Eleven Sundays from now the Mets open their season at Kansas City. But the hot stove league has reached its midpoint.
The Mets are investing to win, according to general manager Sandy Alderson, who told reporters recently that the team is on track to boost its payroll to as high as $120 million, or about $35 million more than two years ago.
Alderson dismissed as “populism involving Cespedes” the idea that the team is failing to spend enough to compete for the pennant. That was a reference to outfielder Yoenis Cespedes, whom the team shows little interest in signing.
“We know Cespedes was instrumental in getting us to the postseason,” Alderson said. “But I think along the way we learned a few things about ourselves and the team.”
I'm going to win Powerball on Wednesday. And then I'LL sign Cespedes.
— Metstradamus (@Metstradamus) January 10, 2016
One of those lessons may be that it’s better to first see how the team comes together on field and then add players as you go. Think back to June, when the Mets were at the bottom of the league in runs scored. The Mets needed a big bat, which Cespedes, who hit .328 last season with runners on base, brought.
But in the postseason, Cespedes hit just .232 with runners on base, which may explain the Mets’ reluctance to open their wallet for the outfielder, who reportedly is seeking a seven-year deal for about $25 million a season.
A similar phenomenon may have led the Mets to part ways with second baseman Daniel Murphy, who in December signed a three-year, $37.5 million contract with the Nationals.
Despite homering five times in the Mets’ win over the Dodgers in the NL Division Series, Murphy committed an error in the eighth inning of Game 4 of the World Series that allowed the Royals to tie the game, which they later won.
The Royals also silenced Murphy’s bat. After hitting seven homers in the playoffs, Murphy hit zero in the series. The Royals varied the pitches that Murphy faced, with fewer fastballs and more pitches up and away.
So why are Mets fans freaking out? Because eight National League rivals each have shelled out more for free agents this offseason. Of course, much of the outlay was for pitching, of which the Mets have a bullpen full. (“The Mets have the best rotation in baseball now, and there really isn’t a close second,” writes ESPN’s Buster Olney.)
It didn’t help that on the same day Alderson addressed the media the Giants announced the signing of center fielder Denard Span. But the Mets don’t need Span, who led the league in hits two years ago but who missed nearly two-thirds of last season with the Nationals because of injuries, in the leadoff spot.
Nor does it help that Paul DePodesta, the analytics whiz who oversaw player development for the Mets, left the team recently to take over as chief strategy officer for the NFL Cleveland Browns. Still, one has to imagine that DePodesta influenced Alderson’s thinking about both Cespedes and Murphy.
Meanwhile, Cespedes remains a free agent. Which means the Mets may yet offer him a deal, albeit one for two years.
We learned on Monday that the Mets have scouted Kieran Powell, a cricket batsman from the West Indies. The Mets, one of 11 teams to have watched Powell work out, reportedly have encouraged him to pursue center field.