Mets Restructure Henry Blanco’s Contract

Last week, the Mets made their first dabble into the free agent pool when they signed veteran backstop, Henry Blanco, to a one year deal worth roughly $1.45 million.

However, as Newsday’s Ken Davidoff reports (Hat tip to MLB Trade Rumors for link), there were some red flags that popped up during Blanco’s physical, in regards to the condition of his shoulder, which made the team leery of guaranteeing him as much money as they did.

As a result, the team worked with Blanco’s agent to re-work the deal to the point where now the catcher is only guaranteed $750K.

Interestingly, enough as Davidoff points out, Blanco can actually earn more money ($1.525 million) if he earns all of his incentives. Luckily for the Mets, some of the incentives are pretty much unattainable as some of them would require Blanco to win the NL MVP award.

I don’t know what to make of this move. Sure, it’s refreshing to see the team take a proactive approach when it comes to signing off on players medical records.

However, maybe the team should have voided the deal all together, especially when you consider age and an otherwise unimpressive career line.

To be fair to the team this is a fairly inexpensive deal and if pitching coach Dan Warthen’s claims are true, maybe a veteran game caller, like Blanco will help improve the pitching staff’s performance.