we wouldnt want to block Brandon Neemo !

thats the difference between the cardinals and the mets…

except when Sandy fans want to pretend that he had no leverage when it came to K-Rod…

The situation is very different financially than a year ago. Which is unfortunate since Jose Reyes probably should have been a Met for life along with David Wright – or at the very least parlayed into a top prospect or two instead of a couple of lottery ticket caliber draft choices.

As for Bourn, he´s probably the best option on the free agent market besides Carlos Gomez and maybe Jacoby Ellsbury over the next 12+ months. So, if you´re not prepared to sign one of those three as a free agent (and Ellsbury will certainly be more expensive than Bourn), you better be ready to trade prospects for a younger CF such as Dexter Fowler, Cameron Maybin or Chris Young jr. if you´re looking for above average defense in CF and some offense going forward.

If a decision by MLB can only happen if a deal is in place, maybe the Mets & Bourn can agree on an alternate deal, say:
Bourn for 4-years, 56 million $ guaranteed if only the 2nd round pick is gone (and an opt–out clause for Bourn after 1 or 2 seasons)
or
Bourn for 3-years, 37.5 million $ guaranteed and a club option 4th year at 12.5 million if the 1st round pick is gone (and an opt-out only after 2 seasons).
Then Boras and the Mets can argue with MLB that the pick should be protected.

Still, the good thing for the Mets is that Bourn isn´t a “must have” but rather would be buying “early” on something that needs to be added for 2014 purposes. So, they can let the market come to them instead of chasing the market (as they might have to do next winter). And for now, it appears that there really is no market for Bourn with the Twins messing up the off-season projections by surprisingly trading both of their young CFers instead of only one, plus neither the Yankees nor Dodgers in need of CF help.

So either they have to sign the dewal and take thier chances on the pick or risk making a petition and having someone else step in and try and beat our offer.

Doesn’t matter either way because we are NEVER going to come to terms with him…

and it would not surprise me if they already “knew” what the answer was going to be. This is an old boys network of course.

and I would be shocked if MLB had not already formulated the response. They just aren’t going to tell anyone unless petitioned.

but what they should do, after this year (before this has a chance to come up again) is release the clarification so everyone knows how to plan in case the issue comes up again (and quite possibly it will)

There is one thing I don’t understand. Why would Boras agree to a deal with the Mets if we would only honor the contract contingent upon the decision of that then submitted petition? Wouldn’t that tip off the terms to other clubs and work against Bourn should the decision go against us?

I’m just wondering if Sandy already has had “informal” telephone conversations with the Commissioner’s office and already knows what the “official” decision would be should that petition be filled.

Either way, expect Sandy to send Bourn some chocolates after he signs with somebody else.
We’re as serious about signing him as was re-signing Jose was a priority.

The reason they won’t look at it until the pick is in jeopardy is because doing so guves us an advantage the others don’t have…
So I would be they got a wink and a nod otherwise they wouldn’t keep saying they are in this hunt.
No reason to drive up the price for everyone else if they were worried abut the pick they would just stay out of it altogether..

And after giving it to them and winning a WS they lost him because they refused to give him a contract without the discount.

Comparable to his Atlanta numbers but perhaps he would do better in a different location

Arizona .331BA
Boston .333BA
Chicago C .311BA
Philly .309BA

All the other offers he may have are for 4 or 5 years but at much lower money per year….

Bourn doesn’t want to sign a short deal unless it’s REALLY short like a one year rental where he goes FA next year….But thats the fallback option not the goal for him.

He sure doesn’t want to sign for 2-3 years because he will be signing away his prime years and if he had a hard time getting a contract THIS year imagine how hard it will be for him when he is 33!

So in the end unless someone steps up and meets his demands for money and years My best guess is he will sign to a one year contract and thats the kind of contract we might be able to stay involved in.

But I think we are only offerring a 2-3 year deal.

This is just Boras trying to get us to ACTUALLY bid against ourselves….
The key with Boras is to set your price, tell him get back to you if he gets a better offer and just say to him (when he calls back) “Better take it”

Cause then you find out he just called to bluff you into raising your bid.

Borus usually wants his players to go thru FA instead of extended long term deals.

Mets make a good offer (4 years 60 M) to Bourn who they can definitely use, then MLB overturns restriction of losing an amateur first round pick for a one of ten worst teams. Borus just might agree to a long term extension for Harvey.

Maybe even Krod comes back too.