Why? Mets Sign Elmer Dessens to Minor League Deal

First off, there’s little risk at all that Dessens makes the team out of ST and pitches in 60 games. Realistically, for that to happen, he’d probably have to pitch exceptionally well, in which case he’d probably be worth it. The reality though is, he’ll get paid 90k to pitch for Buffalo, which is only about $25k more than the minimum for a player on the 40-man roster.

Second, Everett signed for just under $1.6M, on a guaranteed MLB contract. So when he turns out to be replacement level, they are stuck with him. The reality is Everett will likely get 18 times as much as Dessens; that’s the difference in the guaranteed dollars.

In addition, even if he makes it and pitches in 40 games, and makes $760k, what is the complaint really? He should have made MLB minimum? You are arguing then over $360k. On the free agent market, that buys less than a run.

What if we need a call up due to injury, say mid-July, for a long man, who might end up making 40 appearances? Suppose Dessens is pitching very well. Should the Mets decide to call up say, Lance Broadway instead, even if it appears he will be worse over the course of 40 appearances, and they expect he’ll be worse than Dessens by more than 1 run? Is it really bad to even have the option to call up Dessens then?

I think you’re ignoring the biggest problem with the Mets, which is that there are usually too many penny pinchers in that front office worrying about every $300k, instead of worrying about spending a bit here and there to make sure you’ve got enough capable players to send out there even when there are injuries. I can’t believe we’re really complaining about the minor league deals now, over what amounts to a fraction of a run.

is the problem with all the mets contracts so far this year; it’s been given to a player and practically everyone is hoping we don’t have to see. when you start off your offseason by giving vesting options to crap players that everyone here is hoping never kicks in, you’ve got your priorities out of whack. and even thought it may just be a few hundreds of thousands, these add up (blanco, cora, dessens) and is the difference per year between bay and holiday.

dessens is the kind of guy we could’ve signed in february for nothing.

Whereas, in truth

HR/9: 1.4
K/9: 3.9

Those two numbers are appalling. It’s partly the money, and partly the idea that a very large-market team cannot find a better reliever to put on its AAA roster. Dessens has no upside, and if he excels in AAA, so what? He’ll be the same pitcher he was last year, only a little worse. If he has a 3.00 ERA at Buffalo that has nothing to do with what he’ll pitch in the majors, where because he’s ancient he’s a huge favorite to give up more than 1.4 HRs per 9, and K less than 3.9 batters per 9. That’s awful.

You bring up Dessens in 2010 and he’ll give you 10 innings where he gives up 14 hits and 3 homers with two strikeouts. Any other result is dumb luck.

Where’s Sal, by the way? I’m waiting for him to point out Dessens’ Mexican and that’s why Omar favors him.

From the linked article:

“Because of concerns about his surgically repaired right shoulder, the Mets renegotiated Henry Blanco’s contract yesterday. The vet originally received a one-year, $1.5 million deal from the Mets but will now play one year for $750,000, plus $700,000 in incentives based on the number of games he starts.”

I’m sure this was covered somewhere here, but Blanco alleged 1.5 mill a yer was really a $775,000 contract which is much more reasonable

is an awful lot of angst towards signing someone on minor league contract.

Pedro was an overpay. Delgado was a huge overpay (two good years out of four at a cost of $56m). Beltran was a nice signing but since it meant paying Beltran $25m more than the next highest bidder that was an ownership decision, really. Extending Reyes and Wright were obvious choices. Omar did well to not overpay in prospects for Santana, but would anyone sign Johan today to a four year deal with an AAV of $23m? Frankie Rod is looking like a very poor deal, and could turn into a monstrous one.

There’s nothing particularly impressive about this record. Am I leaving anyone out?

Omar traded three prospects to Florida for the privilege of taking on Delgado’s 3 year/42ish million dollar contract plus the 4m buyout. The contract was a brutal overpay just in financial terms. Imagine how bad it would have been had any of the prospects turned into ballplayers.

Omar was probably best known for his smaller trades like the ones which landed Maine, Ollie and El Duque.

While they were all good at the time, the fact that all those players production was so short lived probably shows he caught lightning in a bottle and as we’ve all come to realize, into really that good of a GM