29
2011
Beggars Can’t Be Choosy
An article by 
According to the New York Post, the agent for reliever Matt Capps said that “he hasn’t heard from Mets since the GM meetings,’ which is when the Mets had told him they were interested in his client.
Also, another reliever the Mets were interested in, Jonathan Broxton, is expected to sign with a new team in the next two days and the agent specifically said that he “won’t be headed to the Mets.”
Wasn’t it just three days ago that I said the Mets would find even the secondary market for closers to be too rich for their tastes? You see what’s going on here? Lot’s of looking, but no touching and certainly no buying.
Still, this is not what I want to rant about this morning. Instead I want to point out the perception that some fans have with regard to how choosy the Mets can afford to be right now.
Case in point, I go to where all the Mets fans flock to, MetsBlog of course, where Matt and Mike had this to say about Capps,
To me, Capps is a middle reliever. He can be better than what he showed last year. But, even still, he shouldn’t be a closer…Capps is not a typical closer….He gives up a lot of hits and has seen his walk and home run totals go up over the last couple of years…I’d be concerned it was the beginning of a downward trend for Capps.
Of course Matt Capps is not a typical closer. Of course he’s in a downward trend. All of these closer on the secondary market, have flaws. Many are coming off bad seasons. Some are coming back from a significant injury. Others still are at the end of their careers.
When the Philadelphia Phillies signed Jonathan Papelbon, and even when the Texas Rangers signed Joe Nathan, my brothers in the blogging community wasted no time in saying how glad they were it wasn’t the Mets. Many of them laughed and mocked both teams as if we were the ones in the envious position. What I feel is lost on many of them is that if you want quality you have to pay for it. The fan base has become an army of accountants all looking to preserve what little is left in the coffers of the Wilponian Empire.
Now back to the secondary closers market…
If you want middle of the road relievers like your Matt Capps’ and Jonathan Broxton’s to be your closer, there’s even a steep price for them too. I’ve told all of you this before.
You can’t go picking apart these quasi-closers because they all have inherent flaws many of which are significant. There is not going to be an elite pitcher that drops out of the sky and into the Mets laps for the $2-3 million dollars they are only willing to spend.
We should be talking about the real issues that plague this franchise, and not regurgitatiing the false pretenses that the Mets are interested in Player A or Player B when in fact there’s not even a snowball’s chance in hell that any significant player ends up on the Mets roster next season.
Matt Capps and Jonathan Broxton are far too good for the Mets. You have to aim lower… Much lower… And don’t be so damned picky either… Didn’t your parents ever teach you? Beggars can’t be choosy.
About the Author: Joe DeCaro
I'm a lifelong Mets fan who loves writing and talking about the Amazins' 24/7. From the Miracle in 1969 to the magic of 1986, and even the near misses in '73 and '00, I've experienced it all - the highs and the lows. I started Mets Merized Online in 2005 to feed my addiction. Follow me on Twitter @metsmerized.
46 Comments + Add Comment
NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 42 | 28 | .600 | - |
| Nationals | 34 | 35 | .493 | 7.5 |
| Phillies | 34 | 37 | .479 | 8.5 |
| Mets | 25 | 40 | .385 | 14.5 |
| Marlins | 22 | 47 | .319 | 19.5 |
Last updated: 06/18/2013
Recent Comments
- TexasGusCC: on Mets Acquire Eric Young Jr. For Collin McHugh, DFA Cowgill and Promote Brown: Good move! There I said it....
- RandomGuy: on Wheeler Deals, Mets Sweep Braves In Nightcap, 6-1: And you keep Murphy at first? Duda...
- XtreemIcon: on Wheeler Deals, Mets Sweep Braves In Nightcap, 6-1: Scouts don't lie. Maybe they get it...
- BadBadLeroyBrown: on Wheeler Deals, Mets Sweep Braves In Nightcap, 6-1: Second base of course...Mets have a free...
- BadBadLeroyBrown: on Wheeler Deals, Mets Sweep Braves In Nightcap, 6-1: I have never heard he was miserable...
Latest From Mets Minors
Check Out These Great MLB Links!
Photographs From Gordon Donovan
Fans Follow Us On Twitter!
1332 Fans Like Us On Facebook!
2341 Fans Read Our Feed!
1702 Fans Subscribe via Daily Email!
Acc. to Rosenthal, the Royals have signed Jonathan Broxton to a 1 yr. deal.
Not that I think Broxton is worth $4m. + incentives, but the Wilponzis have to spend money (Reyes + Francisco + another decent reliever + a decent starter) and/or Alderson has to make same decent trades. Otherwise, the downward spiral in attendance and revenues will continue. In NYC, the fans shouldn’t have to wait until 2014 or so to have a competitive NL team.
I love Joe’s line of “The fan base has become an army of accountants all looking to preserve what little is left in the coffers of the Wilponian Empire.”
Boycott and help force the Wilponzis to sell!
The plan is to LOOK Interested while not really signing anyone!
There is a reason why the “SECOND TIER” is “SECOND TIER” They all ahev flaws!
If having flaws is a problem then you have to be willing to pay for the GOOD STUFF!
Sandy has been out of the GM game for too long!
He is working off of a pricing index from 8-10 years ago!
That is if anyone believes he really WANTS to sign someone!
Truth is he doesn’t! He will wait till all the mid+ payroll guys are signed and then hope one gets left in the lrch and if not will go sign some other 1-2 mil reclamation project and hope he strikes gold!
We have a GM who is just as happy to play LOTTERY as run a competitive baseball team!
Also acc. to Rosenthal, the Cubs are pursuing both Albert & Prince.
lol – Love the photo above.
its beggers cant be *choosers*
WOWZERS!
Now I cant even make jokes that the Mets are the NY Royals in the free agency market…
lol Jeff never looked so good!
Your 1st mistake was visiting Metsblog
It’s the blind leading the blind over there, they’ve gone downhill fast.
So the Royals outbid us for Broxton? I didnt want that pos anyway, but the fact it was the Royals is what’s disconcerting.
Per MLBTR -
“Other than the Royals, the Mets, Rangers and Rays pursued Broxton most intently, according to ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick (Twitter links). Broxton had been looking for a deal in the $4-6MM range, according to Crasnick.”
So really, what’s happened is that the Mets have become locked down on leaks, where in previous years we’d have heard all about the Mets chase after Boxton. And while I get the whole “beggars and choosers” theme to this post, Broxton is not worth the 4-6 Mil. He’s lost a little off his fastball, is now recovering from surgery and was a thrower, not a pitcher. I don’t think he’s got the mentality to pitch well with less than stellar stuff.
This.
Did some Met fans really want to spend that much for Broxton???
Oh, I can see it now. “The Mets sign ______ (another retread bum) and will look for him to battle Bobby Parnell for the closer role during Spring Training. Mets GM Sandy Alderson said “We’re really excited about our closer prospects for 2012. (Said bum) has been throwing mid 90s and with Parnell’s stuff, we really have some decent possibilities.”
Barf.
I think anybody making more than 1.5MM guaranteed ( like last offseason) is going to be too pricey for Sandy unless he can swing some sort of salary swap trade for Pelfrey or Pagan. Quite frankly, Sandy did okay last offseason with those restrictions with Cappy, Young, Izzy, Buchholz, Byrdak, Hairston and Harris. He’s not going to be as fortunate this time around.
Just wake me up when the team is over .500 again in a few years. I’m gonna take a long nap now.
Acc. to Heyman, Broxton got 4MM from the Royals ( no mention if that is guaranteed or with incentives). IMO, that’s a lot of $$$ for a pitcher with Broxton’s issues.
Sach, what did you expect? 4 million is too much??? really? really??? didn’t sandy save $17.5 million on krod last year? 4 million for him and 3 million for a set up guy still leaves sandy with $10 million to get other good pieces.. this is just amazing..
I’d rather Capps to Broxton any day of the year.
You cannot be serious.. based on what?!!? money!?!?
Ability.
Ability!?!? doesn’t broxton throw 100 mph and has a killer slider? am i missing something here? or you just looking for a way to defend sandy for not signing this guy?
He used too. No more though. And he’s coming off surgery. He was very good when he threw 100 MPH. Now he’s a fat man that can blow the ball by batters anymore and is lacking control. No thanks, we have one of those in Parnell (minus the fat part).
Should read “Can’t blow the ball by batters”
So, the money absolutely has to be spent?
$60 million off the book, at least SOME MONEY NEEDS TO BE SPEND, don’t you think!?!?
Ya, there are roster spots to fill. That Broxton deal isn’t that bad, but are we really crying over it?
There are plenty of relievers out there. Are we really going to curse Alderson every time some journeyman role player gets signed?
I’m more upset about missing out on Jose Molina than Johnathon Broxton.
Well what else is it good for? Putting into Jeffies Trust Fund?
Shouldn’t it be used to make a better team so that attendance goes up and solves the financial issue as opposed to squandering it on crap like Crapuano and Crapasco who do nothing about the attendance.
Wouldn’t one GOOD RP be better than 4 bad ones?
Or, they can wait until there are guys actually worth it out there. Also, salary has been actually cut back from last season, so $60 million or whatever is not available.
Seriously, people are rending garments over the fact that an out of shape former close and Henry Blanco have signed with other teams.
Yeah name the names at 1-3 Mil per who are out there Donal!
I’m sure everyone of them sucks or is more of an injury risk than Reyes!
I don’t know, because the wave of signings hasn’t started yet. Broxton and Cuddyer are in the top 5 of players signed so far. That should tell you something.
Then it should be easy to name guys who are worth it since they haven’t signed yet?
What does YOUR spreadsheet tell you is the UNDERVALUED Player?
Where is all this DEEP STATISTICAL analysis that is supposed to tell the Mets who we can get on the cheap?
And where is the offer for any of these guys?
There are 30 others guys you should probably pose your questions to.
Yeah 29 of them have made moves or have offers on the table…
Only one doesn’t!
I wonder who that is?
Whats the matter your the one who said there were guys out there actually worth signing
So tell us who? Or do you suggest there is NO ONE worth signing?
Go ahead and expose how happy you would be if we didn’t sign anyone!
All your posts are just an attempt to sell Sandy’s lie that he is actually planning on signing someone good!
Oh, all 29 teams have offers on the table? And only the Mets don’t?
I love how that bar keeps moving.
“The Mets aren’t signing any of the big players!” “No one is, really”
“The Mets aren’t signing anyone” “Only a handful of teams have, and those are mostly role players”
“The Mets have no offers out there and everyone else does!”
by the way, how was Milwaukee? You were there, right? At the GM meetings? Or you have highly placed sources on all the teams. Are you really Buster Olney being a pretentious troll?
Because otherwise, you’d be talking out of your nether regions. Again.
Yep the other 29 teams do!
Now you going to mentionthese guys who you say are worth signing or are you going to admit you can’t name EVEN ONE!
“Yep the other 29 teams do!”
What are they and how do you know?
this is getting more pathetic by the day.. the royals, THE ROYALS are now outbidding the mets to sign a guy to be their set up guy.. not even the closer, the set up man.. LOL.. 4 million plus incentives, is amazing… i guess january and february when all is left are the bums and garbage is when sandy will go crazy shopping for those low risk/pray for high reward players.. funny thing is, he’d still have apologist of his if he gets one guy out of 14 to do good.. you know, kinda like capuano did good and everyone else was crap but sandy had a GREAT OFFSEASON and he’s a genius
If the Wilpons were decent they should sell the Mets pay off Picard and drift off into the sunset NEVER to be heard from again, and let us go back to playing real baseball like it should be played with regular players not retreads.
Amen.
That’s right Pat, IF they were decent, but the Wilpons are FAR from decent. They are the biggest bunch of self absorbed, and self centered losers to ever have the privalege of owning a major league baseball team. They think their shit don’t stink. This franchise will never be right until we cut out the cancer known as the Wilpon family, may they all roast in hell for a million years. Please, fellow Mets fans, don’t throw your money away on this team, you are only helping to prolong our misery.
Great graphic! It’s the Great Depression for Mets fans.
How sweet it will be when we emerge on the other side of this horror story.
How sweet it will be when we emerge on the other side of this horror story”
not as long as sandy alderson is the GM. he’s the freddy kreuger of GM’s
Alex baby, you know I love ya, but your wrong on this one. You are blaming Alderson when the one’s you really should be blaming for the total mess of a team we root for is the f*cking Wilpons.
Petey, we have been trough this, my beef with sandy is the he’s not here to win, he’s here for financial purpose with the teams, yet, his legion of fans think he’s some sort of genius, plus, all he’s done is sign rejects and hope something happen and sell BS to mets fans.
True. No way Sandy just has no interest in decent players, winning or spending any money. he just works there, and the direction has to be coming from the =owners.
Not to say he would otherwise just blow money on crap, but he would buy something if he could.