As you’ve no doubt heard by now, LaTroy Hawkins signed with the Colorado Rockies for $2.25 MM earlier in the week — and according to reports, the Mets low-balled him.
While I can understand not wanting to invest in a player of his age, the fact that the Mets didn’t match $2.25 million is somewhat telling.
Of course, he has almost no opportunity to close here anymore considering Bobby Parnell should return healthy, so it makes sense that he wanted to test the market and find a better situation.
The end result of letting him go, however, is an expanded role for the young fireballer Vic Black. Sandy Alderson stated in an interview Tuesday, that Black would close if Parnell was not healthy to begin the season. That’s quite the rave by our GM.
However, this is not exactly a big surprise, considering Black has been considered to have the potential to be a dominant reliever for a while now.
The Marlon Byrd deal may end up turning out to be quite a steal for the Mets, considering they acquired a prospect who likely falls in their Top 10 (Dilson Herrera) and a shutdown reliever in Vic Black, who seemingly has a floor of being a solid middle reliever and a ceiling at the top of the food chain.
Black’s power fastball and sharp slider will find a much welcomed home in a Mets bullpen that could be their strongest area next season.
The bottom line is that the Mets do not have to worry too much about letting LaTroy Hawkins go — they’ve got options and in Black they have an extremely good one.
