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AAOP: The Wright Thing To Do

AAOP: The Wright Thing To Do

The Mets have been mediocre ever since their collapse at the end of the 2008 season which saw them miss the playoffs for a second straight year. Over the past few seasons, us Met fans have been told repeatedly that 2014 was the year we would finally be a competitor. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be, as the Met’s despite showing promise and finishing in second place, missed the playoffs again. This year is when everything changes and where we can see Sandy’s plan come into full effect. This offseason is key in determining what type of team the Mets will be next season, will they be the young electric 85+ win team we always hoped for, or will they continue along the path of being merely average. If the Mets follow this plan, there is a good chance the former will come true. This is the Wright way to do things…


Current Contracts and Arbitration:

Currently the Mets have...

  • David Wright also known as Captain American under contract for $20M

  • Curtis "the Grandyman" Granderson for $16M

  • Bartolo "the colon cleansing" Colon for $11M

  • Jon "no more mister niese guy" Niese for $7M

These four radical dudes make up the $54 million payroll excluding arb. eligible players.

As the shotcaller, I am going to tender contracts to…

  • Bobby Parnell ($3.7M) (Key late inning bullpen arm)

  • Dillon Gee ($5.1M) (Reliable 4-5 starter and innings eater)

  • Lucas Duda ($4.3M) (Provides solid middle of the lineup threat)

  • Jenrry Mejia ($3.1M) (Most likely our closer next season)

  • Dana Eveland ($1.0M) (Solid bullpen arm)

  • Buddy Carlyle ($1.0M) (Although old, he pitched well last season and deserves a spot)

  • Eric Young Jr. ($2.3M) (Great speed off the bench and good defensive sub)

These seven guys will be back, adding $20.5 million to the payroll which now stands at $74.5 million.

-Goodbye Ruben Tejada, I think it is best if you start fresh with a new team. Hopefully you don’t show up late and overweight to that teams spring training like you did ours.

Extensions:

Daniel Murphy- 4 years $36 million (9 million annually)

-I personally believe that Daniel Murphy should remain a Met. He has been one of the better offensive second baseman in the National League over the past few seasons and he is one of the teams leaders who can provide a spark when this team needs one. The Mets main issue is offense, so it doesn’t make sense to trade a very consistently solid hitting middle infielder who can also swipe double digit bags. With this extension the Mets payroll is now at $83.5 million, then add an additional $6.5 million by renewing the contracts of everyone else (Lagares, Wheeler etc.) for 500k annually. After this, the Mets payroll has reached $90 million.

What must we do to have a winning offseason:

  • Get an above average corner outfielder (Mike Trout in Mets uniform lol)

  • Sign or trade for a true starting shortstop (if not then get a reliable backup one)

  • Add a reliable arm or two to the bullpen

  • Improve the bench (Justin Turner who?)

  • Sign Barry Bonds (jussssssst kidding)

  • Don’t trade Noah Syndergaard!!!



Trades:

  1. Trade Bartolo Colon and Eric Young Jr. to the Seattle Mariners for Dustin Ackley and Lucas Luetge.

-In the search for a left fielder, I believe Dustin Ackley can be the solution. Ackley provides a bat with pop and great defensive skills. Although his overall numbers from last season look a bit underwhelming, I think its key to look at what he did in the second half of the season. In the second half he cut down on strikeouts, hit 24 points higher than his B.A in the first half, hit 10 homers and had close to a .500 slg%, and .800 ops. While the sample size is quite small, he also hit very well in Citi Field. Not to mention, he hit 8 of his 14 homers in the very pitcher friendly Safeco Field. By moving to Citi where the fences are moving in again we could easily see Ackley have his first 20 homer season. With his double digit steal potential, I can easily see him having a 20/20 season in 2015. The icing on the cake is that he comes at a cheap price as he is arbitration eligible and will most likely cost no more than $2.5 million after arbitration.

Lucas Luetge’s peripheral numbers are pretty poor but by looking closer, you will find that he has been very effective against left handed hitters and could provide some value as a middle reliever. Like Ackley, Luetge comes at a cheap price, after arbitration he will most likely cost no more than $800k. In return for Ackley and Luetge, the Mariners get one of the best control pitchers in the game in Bartolo Colon along with the speedy and solid defensive outfielder Eric Young Jr.. Moving to Safeco will do wonders for Colons numbers as he has excelled there and the Mariners could use the pitching depth. In order to get this deal done the Mets will most likely have to pay around $2.5 million of Colons salary while the Mariners will deal with the rest of the contract ($8 million). This deal gives us our 2015 starting left fielder and an arm to stash in the bullpen or Vegas.

2. Trade Rafael Montero and Juan Centeno for Didi Gregorius

-As much as I like Wilmer Flores, I don’t believe he is this teams shortstop of the future. I feel he is better suited as a second baseman but with Daniel Murphy on this team, Wilmer will be relegated to a backup infield role (kinda like Justin Turner). One shortstop on the trading block that won’t cost the Mets Thor or DeGrom is Didi Gregorius. Gregorius is a slick fielding, athletic and speedy shortstop who was originally thought to be the Diamondbacks shortstop of the future. This didn’t work out, as Gregorius has been disappointing for the DBacks who have two other young high potential shortstops in Chris Owings and Nick Ahmed. Because of the Dbacks dearth of shortstops, moving one for a position of weakness which in this case is pitching makes sense. Rafael Montero who started slow but finished nicely for the Mets last season is a prime candidate to be moved as the Mets simply have pitching up the Wazoo (Matz, Ynoa, Bowman etc.). I believe the trade helps both teams out, as the Mets get a young true shortstop who is bound to bounce back stat wise, while the Dbacks get a young promising starting pitcher who won’t have to deal with the bright lights of New York. Did I mention Gregorius won’t be making much more than $1 million through arbitration. I also threw in Juan Centeno to sweeten the deal and simply because we don’t have any need for him.


Free Agency:

At this point, with trades taken into account, the Mets payroll is down to $83 million, this leaves us with $12 million to shell out to free agents. It’s not a ton of money, but it is enough to make meaningful additions to this team.

  1. Sign Chris Denorfia to a 1 year $1.5 million dollar contract

-After having a downright horrible year, Chris Denorfia is definitely looking to rebuild his value to where it was during the 2013 season when he had a WAR of 4.4 (baseballreference). Because of how poorly he performed last season, the Mets can get him for a cheap $1.5 million. He is versatile in that he can play all three outfield positions with solid defense all around. Although his bat didn’t show up in 2014 (.602 ops), in limited at bats with a new team I feel he can be effective and if Ackley doesn’t perform, the Mets can use Denorfia as an insurance policy.

2. Sign Chris Perez to a 1 year $2 million dollar contract

-Chris Perez over the past two seasons has been mediocre but it wasn’t to long ago when he was an all star reliever. Like Denorfia, Perez is looking to rebuild his value and cash in during the 2016 offseason. I think the Mets should take a gamble on Perez and give him a safe low cost deal where he might possibly turn some heads and revert back to all star form. His strikeout rates are down and his walk rates are up, but I think a move to the NL East is just what the doctor ordered. I would take a chance on him and if nothing he only costed $2 million for 1 year.

3. Sign Kelly Johnson to a 1 year $1.5 million dollar contract with a team option for 2016

-Like Denorfia, Kelly Johnson hasn’t been very good lately. He had a subpar 2014 where he played for 3 different teams (all from the same division) and he is getting older (will be 33 when the season starts). The thing I like the most about Johnson is his versatility, he can play nearly all infield positions and he can play right or left field. Every team needs versatile players like this incase of injury or team need. By adding Johnson and Denorfia, I am creating a safety net just incase someone goes down with injury and they need a backup who is capable of being a starter on other teams. The team option is there just incase he has a bounceback 2015 and the Mets want to retain his services the following season.

4. Sign Brian Roberts, Ty Wigginton, David Ross and Bruce Chen to minor league deals

-All four guys are decent insurance incase injuries take over the major league roster. All four may be looking to increase their value in a last ditch effort to get a major league contract for 2016. I say why not take a chance on seeing what value they can provide for a team that could use the additional depth.



Final 25 Man Roster With WAR projections:

C- Travis D’ Arnaud- 3

1B- Lucas Duda- 3.5

2B- Daniel Murphy- 2

SS- Didi Gregorius- 1.5

3B- David Wright- 5

Rf- Curtis Granderson- 1.2

Lf- Dustin Ackley- 2

Cf- Juan Lagares- 4

Sp- Matt Harvey- 4

Sp- Zack Wheeler- 2

Sp- Jacob DeGrom- 3

Sp- Jon Niese- 1.5

Sp- Noah Syndergaard- 2

B- Eric Campbell- .3

B- Anthony Recker- .5

B- Kelly Johnson- .4

B- Chris Denorfia- 1.2

B- Kirk Nieuwenhuis- 1

Cl- Jenrry Mejia- .8

Su- Jeurys Familia- 1.2

Su/Mr- Bobby Parnell- .6

Mr- Vic Black- .3

Mr- Chris Perez- .4

Lr- Buddy Carlyle- .7

Total WAR: 42.1

Final Payroll: $94,400,000


Final Thoughts: I personally believe this roster I have constructed is capable of 85+ wins. I would love to hear thoughts and opinions on my AAOP and what I can improve considering this is my first ever AAOP.


Can’t wait for next season!!! LGM!!!


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