1:51PM: The Mets’ offer to Hernandez “would’ve carried a similar annual average value to the contract he agreed to with the Dodgers but without deferrals,” The Athletic’s Will Sammon writes. Such shorter-term deals for outfield or DH help remain a possibility for the Mets, if for less than what it would’ve taken to sign Hernandez. For instance, Sammon notes that the Mets have interest in re-signing Jesse Winker in such a role.
1:25PM: The Mets’ interest in the free agent outfield market was seemingly limited to just Juan Soto, as unlike other Soto suitors, New York wasn’t known to have any public interest in the likes of Teoscar Hernandez or Anthony Santander as backup plans if Soto signed elsewhere. However, now with Soto already in the fold, the Mets made a late bid on Hernandez, as Newsday’s Tim Healey reports that the Amazins offered the slugger a two-year deal earlier this week. The dollar figure isn’t known, but Hernandez rejected the deal anyway and rejoined the Dodgers on a three-year, $66MM pact.
Since the Mets have the financial resources to be in on any available player, their interest in Hernandez could’ve been a case of due diligence. There’s no harm, after all, in checking in on a talented hitter to gauge his interest in joining the Mets, and president of baseball operations David Stearns might have seen an opening in a shorter-term deal since Hernandez was lingering on the market.
This isn’t to say that signing Hernandez would’ve been a bargain, exactly, as he would’ve cost the Mets even more draft and international bonus capital. Because New York exceeded the luxury tax in 2024, signing Soto cost the Mets $1MM in int’l bonus pool money, plus their second- and fifth-highest picks in the 2025 draft. Like Soto, Hernandez also rejected a qualifying offer, and thus signing him would’ve required that the Mets give up another $1MM from their international bonus pool, as well as their third- and sixth-highest draft selections.
Adding Hernandez would’ve further crowded the outfield picture. The projected starting outfield consists of Soto in right field, Brandon Nimmo in left, Jose Siri and Tyrone Taylor platooning in center, Starling Marte likely relegated to DH duty, and Jeff McNeil, Jared Young, and Luisangel Acuna able to step onto the grass in a pinch. Had New York signed Hernandez, the likeliest scenario probably would’ve seen Nimmo return to center field, unless the Mets were successful in opening up the DH spot by trading Marte. Reports from a few weeks ago suggested the Mets were willing to eat some of the $19.5MM owed to Marte in the event of a trade, and while no deal was thought to be in the offing, the Mets’ openness to cover salary might hint that Marte is the odd man out.
If signing Hernandez was seen as something of a unique circumstance, the Mets’ outfield depth probably means they’re less likely to seek out Santander or another outfield bat unless Marte is dealt. In terms of lineup additions overall, New York remains linked to Pete Alonso and Alex Bregman as the club looks to boost at least one corner infield slot.
ok
Losers whine about their best
Sounds you’re a subject matter expert! Tell us more!
Well since you asked let’s go 1986 WS Champs!
So basically the Mets did not have a serious offer on the table
Why would he want to play for a loser organization like the Mets when he still had the chance to go back to the Evil Empire on the Left Coast?
Unless it was for $67M I kinda understand why he turned it down.
I still think Pete Alonso will sign with the Mets, I don’t see too many other teams going after him.
Don’t think they want him back that much. Seems like he’s Plan B if Bregman goes elsewhere. Stearns is known for being very good at moving on from a guy BEFORE he declines too far, rather than after like the bad GM’s.
Mets or Nationals. Three years at $90 million or four years at $100 million, with plenty of opt-outs.
Watch the Padres if they end up trading Cease. Watch the Mariners if they can get someone to take Haniger (with a prospect).
Padres need Cease more than Alonso. Even if they get Sasaki.
Top 100: Not Washington since they traded for Lowe.
@Acoss1331 The Mets aren’t going to shrug and sign a one-dimensional player just because he’s available—not when he’s already in steep decline—and not to even a 5/125m deal just because they don’t have to add the sixth year of that decline phase.
Also, why would a pretty good GM / PBOPS like Stearns lock in MLB’s worst corner IF defense for half a decade—does that seem like anything he’d do?
I can see a one year pillow contract (NO player options) if the Mets think Pete can handle DH for a season. It’s hard to see what the Mets have in mind at DH unless it’s a piecemeal approach of some kind, but they presumably won’t be doing something like bringing back Winker and keeping Marte around. TWO guys who shouldn’t be in the OF platooning at DH when they’re no longer particularly good at hitting would be absurd. And Winker, with all of two good full seasons in his career and an OPS of .699 from 2022-2024 is hardly a worthwhile improvement for Marte (.731 OPS 2022-2024).
Winkie was a little better last year, at least until he got to the Mets. A .393 OPS during September, though, and a .683 OPS overall with the Mets? No thanks.
The last thing any team needs is a modestly talented old platoon at DH.
Man would that OF of Soto-Nimmo-Hernandez have sucked defensively. That would have been absolutely horrific. Kind of a bad, bad fit. Maybe they thought he had nothing on the table and severely underbid. Or maybe they were doing a favor for the agent and lit a fire under the Dodgers.
Soto and Hernandez could have occupied the DH role.
The chances of them using Soto as a DH are smaller than me flapping my arms and flying to the moon. Not after that free agency romance.
Has he ever said he doesn’t want to DH?
I think it has more to do with them not giving him all of that money just to DH.
He’s a bad fielder. They are paying for the bat similar to Miguel Cabrera. He doesn’t really add anything on defense at all.
Soto is nowhere close to as the hitter prime Miguel was.
It’s a different era. I think he’s at least close.
Statistically he definitely is, and he isnt even at his prime years (for cabrera it was 29-30)
I don’t think it is fair to say Soto is “nowhere close” to any hitter. You could certainly argue for other hitters ahead of him, but he is literally one of the best all around hitters of all time (arguably top 10 all time).
Yes and I wasn’t saying one is better than the other i was simply using an example of a guy with a huge contract who was paid to hit and defense didn’t really matter.
Top 10 all time? He has three 30 home run season and a .285 career average.
He has a .420 career OBP and his OPS and WRC+ are top 10 all time. People stopped using batting average as the measuring stick for hitters decades ago. There is a reason people compare him to a young Ted Williams. Is he better than Ted Williams? No. But his OBP and run production are not far behind at all.
Maybe top 25-50 Too much career left
It’s just silly to say Batting Average isn’t important.RBIs and Runs Scored.Getting your hits when it counts most RISP.
Soto is as good as prime Miggy.
I don’t get all the Soto hate.
Boodge106
The best position players, according to WAR3. Which are just their 3 best years of their career, not consecutively.
1 Babe Ruth (41.6)
2 Barry Bonds (37.1)
3 Ted Williams (34.1)
4 Rogers Hornsby (33.3)
5 Mickey Mantle (33.1)
6 Willie Mays (32.9)
7 Ty Cobb (32.6)
8 Lou Gehrig (31.8)
9 Carl Yastrzemski (31.4)
10 Mike Trout (31.2)
11 Honus Wagner (30.9)
12 Stan Musial (30.4)
13 Joe Morgan (30.0)
14 Cal Ripken Jr. (29.6)
15 Aaron Judge (29.3)
16 Alex Rodriguez (29.2)
17 Rickey Henderson (28.6)
18 Mookie Betts (28.5)
19 Ken Griffey, Jr. (27.6)
20 Mike Schmidt (27.6)
21 Johnny Bench (23.9)
22 Reggie Jackson (23.7)
23 Derek Jeter (22.1)
24 Sammy Sosa (21.8)
25 Tony Gwynn (21.6)
26 Juan Soto (20.5)
27 Mark McGwire (20.4)
28 Shoehei Ohtani (20.1 batting only, 28.5 with pitching)
29 Francisco Lindor (20.1)
I am sure that there are guys that I missed. The only reason that Soto is considered special is because he is younger than most with his accomplishments. He is not a top twenty hitter of all time unless he IMPROVES a lot as he gets older.
Soto is coming off the best year of his career. He’s only played 5 full seasons to this point. Why are you acting as if he can’t beat this weird 3 year stat you are looking at?
One of his biggest strengths besides his youth is his consistency and health. And that doesn’t get factored into this weird state of yours.
Because the poster said Soto was literally one of the top ten best hitters of all time. Soto could have two more seasons identical to 2024 and the statement would still be false. Soto may in the future become one of the top ten hitters of all time, but his 2024 performance even repeated twice more falls markedly short.
Do you think Soto is better than Ruth, Ted Williams, Mays, Hornsby, Cobb, Gehrig, Musial, Mantle, Wagner, Schmidt, Judge, etc.?
WAR and best hitter are 2 entirely different things. WAR factors in defense which Soto isn’t good at. If you look at strictly offense he might be top 10 if he’s not he’s close.
Soto is young so he has higher potential to end up top ten, he is nowhere near that now even excluding his defense and running. He did not hit better than Ohtani or Judge last year
We’ll quickly discover the deal was for Teoscar to DH and take an occasional rep in LF for Nimmo.
OK then, why not pivot to Profar? Taylor and Siri are nice outfielder pieces, but they’re really 4th and 5th outfielders. Profar solidifies the whole outfield picture.
Profar 4th or 5th outfielder
Which Profar are we getting?
He belongs at DH.
His career OPS+ is lower than 104, which is what Marte hit in 2024.
Really? Profar Nimmo and Soto in the OF? The worst defensive OF in MLB in the last 10 years.
So bad they might lose 3 runs over the year… yaaaaaaaawn
I think Santander would be the pivot especially if they move on from alonso
Not sure what the allure of santander is
Power… basically a slightly cheaper version of Alonso
well then they shouldn’t lose out on alonso should they lol
its bregman or alonso or something went wrong i think… maybe they have a trade in the works. i like in house options mostly if they fail
A wise man once said….”if you’re not first, you’re last”….
He wasn’t that wise…
But nowadays you get participation certificates
Yea we should really punish the children who lose. Losing isnt enough we need to make them feel pathetic.. good call
Mets would have put Nimmo in center. So a bid makes sense.
No
The bid was a ruse. Stearns is big on OF defense.
Particularly when your rotation is that… modest.
i also offered Teoscar a contract with an undisclosed amount but his camp did not respond
Not sure what the hell mets are doing
Biggest FA signing in sports history
They complement that with montas, canning, siri, converting holmes to SP, and passing on half a dozen solid FAs like buehler teoscar burnes tyler oneill c walker…yes stearns knows what he doing. But still rly questionable choices here
Don’t forget bringing back Manaea. Hard to fully judge an offseason in December. Also not sure what would’ve made Buehler a solid free agent choice. The guy hasn’t been healthy and/or effective in years. Everyone is hung up on a couple of handfuls of solid postseason innings.
you realize most of those “complements” were signed before soto signed. So do you hold up all free agent signings and wait to see if you sign soto for an unknown number then hope there are solid FAs to sign? Lets say soto signs with the nationals and everything plays out how it did to that point. Would you be happy with an offseason of just Buehler, Canning, Teoscar, and Walker (i think he signed after soto)/Alonso?
Didnt include Burnes as in personal opinion based on his deal, i think burnes was never going to pitch in ny unless he topped over what people said he was asking. Just hunch.
Why do the Mets need to do everything this offseason? They still have fundamentally a similar team as last year and can spend big next year on Vlad/Tucker or whoever. Unless you wanted Fried at 8 years, 218MM or Burnes for 6 years at 210MM which will most likely both be upside down in 2-3 years anyway.
Ummmmmmm. No.
They didn’t pass on Buehler sounds like they were second (read the announcement on here) The Teoscar rumor does sound odd.
I think they would rather not sign FAs where they lose more picks.
Burnes issue with them was also originally asks of 7 year close to 250M and declining value
I’m afraid they might be worried about a PR hit with some fans if they don’t appear to be open to an Alonso return. They shouldn’t be. I think they prefer 1B to be a short term bridge player. Possible alignment with Vlad availability next year. I hope they don’t do that. Another defensively challenged player with weight issues
I believe they liked C Walker he may have preferred a certain geographic area
I’d move on from Alonso. Ryan Mount Castle maybe. Part time Vientos at 1B and 3B. Mauricio plays some 3B, 2B and OF. Acuna and McNeil 2B (if not traded)
I think NYM will make some trades to clear some redundancies they have. McNeil, Marte, Megill, Blackburn and some others.That might not happen till the end of ST. Probably not any major prospects leaving
Stearns / Cohen don’t leak. So despite the 100s of fake clickbait accounts posting hourly, none of these people have clue 1 what club is up to. Most sobering is the ghost of SI and Sporting News reduced to “former scout predicts Mets 4 time all-star to BETRAY team for rival.” And the mirror AI regurgitations. And clown accounts like “Mets Batflip”.
Of course the good news for NYM fans here is – they are far from done. Most educated fans always recognized that and didn’t freak out over “montas being final piece of the puzzle”
You seem like a Cohen kissbutt fanboy. Admit their pitching sucks and is unlikely to get better because their GM is against paying pitchers on long term deals. They’ll look good in 3rd this year.
Yeah, and what were your expectations for them last year? You should return that crystal ball of yours.
I had none since no one cares about the Mets outside NY.
Keep posting…you keep confirming the lack of a brain in your head.
Good thing Soto is all about $$$ because if he truly signed with the Mets because he felt it would provide him with the best opportunity for championships he would be upset watching the top available free agents come off the board.
He signed for 15 years, why do the Mets need to sign every big FA this offseason? They still would be behind Dodgers anyway, so take a year or two be patient is a much better strategy then firing all your ammo this offseason to see it backfire in 2-3 years.
That sounds right, and if it is right they won’t be signing Bregman. Why saddle yourself with a 33-34 yo 3Bman (or a 32-33 yo 1Bman) in 2-3 years just when you’ve positioned yourself to pass an ancient Dodgers team?
You must go to your job for the company and not money. Idi0t
Dear Idiot, if two companies are willing to pay me 50m a year or 51m a year, then I’m (as are most people) going where the ambience is superior. The extra 2%, which has even less concrete utility than its trivial percentage suggests, isn’t worth headaches.
Does it really matter at this point?
I wouldve like Teoscar.. nice addition to share DH and outfield with Soto.. add to an alonso reunion and that lineup wouldve been set! Trade marte for a bulpen arm and eat up some salary
Lindor-ss
Vientos-3b
Soto- Rf
Teoscar-Dh
Alonso-1b
Nimmo-LF
Alvarez-C
Siri-CF
Acuña-2b
CRAZYY!
Soto will probably hit 2nd.
Now do the lineup as is…
You forgot the OMG guy! Do the pitching rotation too! That is my favorite. I’m sure when they brought in Soto, they promised to surround him with Jessie Winker and Tyrone Taylor. East Coast Angels!
They don’t even have winkler
The Fonz!
He is delayed on listing that lineup and rotation.
Seems so eager to do it when it was fake.
Yet, but they’re interested in bringing him back. Also, it seems that Bregman and Alonso might not be mutually exclusive but that could block younger players.
If the Mets truly have unlimited spending money why are they sitting on their hands after Soto?
ssowl: What makes you think they’re sitting on their hands?
Because they don’t have unlimited spending money, plus not everyone wants to wear the same uniform as the Boise State Broncos.
larkraxm: What an amazingly dumb comment. Are you always like this, or are you just showing off today?
Hmmmm… I am always making fun of the Mets, and I’m also showing off today. So to answer your question…Yes.
LOL
@larkraxm I had to look. It’s a fair point.
Unlimited spending is not the organizational plan. They are committed to allowing younger players compete and earn spots on the roster. Too many long term contracts start blocking the flow. Plus penalties for unlimited spending impact amateur talent acquisition which does not support their strategy.
Who is sitting on their hands? Offering the most money doesn’t guarantee anything.
If the Mets sign a player it’s they’re just spending too much money. If they don’t sign a player, it’s they missed out.
Maybe the team has a plan on how it wants to spend that doesn’t revolve around signing every available free agent.
And nobody ever claimed signing Soto guaranteed them winning the division. They’re likely still a third place team, but still have a very good shot at the playoffs.
The disrespect!
He wants to play for a winner anyway.
He played for one last year. How many teams repeat? To win a World Series next year he probably should’ve picked someone else.
Nope. He was c***teasing everyone else and running home to d*ddy in the end. Stupid weasel knew without the purchased ringers around him his numbers would suffer. This league is a joke. And the fact that the Mets were the only other team to offer him a deal (probably) shows that only a couple of teams even care to try and stand up to the bully Dodgers and their endless funds (and the Mets and Yankees are basically the two other teams in the same boat). Shove your “your favorite owner could do it too!” narratives up your phony LA a**es and don’t insult anyone’s intelligence. The Dodgers are abusing the heck out of a broken league and everyone but the morons “defending their honor” are beyond sick of it.
Wow! The D-backs can sign Corbin Burnes though, and that is ok, right? How many FA are the Dodgers allowed to sign, in your humble opinion? Just because the Dodgers pay somebody, doesn’t mean they are worth the money. Just because the Yankees sign Danny Tartabull to the largest contract in MLB history, doesn’t mean they won the world series. Just because the Mets paid two pitchers $90 million that were collectively 90 years old, doesn’t mean that they gave them a WS ring. We are all sick of people and teams that take their portion of revenue sharing and throw it on their dragon’s pile of gold, and then complain that they can’t compete. Just quit watching if you don’t like the broken league. Watch soccer.
It’s teams like the Dodgers that are the reason revenue sharing even has to be a thing. The luxury tax is a joke to them. The D Backs have to desperately spend just to keep up with these LA clowns who admittedly still have to play by the rules of only having 26 players on their roster, so some players can’t get their wish and must sign elsewhere, but that’s all a team like AZ can afford. So they’re done after getting one player basically.
The Dodgers re-signed their own free agents in Hernandez and Edman, and signed Blake Snell. I know that the dodgers are annoying on their own, but the players and their agents are agreeing to these deferrals, and every team can do it if they want to. The Dodgers added Snell. AZ added Burnes. The D-backs did better in my opinion.
Well their “own free agents” is a stretch considering neither of them were Dodgers prior to 2024. It’s just a sad state of affairs this sport is in, but it’ll take three or four straight LA World Series for MLB to finally realize it has a problem.
@Mickey Solis You mean the thing that hasn’t happened in the decade since the current Dodgers model took hold, and is hugely unlikely to happen?
The Dodgers in theory can assemble teams good enough to have a 60-40 edge in every postseason series against the best teams in MLB*** and they’re STILL barely better than a 1 in 5 shot to win three consecutive postseason series in a given year (which does them the favor of assuming they won their division) and therefore win the World Series.
Now do the math for winning even 3 WS in a row.
It’s ~1.008%. 1 chance in 100. Even starting from today the Dodgers winning 2 additional, consecutive WS is just ~4.67%, less than 1 chance in 20 they win in 2025 and 2026.
As for winning four in a row from scratch? ~0.00218, or a little better than 1 in 500.
***Meaning LAD would go 97-65 in a league filled with nothing but teams of the caliber of the 2024 Yankees, Mets, Phillies, Braves, Baltimore, Cleveland, Houston, Milwaukee, and the Padres. They’ve never been that good. They’ll never be that good, so even the long odds given above are even longer in practice. If LAD is a more realistic 55% to win every postseason series, their chance of winning 4 World Series in a row is less than 8 in 10,000.
Among the points here is, MLB did the math a while back and understood how unlikely an obvious dynasty is in the sense of one team winning even two World Series in a row (at best 1 chance in 20), never mind winning three or four in a row, or something like three WS during a four year span.
In addition, the age of most free agents is almost exquisitely timed to thwart efforts at a dynasty. You’re buying the most expensive players in the game at a time when nearly all of them are into their decline phases.
Look at how the Dodgers have so maxed out on payroll and on aging or old players that they weren’t even in on Soto in any serious way. The combination of youth and production was as good as it’s been probably for any FA since Alex Rodriguez, and the Dodgers couldn’t meaningfully benefit from adding him at that salary even though he’s not significantly different from Shohei in terms of NPV $$$ per FA win.
I don’t understand the Mets’ interest in signing a guy for DH. Seems like between Marte, Nimmo, and Soto, they have plenty of veterans to cycle through that spot, not to mention Vientos as long as either Baty or Mauricio are ready to play third on occasion. I think the interest in Hernandez was just due diligence and maybe an attempt to apply some pressure on Alonso. Once they sign Pete, I think they’ll call it good for bats.
They’ve been wanting to trade Marte.
True, but he’s there at the moment.. Assuming they do sign Alonso, it’s entirely possible they’ll swap Marte, in which case it’s also possible that Pete may step into some DH appearances instead. Either way, I don’t think it makes sense for the Mets to sign Winker or somebody like that.
@Camikey Among the problems with that is the cost of cycling say Nimmo and Soto through DH. It means putting the limp bat of someone like Taylor in the OF and therefore into the batting order. The falloff is significant if the Mets pick up a real DH—and if they don’t that’s one more gap in the batting order.
As for Marte, it would be serious malpractice for the Mets to go into 2025 with their current half a batting order and think Marte should be their primary DH. Typical age-related decline gives the 36 yo a 2025 projection of an OPS+ around 96. Adding a serious DH instead of Marte is the lineup spot where they can add the most production in one shot without spending close to $200m on an old player already in significant decline such as Bregman. If they were going to go that route they should have moved on Adames early. Similar cost to Bregman, two years younger, gets Vientos off 3B, and they have a serious SS to spell Lindor if his back problems continue.
Strange offseason for the Mets—I wonder what the plan was if they DIDN’T add Soto?
The current team has a reasonable chance of making the postseason, but not a great chance of that, and the disinclination to build a team with a better shot at moving through the postseason should it get there, ie by adding another aging TOR or a serious bat on a multiyear deal only makes sense if Cohen has no real interesting in sustaining a payroll much above $300m during the next five years.
At least they’re recognizing how poorly the farm has been performing and that their old nucleus is a real problem. Adding Burnes, Bregman, and Teoscar would have probably put them second only to the Dodgers in the NL, but hardly guaranteed they’d even win the division, never mind even get to the World Series, let alone win it all. And in 2027 they’d be trying to keep an ancient team from collapsing by signing ever more free agents in decline.
For now it’s only Nimmo, Lindor, Senga, and Diaz in the $15m-plus club ($88.1m, total) who’ll be 33 and older going into 2027. That’s a lot, but it’s only Nimmo and Lindor in 2028 and after. Now imagine you’ve also got a 33 and 34 yo Burnes and Bregman adding $60m to that drag, and for the three-four-five years after 2027.
I still think they’re trying for Cease, but won’t be surprised if they don’t get him. It made sense they haven’t made a significant trade yet from the farm, given most of their top prospects are at low ebb after weak 2024 seasons—so why sell low? Only Sproat significantly improved his stock, and even then it was only thanks to 62 innings in AA.
Having lost out on Teoscar, the NY baseball heads could turn their attention to Tetony or Tegrammy
Don’t quit your day job
Does all the deferred money impact future payrolls in any way? Do the Dodgers, for example, count $100million/0 players against Luxury Tax in a given future season or is the impact limited to meeting their obligation to the player(s)?
No, it doesn’t. It only counts against the LT for the years the player is active under contract
@kodion It’s the total NPV of the contract divided by the number of years of the contract, where for each year of the contract where the player is expected to take the field if at all possible, an identical amount is credited.
Ohtani’s deal: the NPV is, say, $460m, which includes the NPV of the deferred money. The contract itself during which Ohtani is expected to take the field is for the 10 years from 2025 through 2034.
$460m / 10 = $46m
For the purposes of stating payroll, and for LT purposes, $46m is therefore counted as payroll to Ohtani for each year fr 2025 through 2034.
The issue of taxes is entirely different and depends on various factors not relevant here.
Mets still don’t have a postseason bound rotation in my eyes. They may still get in, but I wouldn’t count on their starting pitching to carry them
Same thing everyone said last year, and they didn’t have Senga all year.
And they fell short in the postseason. Got very lucky against the Phillies.
I’ll laugh if they miss it and both Verlander and Scherzer rebound into aces
“they won’t get into the playoffs, just look at last year where they got into the playoffs. If they do get to postseason they won’t win, if they do win it’ll be lucky, and if they don’t end up winning WS then I was right and they never had a rotation worthy of the postseason”
I could be wrong, just my thinking
The Mets are fully capable of making moves at the trade deadline and will if the playoffs are in jeopardy.
Yes, but deadline deals can be fluky. If they don’t have a record worthy of the playoffs by that time, good luck. Prepare, prepare, prepare. Their rotation is nothing to brag about at all, maybe with the exception of Senga.
Not saying they won’t make it, but I see Phillies and Braves as formidable teams and I think the West is better this year as well
Red Sox Restoration Project:
“Got very lucky against the Phillies.“
Care to explain how luck factored in any way, shape, or form?
Signing Teoscar Hernández would have been a misstep for the Mets, adding unnecessary redundancy to an already crowded outfield while failing to address the team’s actual roster needs. His declining defensive skills, rising strikeout rate, and draft penalties make him a poor value proposition for a team with World Series aspirations. The Mets’ resources would be better allocated toward securing elite corner infield talent, such as Alex Bregman, or investing in younger, high-upside players.
The Mets wouldn’t have been signing Teoscar to play the OF. He would have been their DH, only getting time in a corner OF spot to spell Nimmo and Soto, or in the event one of them was injured.
Almost 400 strikeouts the past 2 seasons. Teo represents everything that’s wrong with baseball today.
Right, because groundouts to SS and flyouts to a corner are just so exhilarating.
!!!Reggie Jackson (2,597 career K) Ruined Baseball!!!
… or was it Dave Kingman, who struck out almost 2x as often as the MLB average? (Teo is nowhere close to that.)
As soon as a team’s best starting pitcher began throwing fewer than 400 innings per 112-game season, the game was clearly in irreversible decline.
It was rumored more than a month ago that Hernandez and the Dodgers had a deal. Just putting this out there, maybe the Mets got in on Teoscar to drive up his price for the Dodgers? You can only defer contracts for so long before it starts affecting what you’ll be able to spend in the future. And if the Mets can help the Dodgers get to that point earlier rather than later, it helps the rest of the league.