“The New York Mets are “going for it,” if by going for it we mean acquiring fringe pieces and, at least in the deal for Tyler Clippard, now surrendering legitimate top-10 prospects. Sandy Alderson just dubbed Mets fans the “citizens of Panic City,” but with this move he has just declared himself mayor.”
That’s what Keith Law of ESPN had to say in an article blasting the Mets for what he calls an overpay for Tyler Clippard.
“The difference between Clippard, who posted a 3.89 FIP so far this year and a 2.79 ERA in pitcher-friendly Oakland, and even a replacement-level reliever over the course of 20 innings is about three runs allowed.”
He points out that Clippard has no appreciable platoon split for his career and that he’s walking batters at his highest rate since 2009.
“Additionally, he’s a free agent after the year and, because he was traded, there’s no compensation coming after the season.”
Part of the reason for his outburst is that Law picked Casey Meisner as his sleeper pitching prospect for 2015, and he ranks him as the Mets’ sixth best prospect right behind Dominic Smith.
He recently ranked the Mets with the fourth best farm system in baseball, so on some of the lower ranked systems he could have easily been a top three or four prospect.
“Meisner has real, tangible trade value, as teams are always looking for young, high-upside pitching. If healthy, at worst he could be a Chris Young type with a better breaking ball, and at best he could become a No. 2 starter as he still has a lot of room for growth — both physical and mental.”
The last time Keith Law went off on the Mets like this was on the day the Mets forfeited their first round draft pick for Michael Cuddyer, whom he called a product of Coors Field who was injury prone and on the steep downside of his career. “A decision the LOL Mets will regret by the All Star break.”
I love the deal for Clippard and while I believe Meisner will eventually become a good number two type pitcher, as we projected in our Top 25 Mets Prospects, did Law think we’d get him for nothing?
I think he completely ignores the fact that we were bidding against the Washington Nationals who were desperate to get Clippard as well. There was a lot of competition for Clippard.
Additionally, thanks in great part to our lousy, good for nothing owners, we asked the Oakland A’s to kick in 25 percent of what was owed to Clippard in exchange for a better prospect.
So when you consider both those things, I think the Mets did very well under the circumstances. I also believe Clippard is probably going to pitch a lot more than 20 innings, and what everybody seems to forget is that the Mets won’t have Jenrry Mejia for the postseason.
Finally, the Mets have an embarrassment of riches of starting pitching both at the major and minor league levels. Obviously they’re not going to be able to fit all these pitchers in the starting rotation.
Among the many benefits of storing up key assets in the minor leagues is to give your major-league team a strong pipeline of depth. But another benefit is that you can use those stored up assets to strengthen the major league team through trades, and that’s exactly what Sandy Alderson has done.
This deal was a big win for the Mets in my opinion, and while Law makes a good argument, he overlooks how important it was for the Mets to show their fan base that they are committed to winning this season and future seasons as well.
