Mets Position On Francisco Lindor Trade Enraging
According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the New York Mets are no longer engaged with the Cleveland Indians on Franciso Lindor. In fact, the Mets “backed off because they considered the Indians’ asking price to be too high for a player whose salary might rise to $25 million in 2021.”
Before you even contemplate the merits of such a trade, we all need to remember a little more than a year ago, the New York Mets made a trade with the Seattle Mariners, and none of the issues supposedly now present were present then.
In 2021, the New York Mets are set to pay the 38 year old Robinson Cano $21.25 million. At that point, he will be three years removed from a season where he was suspended under Major League Baseball’s PED policy. He will also be five years removed from his last season over a 3.5 WAR.
When it came to Cano paying him that high a salary didn’t matter to Brodie Van Wagenen and the Mets. At this point, it needs to be reiterated again, Van Wagenen represented Cano, and he knew his former client wanted out of Seattle, and he wanted to be back in New York. With the trade which has already blown up in the Mets faces, Van Wagenen obliged.
With respect to that trade, the Mets didn’t exactly get Cano for free. The Mets parted ways with Jarred Kelenic and Justin Dunn in that deal with also netted the Mets Edwin Diaz.
Ultimately, when it came to Van Wagenen’s former client, paying Cano over $21 million even in his age 38 season was not an issue. An exorbitant asking price was also not an issue. However, when it comes to Lindor, the best shortstop in the sport who is in his prime and can make the Mets real World Series contenders, money owed and asking price was suddenly an issue.
For Mets fans, this is absolutely enraging.
Some of this goes back to the *why* of the Mets doing the Cano-Diaz deal. Allow to me toot my own horn for a minute as, I believe, the only person within a week of van Wagenen’s hiring to realize “Wow. This is bizarre even for the Wilpons. This is what you do, not if you’re looking for a good or even interesting GM–this is what you do if you’re planning on selling the team.”
Then we got the additional evidence of The Deal. It also smelled of a real cash crunch. Why, with all the very good relievers hitting free agency in the 2018-19 offseason–available for nothing but cash–would the Mets, with Jeff McNeil already on hand, go 100m in the hole to get Robby Cano? It had to be because the arrangement with the Mariners, who took on Jay Bruce and Anthony Swarzak, magically allowed the Mets to get their closer–for 2019, anyway–for free.
Better than free:
Cano at 19m + Diaz at 0.6m = 19.6m in added salary
Jay Bruce at 13m + Swarzak at 8.5m = 21.5 in salary sent away
So the Mets got their closer and saved $1.9m for 2019.
After that, of course, they’d pay through the nose, but at least for 2019 they improved, so they thought, their chances of keeping attendance and viewership high. It reminded me of guys I knew who borrowed $100 from the small-time loan shark at the corner bar and were immediately entered in his small notebook with the spiral on top as $125 in debt. In this case the loan shark was Jerry DiPoto and he stuck up the Wilpons for a small fortune so that they could get a little ahead for the year.
The Wilpons were also nudging and nudging teams and players to squeeze out the extra dollar up front, or defer it. Familia got 6m and a 2m bonus in 2019 on a contract with an average annual value of 10m. Ramos deferred a few bucks. The Mariners’ payment subsidizing Cano’s salary was 5m for 2019 and 3.75m for each of the four seasons thereafter. Same kind of thing with deGrom. Same with everyone they could squeeze a buck out of.
And who does that? Desperate people. People having trouble staying afloat. People who need every dollar they can get their hands on just to get by. People about to cash out.
As a result such people, if they’re able to hang on, often won’t have the money available to act when a good deal does come along. We don’t know the asking price, and at this point it probably doesn’t matter given how close the Mets are to the cap, but what was surely a cash crunch for ownership last offseason is the likeliest reason why the Lindor deal, if it was ever more than the team trying to look busy, won’t work out. The Mets are like the guy paying off the vig–something choice comes along and they just can’t swing it.
You two, play nice.
Whats interesting about Lindor to the Mets is that Rosario would be a main piece going back, plus a lot more. If you believe in Rosario´s 2nd half and his career arc you cant make that trade. Take a look Lindor´s year 2 vs Rosario´s year 3 (in year 1 in Rosario played 46 games and Lindor 99) The only real difference offensively is that Lindor has a better OPS by 40 points. Lindor also owns 2 Gold Gloves that Rosario doesnt.
I dont make that trade if I trust that Rosario is on that path. Forget the additional years of control and everything else. Hes a homegrown guy who has grown up with the organization and this team. Develop him and the rest of the core group, dont trade them away. If you want to build a winning culture you add your core you dont replace 1 piece for another while subtracting from the rest of the whole, which is what you would have to do to get Lindor. They reportedly want 3 additional high ceiling guys included in the trade. If you want to move those guys keep Rosario and use them in trades to augment other areas of need.
If it’s Rosario plus, you make that deal because this is just a two year window, and Lindor gets you much closer.
It appears that the prudent thing to do next year is remove Brodie as Cohen limits the Wilpon’s role in running the organization. Brodie has been misled, untruthful, untrustworthy to players and fans and doesn’t show any proficiency in the GM job. Start fresh because with this guy they’re doomed again this year.
Could not agree more