At least as far as Sandy Alderson and the New York Mets are concerned, the Winter Meetings ended without so much as a whimper. Yes, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. But fret not my friends, because unlike the Colorado Rockies, the Washington Nationals, the New York Yankees, and a few other teams, our Metropolitans didn’t make any god awful trades or horrific signings. Alas, no nightmares before Christmas for the Boys in Orange and Blue.
So “what happens next,” seems to be the question on everyone’s mind as we head into what’s shaping up to be a cold and blustery weekend. Look, we all know what the team’s offseason goals are, in fact I’m a little surprised at how transparent the usual stealthy Mets GM has been this month. But I guess they need him to provide some relevancy during his nightly appearances on SNY… I mean would anyone watch Mets Hot Stove if they knew Sandy wasn’t coming on as a guest? Exactly…
Nobody knows the day or the hour, but what we do know is as follows:
Mets Will Trade Bruce
As I’ve said since the last out of the wild card game, Jay Bruce is as good as gone. The Mets aren’t even fielding calls on Curtis Granderson anymore… or Michael Conforto for that matter. It’s a slow developing market for Bruce and other power hitters that still remain in ample supply.
If Alderson wanted to just give Bruce away he had at least three opportunities to do so for some irrelevant low minors prospect – or suspect as I like to call them.
Playing the waiting game and maximizing his return has always been Sandy’s calling card. So he’ll just wait it out and at some point over the next 4-6 weeks, a team craving a 30 homer bat will come down the chimney with care, and with a twinkle in his eyes, Sandy Alderson will be there.
Mets Looking For Relief
It’s a certifiable fact that the Mets will add a top-shelf reliever who will lockdown the 7th inning role and even get a few save opportunities as well in 2017. There’s a lot of great arms available in the free agent market and a few solid options that are on the trade block. This is one of the most robust markets for quality relievers that we’ve seen in quite some time.
But here’s the rub… Due to payroll constraints the Mets will need to unload Bruce and his $13 million dollar contract before adding and new players on major league deals. According to Alderson, payroll is at $150 million currently and the goal is to get that number down to roughly $135 million before they invest in a quality reliever. As Sandy put it, “You don’t buy a new house until you sell your old one first.”
One arm I was hoping to see the Mets get was Koji Uehara, but it looks like the Chicago Cubs just snatched him up on the cheap. That is one heck of a bullpen Theo has assembled over there.
The Mets have been connected to David Robertson of the White Sox, Brad Brach of the Orioles, and free agents Brad Ziegler, Fernando Salas, Greg Holland and Jerry Blevins. However, Alderson has made his aversion to multi-year deals for relievers very apparent, and I don’t see any of those relievers settling on a one year deal. Other relievers who could help the Mets are Joe Blanton, J.P. Howell, Joe Smith, Tommy Hunter, Neftali Feliz and Matt Belisle.
Anything Else?
The Mets seem to be set in the infield so I don’t foresee any changes there. Lucas Duda, Neil Walker, Asdrubal Cabrera and David Wright will man their positions around the diamond, and the team is set with Wilmer Flores and Jose Reyes filling the two utility spots.
Wth a renewed commitment to Travis d’Arnaud, and Rene Rivera signed to a $1.7 million dollar deal, last season’s catching tandem will return anew in 2017. Hopefully, this time the Mets will get better offensive production from the catching position.
Without Jay Bruce in the family photo, the outfield is also set with Yoenis Cespedes in left, Granderson and Juan Lagares in center, and Conforto taking over in right field. The fifth outfielder figures to be Brandon Nimmo for now, but that could change by the end of spring training.
The rotation has some questions to be sure as Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Steven Matz and Zack Wheeler are all coming back from varying degrees of surgery. Harvey is probably the biggest question mark and everyone is anxious to see how he returns from his Thoracic Outlet surgery. Wheeler is also another one to keep an eye on as he’s two years removed from Tommy John surgery, but has endured several setbacks since then. Noah Syndergaard is now the undisputed ace and primed for a huge season. Robert Gsellman and Seth Lugo give the team some quality depth.
The bullpen is the one area that remains unsettled, but once the Mets add an arm or two, much of the makeup will be sorted out in spring training. For now, Addison Reed and Hansel Robles are the only locks and the team expects that Jeurys Familia will be serving out a suspension to begin the season.
In Closing…
The 2017 Mets will not look that different from the team we saw last season. And to hear Sandy Alderson address that at the Winter Meetings is worth considering.
“I think the team last year was pretty good,” Alderson said. “If we get the pitching back we lost over the course of the season we should be very competitive. That’s not to say we’re not looking to improve. Obviously there were some flaws, we didn’t score that many runs, we didn’t hit with men in scoring position, those kind of things. Some of that may be random.”
“We’re not trying to duplicate last year, we’re trying to improve it, but I do think a lot of the improvement is going to come internally from growth from some players and the return from injury of some others.”
The two players Sandy is counting on the most for some significant improvement next season, are Michael Conforto and Travis d’Arnaud. The team is hoping Conforto can be their number three hitter for years to come, and thy are keeping their fingers crossed that d’Arnaud could become a fixture as a number five hitter.
This is a very talent laden team with a great mix of proven and productive veterans as well as good young players that are oozing with potential. It’s going to be an exciting season and I’m looking forward to an epic battle for a division title.
So Sandy Alderson and his staff are back in New York, having left the Winter Meetings empty-handed. But I believe they laid the groundwork for some potential trades and that they reached out to a number of quality relievers they have targeted.
And I heard Sandy exclaim, as he flew out of sight – “We have more moves to make so hang on and sit tight.”
