If Jennifer Garner really wants to know what’s in my wallet, I’d be very happy to get together with her so I can show her. But I warn you, Jenn, it’s not much… Kind of like Sandy Alderson’s wallet this offseason only not as drastic.
After posting that the Qualifying Offer had risen to $15.3 million last night, I received a few emails asking me a variety of questions regarding the QO and how it pertains to the Mets both now and in the future. One of them really hit home.
Joe D. can you please assure me that if there was a perfect player available, one that would be the true difference maker this team needs, the one player that would put the Mets over the top, that the front office would do everything in their power to sign him? If such a player were available, whether its that power-hitting right fielder who could bat cleanup or that middle infielder who could be the catalyst we need at the top of the order, will the Mets vigorously pursue this player even if it meant forfeiting a first round pick?
Damn, where do I begin? In short I’d say that for this season the answer would be an unequivocal no. I can’t see the Mets signing any player that would require a minimum of a $15 million average annual salary. With David Wright already costing the team $20 million and Curtis Granderson right behind him at $16 million, there’s no chance the Mets would allocate $51 million of their $85 million payroll on three players. Additionally, I can’t see Sandy Alderson ever forfeiting a first round pick. It’s simply not in his DNA.
As for next year and beyond, it’s too early to say. What effect will the Discrimination Lawsuit have on future finances? More huge debt payments are on the horizon as well which makes me skeptical that we’ll see any future significant payroll spikes in the next 3-5 years.
I know that’s not the answer you wanted, but it’s the only one I have to offer based on a quick read of the tea leaves.
What are your thoughts on the Qualifying Offer process?
I saw an interesting comment in our threads from BCleveland3381 who wrote:
The qualifying offer is finally starting to work as intended. For years teams would offer qualifying offers to average players knowing they wouldn’t take them and would get a monster contract in free agency.
Now, during this post PED era, teams are valuing their draft picks much more and are much less likely to offer thirty year old, non elite players big contracts in free agency.
Last year was the first year that players that didn’t take the qualifying offer paid for it. Stephen Drew, Kendrys Morales, and Nelson Cruz lost a significant amount of money not taking QOs last year. This off-season, I would bet we will see players taking their QO, probably to the chagrin of teams looking to collect a draft pick and not overpay a mid-level player for one year. The system is working itself out just fine.
It looks like the MMO Community has handicapped which players will get a Qualifying Offer this offseason. They list the following nine:
- Max Scherzer
- James Shields
- Hanley Ramirez
- Aramis Ramirez
- Pablo Sandoval
- Melky Cabrera
- J.J. Hardy
- Russell Martin
- Nelson Cruz
Agree, disagree?
Finally, I fear that it will be many years before the Mets ever tender one of their players a qualifying offer. Any Mets players who would actually be worth that much coin would have likely been traded away long beforehand.
I’m curious to see what happens when players like Harvey, Wheeler, deGrom and the other young ones, all become arbitration eligible at the same time. Heck, I wonder how they can afford the $10-12 million Lucas Duda will command a year from now if he produces another season like he did in 2014.
These are troubling times in the kingdom.
