Another thing Sandy Alderson discussed during his appearance on MLB Network Radio this morning, was the state of the Mets outfield.
The Mets GM said it’s possible that he will go into camp with just the current group of outfielders and possibly Andrew Brown and Collin Cowgill.
“There’s not a lot left on the shelf,” Alderson explained. “At some point, we have to realize the outfield is not the strength of our team. But at least going into Spring Training, we maybe looking at what we have, and not being able to make an addition.”
On Friday, Adam Rubin spoke to Terry Collins who told him he plans to look at both Justin Turner and Zach Lutz in the outfield this Spring.
Turner has not played a game in the outfield in his Major League career and Lutz has never played a game in the outfield in his minor league career.
In 2012, the New York Mets had the worst ranked outfield in the majors in terms of production, and they have lost their top producing outfielder Scott Hairston, who signed a two-year deal with the Cubs last week.
The Michael Bourn buzz has dwindled in the last 24 hours, and this morning Sandy didn’t sound optimistic about signing him or making an offer. To begin, if they were to do something the Mets would want him to take a heavily backloaded deal.
Two weeks ago I projected that the Mets cash outlay for the 2013 Opening Day roster to be around $75 million dollars.
The current outfield projects to be Lucas Duda in left, Kirk Nieuwenhuis in center, and Mike Baxter in right, or basically no change from what I projected back in October.
I thought Scott Hairston would not return all along, and back during the deadline I argued why he wasn’t traded with the odds were heavy that the Mets will not be able to afford him. But that’s all water under the bridge now.
Alderson says, “there’s not a lot left on the shelf now”. Did he expect that not to be the case after waiting three months to address the outfield?
We now have 5 fourth outfielders who now comprise the whole of our major league outfield:
LF – Lucas Duda
CF – Kirk Nieuwenhuis
RF – Mike Baxter
OF – Collin Cowgill
OF – Andrew Brown
Oh, and Sandy… That’s no joking matter.
Updated 1/25
Jon Heyman says it could take a five-year deal worth $15 million annually to sign Michael Bourn, a Scott Boras client.
He says that Bourn will get a deal that is very comparable to the one B.J. Upton signed with the Braves for five years and $75.2 million dollars.
Bob Nightengale of USA Today believes that the Mets and Mariners are now the favorites for Bourn, and that the Rangers have reportedly bowed out.
Updated 1/24
According to what a source told Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, the Mets have sincere interest in signing free-agent outfielder Michael Bourn to a long-term deal, but that any deal will likely be backloaded.
I thought that was something we were getting away from because it was hazardous to our health?
Backloaded deals, future annuity payments, deferred salaries, lot’s of the same things we always did before…
Weird…
Still no word on the Mets petitioning MLB to protect their first round pick. It must be really hard for Bud Selig to have to rule against his best bud Fred Wilpon…
You can read more about that below…
Original Post 1/23
According to John Harper of the Daily News, the New York Mets are appealing to Major League Baseball to protect their first round pick.
The Mets initially had the 10th overall pick in the MLB Draft in June, which is automatically protected. But when the Pittsburgh Pirates failed to sign their No. 1 draft pick and were put back in Top 10, it pushed the Mets out of the top ten and to the 11th pick which is not protected.
The Mets were seeking a ruling that would allow them to keep the pick, losing 2nd-rounder instead, but so far it seems they won’t get it, according to Harper.
We were discussing this among a few of the MMO writers on email tonight, and one of them asked why did the Mets wait three months to complain about it and file an appeal.
My answer is simple, first, Sandy Alderson never in a million years thought he’d ever be signing a free agent that had compensation attached to him this offseason.
Second, now that the offseason is nearly over and they see the sad state of affairs in the outfield, they are hot for Michael Bourn – a player they never gave a second glance to three months ago,
I don’t believe the Mets have a leg to stand on although I’ll be the first to say that new CBA Rule is ridiculous and unfair.
The Mets are being punished, but it may be their own closed-mindedness three months ago that will not get them a favorable ruling tomorrow.
Obviously, this validates all the rumors we’ve been hearing connecting the Mets with Bourn. However, if they want him, they are going to have to cough up the pick as well as the cash.
And on that front, Ken Rosenthal said one person with knowledge of the Mets’ thinking, doubts the team will meet Scott Boras’ asking price for Bourn. “Zero chance,” the source said.
