The New York Mets are the weirdest team in recent memory for me. It’s tough to disagree with much of what they’ve done in a general kind of way, and it’s good for the game whenever one of these billionaires decides to invest in their team, but my brain still struggles to enfold the idea of paying someone else 36 million dollars to take a player you just signed last year then 54 million dollars to take a player you signed this year. I realize they acquired Luisangel Acuña, Drew Gilbert and Ryan Clifford in the process of jettisoning Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander, which complicates the issue a little, but my question would have been which prospects can I have for free. I’d almost certainly prefer the free options to paying 36 mill for young Acuña, assuming I could allocate that 36 million however I pleased. Same goes for Verlander. My next question would be when will the money-flow stall. There’s just no way I can believe this guy is willing to spend half a billion dollars annually simply because we’ve never seen that.
What we have seen is new owners who get a taste of love from the fan base doubling down in the early years before eventually turning the team away from the spend-what-it-takes budgets toward more hyper-capitalist, maximum-profit strategies employed by their competitors.
Baseball is cyclical, and there’s no substitute for building a strong organization top-to-bottom. Money is inherently tilted toward older humans in our society and in baseball’s. The rules dictate that you simply cannot find many free agents in the prime of their career. No matter how much you spend, the outcome is something of a crapshoot, and most owners get tired of crap-shooting their money into a mediocre ballclub.
One problem facing the Mets is that Atlanta has everything humming right now. It’s possible that no amount of money could bridge the gap between these two builds at this point. Francisco Alvarez and Brett Baty becoming stars would help. Ronny Mauricio and Jett Williams and Blade Tidwell could help. And sure, so could Acuña, Gilbert and Clifford. Plus, they could flip those guys again for veteran arms in the off-season.
If it’s true that GM Billy Eppler told Max Scherzer the team is angling toward 2025 and 2026, he might’ve just been saying that to grease the wheels of Scherzer accepting his move to Texas. If he was telling the truth, that he’s not trying to win until 2025 at the earliest, I can’t imagine he’ll be in the job that long.
In other major league news, I like what the Angels did, adding several helpful pieces without hollowing out their farm system, such as it is. Randal Grichuk and CJ Cron felt particularly cheap, and the price on Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez felt more than fair, given that the Halos already have Logan O’Hoppe as their catcher of the future, so Edgar Quero’s best use to the org was precisely this: adding some solid arms for the Ohtani farewell tour.
I like that the Cubs and Padres are still trying to win. The benefits of selling seem smaller every year, and teams can trade their compensatory picks now, making the qualifying-offer path a freshly viable one.
It’s easy to love what the Astros did even if it’s pretty tough to love the Astros. Ryan Clifford and Drew Gilbert are intriguing prospects, but they’ve got yet another chance at a World Series this season, and nobody’s a better addition than Justin Verlander for teams seeking playoff victories. I’ll bet Houston was bidding pretty close to New York for Verlander’s services in free agency, so adding him on the cheap is a tasty cherry on that sundae.
Arrows up for dynasty:
Guardians 1B Kyle Manzardo
Is my daughter watching The Little Mermaid again or is Kyle Manzardo entering a whole new world in Cleveland? I’ve been dumping on him a bit throughout the season, but some of that was just my providing a counterweight to the fervor fueling his rise into peoples’ top tens and keeping a clear eye on the Rays organizational depth chart and demonstrated habits-slash-preferences. RHP Aaron Civale is a perfect fit for that org given how he’s evolved throughout his career, demonstrating an aptitude for spin and axis manipulation. One strike against Manzardo is my own struggle to think of a time when Cleveland got the better of Tampa. To be fair, it’s mostly Junior Caminero on my mind, but there’s also Kevin Kelly, after a fashion. Will Benson and Nolan Jones factor into my worry in a tangential kind of way. Cleveland hasn’t had the best track record identifying and developing hitters. Oscar Gonzalez comes to mind here, too, but Manzardo is his own player, and he’s much more in line with what Cleveland wants right now than those guys, given his plus strikeout and walk rates. He’s on the injured list and should have fresh fantasy legs when he’s back in action.
Mariners SS Ryan Bliss
I like JP Crawford a lot, and Jose Caballero has been fine at second base this year, but the club doesn’t really have much by way of internal competition for middle infield reps over the next few years. DiPoto and Co. will likely give Bliss every chance to make them look good.
Cardinals SS Thomas Saggese
Blocked for the foreseeable future in Texas, Saggese has always hit. He’s a perfect fit for the Cardinals with his old-school, no-batting-gloves style and solid all-around skill set. He’s only slightly less blocked in St. Louis but every little bit helps.
Interesting players inheriting interesting roles:
Rockies 1B Michael Toglia
Remains to be seen whether Toglia can track big league spin, but the ball’s in his court after the team traded CJ Cron and Randal Grichuk to the Angels.
Royals RHP Carlos Hernandez
Has carried elite metrics all year and has the stuff to be a premier closer right away.
Mariners RHP Andres Munoz
His reign of ninth-inning terror finally begins.
Moves that worry me:
Mariners OF Dominic Canzone
He batted fifth in his first game with Seattle and is, at worst, locked into a strong-side platoon until he proves he’s not capable of carrying that load. That’s good. The negatives are also situational. Safeco is not kind to left-handed hitters.. See if you can think of the last one to thrive in that park. I’m certain there’s somebody. Ichiro? Raul Ibanez? Can you count Kelenic?
Mets SS Luisangel Acuña
I just struggle to see what stops him from getting the Mauricio treatment. In Texas, we could squint and see him in center field. Can do the same and imagine him beating Mauricio to the mark at second base, I suppose, but that feels like a stretch.
Thanks for reading!
