AAOP: Cut the costs!

by lomo45 on Oct 21, 2011 2:57 PM EDT

My first post on here, trying to keep it as realistic as possible. I'm going to try to incorporate 2 main themes into this plan: cutting costs (to account for the declining team revenue) and developing younger players.

The following players are free agents who I won't bring back:

Jose Reyes (too expensive for a guy who misses time every year with leg injuries)

Chris Young

The following are the players I'd non-tender:

Angel Pagan

Ronny Paulino

Taylor Buchholz

The players I would re-sign:

Mike Pelfrey (find me another pitcher in this market who can deliver 200 innings consistently with at least some degree of success for less than 10 million per year)

Chris Capuano (another year removed from injury, should be better than last season)

Scott Hairston

Manny Acosta

Roster outlook before acquisitions:

SP- Dickey, Pelfrey, Capuano, Neise, Gee, and potentially Santana

RP-Parnell, Acosta, Beato, Byrdak, Daniel Herrera, Josh Stinson

C- Thole

IF- Wright, Davis, Turner, Tejada, Murphy

OF- Duda, Bay, Hairston, Nieuwenhuis (promoting him, he looked ready last season prior to injury)

Needs:

Closer, Backup Catcher, SP depth, Backup middle infield, backup CF

Signings:

C Jose Molina (2 years, 1.5 million per year)- strong defensive option with some potential offense

2B/SS Jamie Carroll (1 year 2 million)- can backup entire infield, gets on base well

OF Rick Ankiel (1 year 2 million)- excellent defensive OF, good mentor to work with Kirk N., could pitch if bullpen gets overworked (just kidding!)

SP Mitch Talbot (minor league deal w/ spring training invite)- always helps to have pitching depth, struggled, could do better in NL

SP Armando Galarraga (minor league deal w/ spring training invite)- always helps to have pitching depth

RP Joe Nathan (2 years, 7.5 million per year)- the big acquisition, veteran presence to anchor the pen, year removed from injury will prove he still has what it takes.

I don't see the mets making any major trades, it just doesn't make sense for the organization at the moment to make big moves. However, I would make 1 lesser trade to improve the outfield defense:

Mets trade OF Lucas Duda and pitching prospect Brandon Moore to Oakland for OF Ryan Sweeney. Mets need a strong defensive outfielder and the A's could use an outfield bat so this trade suits both teams reasonably well. Sweeney is arb eligible and will likely make around 2.5 million this season.

So the roster for 2012 will look like:

SP- Dickey, Pelfrey, Niese, Gee, Capuano, Santana if healthy (Harvey, Familia, Schwinden,Talbot, and Galarraga as AAA rotation)

RP- Nathan, Parnell, Beato, Acosta, Stinson, Byrdak, Herrera (DJ Carrasco, Manny Alvarez, Armando Rodriguez, and Elvin Ramirez are minor league options, Mejia moves to pen after he returns from injury)

C- Thole, Jose Molina (Nickeas in AAA)

IF- Davis, Turner, Tejada, Wright, Murphy, Carroll (Havens up by mid-year if he's healthy to take over 2B, Satin and Valdespin are other emergency options)

OF-Bay, Nieuwenhuis, Sweeney, Hairston, Ankiel (Fernando, Pridie, Baxter in AAA)

So no major acquisitions are made (unless you count Joe Nathan), but the team gets better defensively, improves its pitching depth, and gives the younger kids another year to develop. What do you think?

This FanPost was contributed by a member of the community and was not subject to any vetting or approval process. It does not necessarily reflect the opinions, reasoning skills, or attention to grammar and usage rules held by the editors of this site.

Tweet Comment 8 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Not a fan at all, sorry

The pitching staff is terrible, the offense takes a huge nosedive with the loss of Reyes and Duda, and the catching situation is blegh. Not to mention, Nieuwenheis isn’t ready yet.

There is no hope.... there is no future....there is only GRISSIONZ

The 2011 Mets- Rock bottom: We haven't reached it yet

by Syler on Oct 21, 2011 3:07 PM EDT reply actions

I can't see this team being as good as last season.

Replacing Reyes with Carroll is like trying to drain a lake with a Dixie cup. And I cant support cutting ties with an asset like Pagan.

Save Jenrry Mejia!
Keep Reyes, Trade Wilpon.

by Ogre39666 on Oct 21, 2011 3:08 PM EDT reply actions

Also, I didn't see a mention of your final payroll number

but I’d imagine you’d have some money left over (or at least I would hope you did with that roster). Why not use it? Bring in a pitcher to take Gee’s spot or something.

Save Jenrry Mejia!
Keep Reyes, Trade Wilpon.

by Ogre39666 on Oct 21, 2011 3:10 PM EDT up reply actions

depends how you look at it

Offensively, I don’t see this team being as good as last season (although a healthy Ike Davis sure helps, as does Havens taking over 2B mid-year). Pitching, I think adding a true closer settles the bullpen down, and the SPs big problem was no depth which is why I went for a depth approach, I honestly don’t see a big problem with quality if Niese and Gee progress and Dickey gets some run support. The big difference to me from last year to this year is the defense, last year this team played awful defense and gave away runs and games because of it. I wanted to add some veterans with strong defensive skills to help this team play the game correctly. Adding to the fundamentals will be a real boost to the club morale and will help the team lose fewer games. This team isn’t going to compete on $110million budget no matter what I did with it, not when they have huge contracts that produce so little. Give it another year or two for the young pitching prospects to join the major league team and pitching and defense will produce a winning strategy.

by lomo45 on Oct 21, 2011 3:17 PM EDT up reply actions

this would make me sad.

I think it was Bobby V who said: "You are never as good as you are when you are at your best, and you are not as bad as when you are at your worst."

Like the really funny uncle with a healthy bourbon habit who matches every brilliant Thanksgiving story with one or two ill-advised racist jokes or boob grabs, we’re stuck with Melo. So we might as well learn to love him — quirks and all. http://knickerblogger.net/2011-report-card-carmelo-anthony/

by gbaked on Oct 21, 2011 3:16 PM EDT reply actions

Cutting costs is great and all

but a team like this would not help to bring in any more revenue. The team has other financial problems besides payroll. There are large amounts of debt to pay for the stadium and loans from MLB. The $110M cap on payroll is already a cut and I’m sure you’re well below that. By letting go of one of the most popular players and not bringing in another big name to replace him I could almost guarantee that fewer people would come out to watch games. That would negate all the cost cutting you just did because the team would be in an even bigger financial hole than it already is.

In other words, you need to sign someone to make up Reyes’ value. Preferably some starting pitching (and if you’re trying to cut costs you could do better than Capuano who is going to command a much bigger salary next year)

by crazycarLUXC on Oct 21, 2011 3:26 PM EDT reply actions