While Mets owner Fred Wilpon would reportedly prefer to hire a general manager from a more traditional scouting background, Fancred Sports’ Jon Heyman hears that team COO Jeff Wilpon could prefer a GM in the younger, analytics-based mold. Essentially, the Mets’ search is still in its very early stages, so it isn’t clear what type of executive the club will ultimately pursue. For instance, Heyman reports that the Mets have interest in Astros assistant GM Mike Elias and former Brewers and Rangers general manager Doug Melvin, who each respectively represent the new-school and old-school approaches. It’s also possible the team could end up hiring from within after all, giving the job to longtime assistant GM John Ricco or special assistant (and former general manager) Omar Minaya.
Here’s more from Heyman, via his weekly roundup of baseball notes…
- The Mets’ extension with Sandy Alderson is up after this season, as Heyman corrected a report of his from June stating that Alderson’s deal ran through the 2019 campaign. It was widely believed that Alderson’s deal was a two-year pact, though it is perhaps notable in hindsight that the contract’s length wasn’t mentioned when the club announced the deal last December. Alderson is currently on a leave of absence to deal with a recurrence of cancer, and it is expected that the Mets will indeed hire a new GM once the season is over.
- “It seems like there’s interest” from the Yankees in a Didi Gregorius extension. Gregorius has emerged as a strong everyday player over the last two seasons thanks to an uptick in his offensive production, and it certainly makes sense that New York would see him as a cornerstone at shortstop even with a wealth of young prospects (i.e. Gleyber Torres) on hand to potentially step into the position. Gregorius is earning $8.25MM this season and has one final year of arbitration eligibility remaining as a Super Two player before hitting free agency after the 2019 season. There hadn’t been any talks between the two sides as of last April, when Gregorius expressed his desire to remain with the Yankees over the long term, though Heyman notes that any extension wouldn’t be signed until the calendar flips to 2019, when the team will have more payroll flexibility after escaping the maximum luxury tax penalty rate.
- Joey Gallo drew some interest at the trade deadline, though the Rangers weren’t close to a deal since they’d be “selling low,” as one source tells Heyman. Gallo is controlled through the 2022 season and still boasts great potential as a hitter, despite his penchant for strikeouts and low batting averages. It’s worth noting that Gallo had only a .187/.303/.454 slash line on July 31, though he has since been on fire, hitting .333/.394/.750 over 66 plate appearances in August. Trading Gallo would’ve signaled a larger rebuild for the Rangers, who thought to be looking at 2019 as a year of “retrenchment” before returning to contention in 2020 when their new ballpark opens.
Mark, Texas guy here. They do not view the return to contention will not be 2020. If it was, they wouldn’t have traded Kela. Their top prospects are all lower level. You’re looking at a 3-5 year plan minimum. Year 1 of new ballpark will be all about selling fans on an improved experience (ex: no more 108 degree heat) to get them in seats, instead of contention.
I surely hope you’re right, for the Rangers’ sake! They have to be realistic about contending; nobody wants to be the Orioles.
I should add … I realize you are summing up Heyman. He typically doesn’t have an accurate grid for baseball outside of NY. The local beat writers do. So I thought I’d post some local perspective.
Heyman doesn’t have the “accurate grid for baseball” outside of Scott Boras clients.
Only two Boras interns working today?
Obviously they won’t be World Series contenders by 2020 but I think ownership and the front office intend to spend money on free agents the winter before the stadium opens to try and be atleast competitive. Wild card contender type. They need an entire starting rotation though so it won’t be easy.
And it appears the Rangers realized, like many other clubs, that they can’t buy their team on the free agent market or carry albatross contracts. So expect to see bargain bin signings in the rotation (like Fister/Colon types) until the young guys are ready.
My point earlier being … you don’t trade away cheap controllable assets like Kela if your plan is to contend after taking just one year to rebuild. Kela has his final arb year in 2020, right? So you don’t ship out your closer in what would be a “contention year” (along with other guys who were reportedly on the block like Gallo) unless you have resigned yourself that it is a long term rebuild.
And that’s probably for the best. I’m not sure there’s a player on the Rangers that you could say is a legit young stud. There are some nice complementary pieces like Mazara, Leclerc and Kiner-Falafa. But otherwise, this looks like it’s time for full out rebuild like we saw in the past with the Royals, Astros, Cubs … and now Padres.
So the fact that you think kiner-falefa is good explains why you think you cant buy a playoff team. Real owners own many businesses. Baseball is a toy to them. I’d love an owner like that but ours cares for nothing but himself. They got embarrassed in the trades with Washington and especially with Boston. They’ had a great team who needed a bit of help and instead they tear it down for magic beans to save a buck. Let me help out anyone playing in mlbtr’s free agent contest this offseason. Sox wont even OFFER a contract to superstar stud players like Machado Harper and Kershaw.
They will be mentioned for the top line SP’s in the offseason of 2019.. those pitchers might not choose to come here, but they are not trying a total tank job rebuild ala the Astros.. they want a retool more than a rebuild. Which probably won’t end well, but from everything management has said that seems to be their intentions..
I agree that teams are better built by young talent and that FA contracts can be bad deals. However, I disagree on your other points. Kela was moved because he was the most controllable piece that could get the most talent. They moved Kela and got a piece back that will be better than Kela. One thing that JD can do is build a bullpen and most of those guys are easy to find. Leclerc takes Kela’s spot and the Rangers don’t miss a beat. The market efficiency is to find a sucker that takes your “closer” and get back a SP that can be in your rotation in 2019 or 2020.
Also, if you don’t think the Rangers have legit young studs, you must not really follow the Rangers. Gallo, Odor, Nomar, Calhoun, Profar are all guys that should be built around. Just add some SP to this team and we got a contender next year. But good SP is hard to find. To rebuild with this team would be silly.
Man you said everything I was going to say. If Hearn becomes a 2,3 or even 4 in the starting rotation then he was way more than worth what you could get from Kela the next two years after this.
You know what the Rangers organization feels. I’m a Ranger fan and we are one of the youngest teams in baseball. We have been good since the All Star break and have been scoring a ton of runs. Pitching is the issue and every fan knew it would be. If JD forks out the money on SP and we hit on a couple of these prospects there’s no reason we can’t contend in 2020.
Didi Gregorious is one of the most underrated players in Major League Baseball. Can hit for power, average, and plays rock solid defense. I put Gregorious as a top tier SS. Maybe not as good as guys like Lindor or Correa but definitely near the top in my mind.
In my mind the top 5 SS’s in the league are Lindor, Correa, Machado, Seager(when healthy), and Didi
Nope, but this is gonna be fun!
Simmons is ahead of Didi as well
Story, Baez(if Joe would keep him there), Simmons,Turner, just to name some that are better.
Didi isn’t a top 5 SS, take a look at his home-road splits on baseball-reference…
Correa keeps getting hurt. I’m concerned…..
Bruh, remove those pinstriped shades.
Crawford is a top 3 defender at the position, and puts up serviceable numbers at the plate. A definite top 5 SS.
Not better than Lindor, Correa, Turner, Machado, Simmons, Seagar, Bogaerts, and even Didi.
Or Jean Segura
JP?
Right? Didi is tied for fifth place in WAR among SS this year despite having a horrid month of May. We all know how well he did in April, but since May hes been batting .290 with an OPS around .820. Its fair to say his play in May was a mere outlier and that he consistently plays much better than his season numbers insinuate.
Hes one of the very best, even if he is pull happy
“he constantly plays much better than his season numbers insinuate” dude numbers are the factors used to rank them. Like Steven posted farther up about his splits, his road numbers are horrid. What’s up with your boy Bird?
So despite these bad road numbers and a horrid May he is fifth in WAR among SS in all of MLB and hes been batting .290 since May. Have you ever considered that the Yankees were on the road a lot in May and its possible that it has skewed his road numbers as much as his regular season numbers? If you watch the games youd know how consistent he is. Offensively and defensively.
Bird had a walk and a HR just yesterday. I would say he is starting to turn the corner. Although he was making hard contact during his slump (including a robbed HR) he has been putting together much better ABs in the last week or so. Outside of getting into many deep counts he had a really good swing on that HR yesterday where he stayed compact and had his weight behind the ball. I would say that he is geared to start having a good stretch sooner rather than later. In fact, he just hit a grand slam so….
“ . . . his road numbers are horrid.”
Didi’s Park-neutralized OPS is .789, which sounds about right. Not a bad player, certainly helping the Yanks win. But nowhere near the best SS in MLB, particularly when age is taken into consideration. At 28, “Sir Didi” is unlikely to get any better.
“ . . . numbers are the factors used to rank them.”
If you have to explain this to someone, tgcf, what’s the point. Either folks get it or they don’t.
+majorflaw
I just want to clarify that the original argument was that Didi is a top tier SS in the league right now. Not that he is the “best SS in MLB”. I mean, you can argue that he is not top 5 but he is literally 5th in WAR among all SS in the MLB. It would probably be higher if advanced defensive were better.
Also, i would like to argue that numbers only define what a player did and not necessarily how good a player is even though there is a high correlation between good numbers and good players. So, while numbers should help you rank a player, it shouldnt be the only thing you use to rank a player as numbers dont always tell the full story.
major…The old cut of his jib..
“I would say he is starting to turn the corner” dude you’ve claimed that at least twice this year for various reasons, yet Bird certainly isn’t. Numbers don’t lie….
Last 7 games- .150 BA .261 OBP Slugging .350
Last 15 games- .130 BA .216 OBP Slugging .261
Last 30 games- .198 BA .265 OBP Slugging .337
He’s also been sitting against lefties. The definitely will adress pitching and first this offseason.
When I claimed it the first time (June) he has a really good July and then fell back into a mini slump in August. So if you ask me my track record is just fine when predicting when Bird is gonna turn a corner. I mean as i was typing my last reply to you he hit a grandslam. I know your knee is jerking hard but jeez man watch the games so you can actually see how his ABs go
How is 30 games a “mini slump”? What today and yesterday represent are a small sample size, yes I watch the games and he is painful to watch. Thank God for Andujar and Stanton since the break.
I’m posting this as a reply to both Begamin and tgcf.
“ . . . the original argument was that Didi is a top tier SS in the league right now. Not that he is the “best SS in MLB”.
Fair enough. Although I recall a couple of folks arguing that he was the best earlier this year.
“ . . . you can argue that he is not top 5 . . . “
I, along with others, have done so.
“ . . . but he is literally 5th in WAR among all SS in the MLB.”
So you place a great value on WAR? Not that I’m disagreeing but it’s only a rough measurement. Better than most, not as good as others.
“ . . . i (sic) would like to argue that numbers only define what a player did and not necessarily how good a player is . . . “
Then how would you quantify how good a player is? How do you compare players without some objective standards?
“ . . . numbers don’t always tell the full story.”
I would argue that the “story” only provides context for the numbers. The story might explain that a player was slumping due to a nagging injury or somesuch. But, taken in context, at the end of the day the player did what he did, no more and no less.
“ . . . but jeez man watch the games . . . “
That was unnecessary.
“The old cut of his jib..”
Am I missing some context here? From what I’ve seen in this exchange Bengamin is mostly playing nicely. Doesn’t mean I agree with him, as noted above, but this isn’t a useless discussion. I see civil argument rather than conclusory statements by someone constantly moving the goalposts, changing the subject, ridiculing, lying or otherwise trolling.
I recognize that you have an ongoing disagreement with Bengamin, but if a swipe suggesting that you do not actually watch the games is as bad as it gets, um…. You’ve got a pretty good ear for these things, is there something else I should know?
“the old cut of his job” I thought you would get that. It had nothing to do with Begamin, but how he described Didi “so numbers should help when you rank a player, it shouldn’t be the only thing you use”. If you don’t use numbers, what else is there, hence the “cut of his jib”. You gotta watch him.
“I see civil argument rather than conclusory statements by someone constantly moving the goalposts, changing the subject,ridiculing, lying or otherwise trolling” I guess that’s, that then…oh well
Bird is one of the bottom 1st basemen with a regular starting position.
+cereal
Greg Bird has definitely not been slumping for 30 games straight. Look at the game logs. His slump started around Aug 3, ended on Aug 10. He then went on a mini tear on Aug 11 through Aug 15 and then slumped again from Aug 15 through Aug 17. Aug 3 is not 30 games ago. He did, however, go through two mini slumps over the course of a 15 game period.
But if you watched the games you would have seen this coming. The more he walks/works counts full (or at least makes the pitcher work), the more likely he is going to break out. He did it at the end of June and broke out in July and he did it again just this week. Before his games today and yesterday he was having some good ABs.
Also, regarding lefties, he hit his grand slam off one today:)
Finally, not counting today those are the stats of the games he played from MLB.com, and again I watch the games…
+majorflaw
I will try to emulate your format in this reply bc i really liked it:)
“Although I recall a couple of folks arguing that he was the best earlier this year.”
Yeah, thats true. I think if he just had a decent May then it would be undoubted that he is top 5. Simmons and Lindor are hard to beat out, but everyone else is fair game for arguing that Didi is better imo
“So you place a great value on WAR? Not that I’m disagreeing but it’s only a rough measurement. Better than most, not as good as others.”
I place decent value in WAR. I was just drawing to the fact that even though he had one of the worst months of all time that he still ranks high in a stat that is supposed to encompass how much a player is contributing from an overall standpoint. When comparing players of two different positions i think WAR should be taken with a grain of salt but i was comparing him among other SS.
“Then how would you quantify how good a player is? How do you compare players without some objective standards?”
“I would argue that the “story” only provides context for the numbers. The story might explain that a player was slumping due to a nagging injury or somesuch. But, taken in context, at the end of the day the player did what he did, no more and no less.”
Well, i was going to draw to intangibles so its hard to quantify intangibles… because theyre intangible lol. However, i like to watch the games and see what is really happening. For example, you could face Jacob Degrom 3 times, have a robbed HR, have a base hit get snagged by a great play by the 2B and then strikeout and walk. Your numbers on the day would be 0-3 with a FO, SO, and a walk and it looks poor. However, the numbers dont detail that you faced one of the best pitchers in the league and then got robbed on two plays against him. Especially when looking at the numbers on a larger scale, such as a season AVG/OBP/SLG or just looking at the game logs for every game on the season. You would have to dig deeper and most people dont do that. They only scratch the surface before coming to their conclusions. You would also have to dig deeper and get into things like pitchfx if you want to see how many pitches he saw and their locations. Theres something to be proud of if you can make the pitcher work and throw 7-8 pitches, even if you dont get a hit/on base. I feel like the examples I have presented are few of the many scenarios where details get lost in the translation to numbers and the only way to get a true understanding is to sit down and watch the games. Thats also why i told cereal to watch the games, bc they tell you more than the numbers alone.
+cereal
I know those are the stats over his last 30, but i took it a bit deeper and looked at where he started putting up bad numbers, You can look at his gamelogs for yourself at baseball reference. His first mini slump started Aug 3 as i stated before.
Have you ever considered that over a 30 game period, slumping in the latter 15 games would sour the 30 game total? Bird did just that. He had a rough last 15 and it soured the good numbers he put up in the 15 before that. Its not a good way to dictate where the slump starts/ends or if he has been slumping through that entire 30 game period or if its been in specific spots of that 30 game period.
Im concerned that you arent watching closely enough then. You never bring up in game moments (such as having weak contact, swinging at a bad pitch, getting burned by a fastball, etc.) and instead present numbers that dont exactly detail anything. Theres a reason why I was able to tell you two different times when Bird was heating up. I told you specifically in late June that you would start to see Bird start getting a lot more hits and have a good month of July and he did just that. That reason was because I was able to notice a difference in the ABs he was putting together and was able to distinct if he had a bad PA or if the pitcher he was facing was good or if he got unlucky (such as the time Engel robbed him @CHW)
Didi is sitting tied for 4th place in WAR (fangraphs) among SS, but that doesn’t include Correa or Seagar.
Didi is top 10 but definitely not top 5. I’d also go out and say that Xander is not the 4th best SS in the league, but that is what WAR says right now.
If you’re gonna cherry pick out a bad May, might as well cherry pick out the godlike April.
+saavedra
Good thing we can look at his stats from May 28th to Aug 18th and see that over a 70 game stretch he has been batting .294 with an OPS of .825. Not so much of a cherry pick there is it? We can exclude both his best and worst month to see that he is still a top flight hitter at SS (as well as a great defender)
Hitting for “power” at Yankee Stadium is no feat. It’s literally the same size as my kids high school field .
Lol nope
Wow, sympathy to Mets fans… Ownership can’t even agree on what KIND of GM they want.
The future, at the moment, looks dysfunctional and not bright.
Yep, sounds like the Mets
Hey Waz. This is old news. The future is not dysfunctional. There is no future because Mutt and Jeff, AKA Abbott & Costello are dysfunctional.
They are not fully invested in the team and use it as a piggy bank to steal cash flow from the fans to support their lifestyle, peeps and hobbies—like collecting Brooklyn Dodgers memorabilia.
On top of that they are incompetent businessmen who surround themselves with the wrong people.
That’s why mets fans should abandon supporting them financially. Cutting their cash flow resources by boycotting and not buying tickets plus embarrassing them by no longer watching SNY is the only true hope that they will take their tails between their legs and go home.
I do not get it!
why do the mets continue to be in the news?
why are they conducting a general manager search in the media?
why are they gauging fan reaction to general manager mention?
who is allowing this piss poor team continue to be in the news
for everybody to talk about?
why isn’t the the media and pr departments telling them to keep this
search internal at least for now?
I do not get it!
The Mets are a train wreck in search of a dumpster fire. They should use the opportunity of the Yanks resurgence (and the Yanks farm) to reload over the next few years, and look at 2022 or so.
Farm system isn’t bad not great but not bad; tradeable pieces could augment.
Can we agree DiDi is a Top 8 SS in the majors? Is that fair? I think so, ballpark included….
Probably top 15.