Updated Post 8:00 PM
John Harper of the Daily News reports the following:
“Heard tonight that Mets’ owners will not stretch the budget due to high cost of free agents. Sandy Alderson has $25-30 million to spend and no more. Good luck with that.”
So much for that $35-40 million…
I don’t mean to laugh here, but this offseason just keeps getting funnier and funnier…
Original Post 12:00 PM
After two weeks, the Mets, like many teams, are still trying to get a feel on a “fluid,” free agent market, writes Kristie Ackert of the Daily News.
“The Mets have found the asking prices for some free agents quite surprising, according to two team sources.”
Ackert reports that the Mets remain interested in free agent Jhonny Peralta, even though they’ve admitted that there’s been no contact since that one short meeting in Orlando. “That may be in part because of what Peralta asked for in that initial meeting.”
One industry source said that Peralta is asking for a deal longer than three years, and according to other reports, he is seeking $45 million or more. Sandy Alderson admitted that he found the asking prices among free agents “steep.”
This backs up what Mike Puma of the New York Post reported on Tuesday when he that the Mets are dealing with “sticker shock” on free agents.
Last night on the Shot From Shea podcast, Adam Rubin was the featured guest and he found it laughable at how the Mets are conducting themselves “Players like Robinson Cano are exactly the kind of players they should be targeting as a big market team.” I agree. The Mets should have had a genuine interest in talking numbers with Cano, and not meet with his agents just to schmooze over a free steak dinner. Kick the tires, light some fires, act like buyers…
“I won’t say that the Mets were wrong to pass on LaTroy Hawkins,” Rubin also said. “But to say it was because he wanted $2.5 million dollars is also laughable. A team like the Mets should have a bunch of $2.5 million players on their team especially players like Hawkins who were actually productive for the team.”
He’s right. It is laughable. But it also supports my contention that things are not all as the Mets would have you believe on the financial side of things.
Waiting for the market to develop, steep prices, payroll concentration, holding off until late in the offseason, sticker shock… These are not exactly things you worry about if you’re really swimming in $40 million dead presidents.
Regardless, the Hot Stove Season is cooking baseball fans….
All Stars are being scooped up, former MVPs are being traded, Cy Young award winners are inking deals, and as one MLB Network analyst said tonight, “This is shaping up to be one of the hottest hot stove seasons we’ve seen in years. With baseball’s winter meetings nearly a month away, we’ve already had well over a dozen significant moves.”
This is exactly what I expected. Teams have money to splurge like never before as over $1 billion dollars from the new National TV deal pours into the coffers of all 30 teams this Winter. Although, you wouldn’t know it by following the Mets.
