I Was Right, Lowe Declines Mets Offer

This morning, I wrote an entire post dedicated to my assertion that the Mets low-balled Derek Lowe and that it was a laughable offer in this market.

Tony Massarotti of the Boston Globe now reports the following…

According to a source familiar with the negotiations, Derek Lowe is likely to continue shopping for a more desirable offer after the New York Mets presented him with a three-year, $36 million offer on Tuesday.

While some reports have placed Lowe’s target in the range of five years and $90 million, a much more probable outcome is that Lowe ends up with a three- or four-year deal worth in the rage of $14-$15 million annually. It was unclear whether the Mets’ proposal included any type of option, but the sides last week were discussing a pair of proposals, one being a four-year offer and the other being a three-year proposal with a vesting option.

Earlier this offseason, Burnett agreed to a five-year, $82.5 million contract with the Yankees that will pay him an average of $16.5 million per season.

I specifically cited that the market was set by the Burnett signing in my original post, and later I replied to comments that disagreed with me and I wrote:

Baseball is a supply and demand driven sport in terms of establishing a base salary for free agents.

It’s why K-Rod got so little, and Burnett and Sabathia so much.

No player is worth $12 million a year in my estimation. But unfortunately, feelings, hunches, assumptions, and saying offers are good have nothing to do with the reality of the market economy that is baseball.

Lowe will end up getting close to the numbers I mentioned in this post. Not because he is worth it, but because that is what the market was set at by Burnett.

Boras doesn’t need my help to drive the market, he has the Yankees who have already set the market with middle relievers at $4 million per season, and mid level pitchers at $16.5 million.

Here is my original post.