Updated Report 12/23
Kevin Kernan of the NY Post writes that there is still the possibility free-agent shortstop Stephen Drew could wind up in New York with either the Mets, where he would be a strong fit, or the Yankees.
He also adds that there are those in the Mets organization who would love to see Drew at shortstop because of Ruben Tejada’s performance the past few years and agent Scott Boras would like to deliver him to Citi Field.
The problem is that Drew is still looking for a three-year deal, while the Mets prefer a two-year deal and ideally a one-year deal.
Somehow I can’t see anything happening here between the two sides. With Sandy Alderson’s budget already stretched to its limit, signing Drew would put a halt to his other stated needs.
Original Report 12/22
Scott Boras is working diligently to try and sell the Mets on adding one or two of his remaining high-priced free agents, Kendrys Morales and Stephen Drew.
Both players have not gotten the attention Boras was hoping for this offseason and both of their markets have certainly shrunk. Adding more teams into the mix would only help Boras at this point. Enter the Mets.
Morales makes absolutely no sense at all for the Mets considering his price, his declining power and overall skills, his below average defense, and most notably the glut we already have at first base. Even if you were to make Ike Davis and Lucas Duda both vanish, I’d still be skeptical of signing Morales at this point and would rather go with Wilmer Flores and Josh Satin. Play the kids.
As for Drew, he’d certainly be an upgrade over the 2013 version of Ruben Tejada, but not that much of an upgrade over the 2010-2012 version. Given the seven year difference in their ages, I’d bet Tejada could outproduce Drew in the years 2014-2017.
So if you make this deal for Drew, understand that you’re getting a player who has missed large chunks of playing time in every season since 2008. Understand that he’d be just a 5-7 home run guy with 20 doubles who’s batted .243 over the last three seasons and is on the wrong side of thirty now.Do you want to go for broke on a player like Drew? Or take your chances that at 24, Tejada bounces back and starts to enter his prime years? The choice seems obvious to me.
Additionally, with the Mets payroll already around $82 million, can they really afford another $12-14 million a year player? I doubt it.
We took a step in the right direction this offseason. Perhaps next offseason, when Matt Harvey is back, we can take another significant step and maybe that step will be a leap for Mets-kind.
