some of you may be thinking why did we spend all this money on a weak FA market, my answer is this we are on a time line with some of our players. We are an older team with an average age in the 30s. Anderson the star clean up hitter for Mets for years is almost done, with others close behind. We got a wild card spot last season but lost in two games to future champs. We needed to do something big to create a better shot of winning in the playoffs and maybe giving the Pirates a run for their money in the Eastern Division. I mean last year we got the top wild card spot but were still 24 games behind Shane's Powerhouse. Our farm doesn't have much for trade value so going big in FA was the option to get better. Adding a catcher allows us to go out and use Ricks as trade bait now. Adding Outfield help lets us have Olvera for trade bait too. So FA not only improves those positions but will also help us improve other areas too.
We had extra money this offseason with a some 15 million increase from the owner. We had taken Bucci large contract off the books as well as some other smaller ones. Hogan and Younginer were asking for too much money for us to be willing to extended them. We really liked Younginer too, so we were sad to see him leave. So all of this added up to lots of money available to spend. With the last signing of Ricardo, it put us over budget some so we have to free up some salary and have multiple trades in play right now that will get us below budget, possibly even more a lot more than needed.
We are really happy with how the team is looking in New York and if all goes well we are going to have a successful season, but with older guys we have greater risk of injuries occurring. Hopefully this squad has another good run in them. Hopefully even couple seasons worth.
December 2nd, 2023
Zach Greinke
3 years $42,000,000 (last year is vesting option)
- Greinke is 40 but he still can pitch. He hasn't lost much in ratings or speed over the years. His numbers last year weren't the best, but we feel there was more behind those numbers when looking at his game to game stats. We aren't looking for him to be an ace out here in New York or even the number 2 man. If we get an ERA around 3.75-4 and 14-15 wins we will be extremely happy with him, even little higher ERA and we would be happy. If he doesnt play well then we pitch him under 180 innings in 2025 and we cut ourlosses. We saw what GM Derek Bobola did with 39 year old Tim Lincecum last year and we figured Greinke was worth the risk, for a possible great reward. Especially since we already have an older team and our years may be numbered as a contender.
December 8th, 2023
Ubaldo Jimenez
3 years $17,200,000 (last year is vesting option)
- Jimenez will be 40 when season start too, but he too hasn't lost much in ratings or speed. Last season he was on DL for 3 months coming out of spring training with a torn meniscus and never got going strong. He started 15 games last year and had ERA of 5.20 but in 2022 in a full season he pitched great. We don't expect amazing numbers here but as a 4th/5th starter he could make huge difference compared to those slots this last year struggling with Bucci and Moore. If Jimenez can give us around a 4.20 ERA and 12 wins that be amazing and well worth his salary, but he is even capable of much better numbers. His contract is similar to Greinke with a vesting option for that 3rd year at 180 innings in 2025. That year is at $6,650,000, while the first two are $4,850,000 and $5,700,000 respectively. We are extremely happy with this contract and Jimenez in New York.
December 14th, 2023
Barton Ayers
3 years $11,100,00 (last year player option)
- Ayers is probably our favorite signing this offseason. Talent wise he is no where near best of the lot might even be least talented, but he brings in a type of player we really like. A guy who is overall good at everything. You can't call him a star but he has all the tools needed to play the game right. Ayers is another older guy at 35 but like the others, hehasn't shown much decrease in talent. Last year his at bats were limited by the number of outfielders the Dodgers had. In fact GM Tomas Bekker brought his name up in possibly sending him over to New York when the Mets were in market for an outfielder, ultimately GM Matt Williams brought in Jack Hogan (now a Free Agent) and Luis Rios. Ayers will get more playing time on the Mets and will find himself in lineup every time a lefty is on the mound, but with depth in the outfield they look to rotate 4 or 5 outfielders (rumors are going around about possible trade in last years Rule V pick and team rookie of year Edgar Olvera.) We expect good things out of Ayers in a Mets uniform.
December 24th, 2023
Carlos Gonzalez
3 years $15,000,000 (last year vesting option)
- In early May last season Gonzalez went down with an injury (broken kneecap) that put him out till end of September. He only played in 13 games for the cubs last year. In 2022 in just under 400 at bats he had a batting average of .278 with 11 HR, 58 runs scored, 47 RBI and stole 15 bases. His OBP was at .374 as well. Anything close to those numbers and Mets GM Matt Williams will be a real happy camper. Gonzalez brings one thing that the Mets of last year didn't have much of and that was stealing ability. Though Gonzalez is 38 now he is still a good runner. If he has a good start of year the coach may try him out in lead off spot since the team is lacking in that department, unless the GM can find someone via trade. Look for Gonzalez to play a lot for the Mets this year if healthy (one downside is he is fragile), but he will too have to split time with the other 4 or 5 outfielders since all are talented.
January 14th, 2024
Dashenko Ricardo
4 years $68,860,000 (last year is team option)
- When the Mets went into this off season, GM Matt Williams didn't expect to sign a big time catcher. In fact they were really happy with the breakout year that Brian Ricks had. He went from a previous season highs of 16 HR to 22 HR last year and 65 RBI to 96 RBI last year, but now he is on trade block because of this signing, with lots of interest from other teams around the league. Look for Williams to trade him soon, since he deserves a starting job and the team drafted Beau Brooks via the rule V draft to be the team's back up. He doesn't have much MLB experience for a 36 year old but he has a HR threat swing, which could allow him to be an useful pitch hitter as well. With Richardo though the team didn't even look at him until January 1st when they realize he hadn't been signed yet and it got them curious. The two sides begin in talks and the asking price was below what the Mets expected for the top Free Agent of this winter. The offer was made $16,590,000 for the first year, $16,890,000 for the second year, and $17,190,000 for third year, meaning he will be a Met till he is 37. There is also a team option for a four year which Ricardo ultimately said was the kicker since teams were only offering 2 years with option for 3rd. The salary for option year would be $18,190,000 if the team decides to accept it, other wise the buyout is $4,570,500. This contract is a huge one and it is a big risk to take considering he will be 37 years old making 17 million, but we see Ricardo as one of the top 5 or so catchers in PBL right now. In the Mets lineup we feel he could be a .270+ hitter with 30 2B, 25+ HR, 100+ RBI, .345+ OBP. We expect him to be a star for us in New York. And we are extremely happy he fell into our hands.
Final Thoughts
Some of you may be thinking why did we spend all this money on a weak FA market, my answer is this we are on a time line with some of our players. We are an older team with an average age in the 30s. Anderson the star clean up hitter for Mets for years is almost done, with others close behind. We got a wild card spot last season but lost in two games to future champs. We needed to do something big to create a better shot of winning in the playoffs and maybe giving the Pirates a run for their money in the Eastern Division. I mean last year we got the top wild card spot but were still 24 games behind Shane's Powerhouse. Our farm doesn't have much for trade value so going big in FA was the option to get better. Adding a catcher allows us to go out and use Ricks as trade bait now. Adding Outfield help lets us have Olvera for trade bait too. So FA not only improves those positions but will also help us improve other areas too.
We had extra money this offseason with a some 15 million increase from the owner. We had taken Bucci large contract off the books as well as some other smaller ones. Hogan and Younginer were asking for too much money for us to be willing to extended them. We really liked Younginer too, so we were sad to see him leave. So all of this added up to lots of money available to spend. With the last signing of Ricardo, it put us over budget some so we have to free up some salary and have multiple trades in play right now that will get us below budget, possibly even more a lot more than needed.
We are really happy with how the team is looking in New York and if all goes well we are going to have a successful season, but with older guys we have greater risk of injuries occurring. Hopefully this squad has another good run in them. Hopefully even couple seasons worth.