- Luis Severino has joined the Mets in free agency after a mixed history with the Yankees. His career with the Yankees was marked by both success and extensive injuries. Severino signed a one-year, $13 million deal with the Mets.
Mets' Catching Depth:
- The Mets' catching depth is a concern, regarding Omar Narváez's performance and health. Cooper Hmel is considered a potential replacement for Narváez. They also picked up Tyler Heineman.
- Joey Wendle was picked up to replace LG as the utility man.
- Kyle Crick, a new Mets relief pitcher, has joined on a minor league deal with hopes of strengthening the bullpen.
The Mets have signed Austin Adams, Joseph Yabbour, Andre Scrubb and Cole Sulser to aid bullpen depth.
Mets Winter Meetings Focus:
- The Mets are expected to be active at the Winter Meetings, with a focus on acquiring an outfielder, starting pitching, and relief pitching. They are also interested in improving run prevention and outfield defense.
- The team may engage in trade talks, expect to hear the usual prospect names such as Kevin Parada, Brett Baty, Mark Vientos, and Ronny Mauricio.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Player Meetings:
- The New York Mets are planning to meet with Japanese pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the next week and he is expected to continue to draw significant interest from MLB teams.
- Shohei Ohtani is also expected to make a decision on his next team soon, with bids for his services surpassing $500 million.
- The Mets are also considering Korean outfielder Jung Hoo Lee.
Summary from pre Winter Meeting thread:
Hall of Fame Ballot Newbies: Inclusion of players like Big Sexy, Wright, and Reyes in the Hall of Fame ballot.
- Several iconic Yankees and Mets greats were in contention for Hall of Fame induction, but they fell short of the required votes.
Management and Coaching Updates: Significant changes in the Mets' management and coaching staff, including a new contract for manager Mendoza. Bench coach vacancy and role shifts for Eric Chavez and Jeremy Barnes as hitting coaches. Introduction of Kris Gross and Andy Green in player development and amateur scouting.
Pitching Strategy and Market Moves: Focus on fortifying the rotation, implications of the Cardinals' signings, and the pursuit of high-caliber pitchers.
Bullpen and Player Performance: Signing of BP arms to minor league deals and review of the players.
Previous Mets thread: - (
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The question: Is this the time for Cohen to drop the wallet and get it done?
I personally think of Turner sort of like Juan Uribe in 2015 or Pham last year. The bat speed seems to still be there, on the right contract i think he's a good add. Last year he only made $6.7m, this year the projections are double that at $14m. I'm pretty sure i'd only be in at something closer to last year's price. otherwise im just signing Gurriel for LF.
all 3 of turner/baty/vientos have similar steamer projections so you are only signing him if he's willing to not be a guaranteed starter. a lot like pham last year.
$14m is a near 2 fwar starter's salary, so if that's what turner costs im not signing him. im signing gurriel for lf because there is an almost every day role open out there.
Joel Sherman
Verified
@Joelsherman1
·
4m
Yoshinobu Yamamoto had dinner on Saturday at Steve Cohen's house with a Mets contingent, The Post has learned
@martinonyc
·
8m
The Mets’ second Yamamoto dinner proves that they have, in fact, forced themselves into the mix here, despite longstanding industry perception that they were not a real factor. Now they are, and it’s mostly due to Steve Cohen’s aggressiveness
Andy Martino
@martinonyc
·
17m
The Mets have not made an offer, but don’t worry , then know when to do so and they will
Joel Sherman
@Joelsherman1
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25m
Mets contingent was Cohen, his wife, Alex, David Stearns, Carlos Mendoza and pitching coach Jeremy Hefner.
caveat - if u wanted to use cohen as a stalking horse this is also exactly what you would do. but if cohen is willing to top any offer substantially and $ is the priority its like having secretariat as the stalking horse.
Joel Sherman
Verified
@Joelsherman1
·
4m
Yoshinobu Yamamoto had dinner on Saturday at Steve Cohen's house with a Mets contingent, The Post has learned
😮
Who knows if he signs, but THAT is a great, great sign itself.
Come on Stevie, take the throne from Edwin As the best damn closer in the game!!!!!!
the betting markets had them up there from the beginning, before the lad interest got out and before nyy announced they could do both him/soto.
cohen has delivered top all time aav sp last 2 offseasons. everyone was a little too quick shifting against the reigning offseason champ.
When a bug soending team KNOWS that their offer will be topped no matter what. They start to feel they are being to up the offer elsewhere.
There’s egos involved. Owners have big ones, and they like to be the one to,pull the carpet and walk away first. So they “won” instead of losing.
If other teams feel Cohen will,outbid them no matter what, you could start seeing teams bow out.
I know absolutely zero about anything here, but in general, that’s how it works with these guys.
Now I’m getting my hopes up really, really high for nowmreason.
When a bug soending team KNOWS that their offer will be topped no matter what. They start to feel they are being to up the offer elsewhere.
There’s egos involved. Owners have big ones, and they like to be the one to,pull the carpet and walk away first. So they “won” instead of losing.
If other teams feel Cohen will,outbid them no matter what, you could start seeing teams bow out.
I know absolutely zero about anything here, but in general, that’s how it works with these guys.
Now I’m getting my hopes up really, really high for nowmreason.
if you asked me to guess why on the sunday am before bidding intensifies this comes out...
right now there are gms who know their owner's top $ isnt going to be enough wondering if its time better spent to jump the market w/ snell/montgomery/etc. notably the 2 thirsty teams whose 300m offers leaked yesterday only to find out they didnt even get them a 2nd dinner.
Andy Martino
@martinonyc
·
2m
Sources: Yamamoto expected to meet again with the Yankees while he’s in the area, could be as soon as today.
i think he or heyman also said bidding is expected to intesify this week? teams are going to start pivoting to others and the market will break on its own unless yamamoto just deciodes to take more time like ohtani.
Andy Martino
@martinonyc
·
2m
Sources: Yamamoto expected to meet again with the Yankees while he’s in the area, could be as soon as today.
lol, like high school stuff.
Great point about jumping the secondary market
And how it was prefaced end last week “Mets not spending on secondary market” 😉
Quote:
Made it sound like there won’t be a decision this week. “Before the new year”. So it sounds as if there will be more meetings with teams this week. Shut down for the holiday and sometime the following week we will hear something. Not this week
i think he or heyman also said bidding is expected to intesify this week? teams are going to start pivoting to others and the market will break on its own unless yamamoto just deciodes to take more time like ohtani.
Quite honestly other than us fans complaining, no incentive for him to finish this up this week. He has until the 4th. Why not try and get every last penny?
lol, like high school stuff.
Great point about jumping the secondary market
And how it was prefaced end last week “Mets not spending on secondary market” 😉
nyy have spoken w confidence, mets are acting w confidence. and a sizably bigger bank account.
But the Wilpon and JH days are over, controlling the messaging.
Man, I hope this dinner was true. My head is spinning.
Sign him and immediately reiterate the message. We are committed to our youth. And just signed a 25 year old pitcher. Still have work to do, blah blah blah.
Quote:
In comment 16325729 DanMetroMan said:
Quote:
Made it sound like there won’t be a decision this week. “Before the new year”. So it sounds as if there will be more meetings with teams this week. Shut down for the holiday and sometime the following week we will hear something. Not this week
i think he or heyman also said bidding is expected to intesify this week? teams are going to start pivoting to others and the market will break on its own unless yamamoto just deciodes to take more time like ohtani.
Quite honestly other than us fans complaining, no incentive for him to finish this up this week. He has until the 4th. Why not try and get every last penny?
well right now he has total control but that wont last forever.
as other stuff starts happening he loses some of that control.
the soto trade happened when it did because the yankees knew some of their competition was still tied up with ohtani (tor). they knew that was their window to get a deal done or risk more teams getting involved.
other teams who are currently in a yamamoto are going to start seeing windows into other moves and taking them and as the market starts shrinking for yamamoto he will feel some extra urgency. i have no idea if he's given teams medicals but we saw a few big deals run into medical issues last year so i cannot imagine he wants to leave anything to chance in the 72 hours after new years day. especially if he's down to say 2 teams and eliminating 1 of them gives the other a ton of leverage. boras' correa pivot to mets was like 40m less gtd than sfg. and wolfe went through a delay with senga (who fortunately wasnt on a posting clock).
At this point I assume he’s going to give himself enough time to have the physicals etc and not long before that.
@martinonyc
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For what it’s worth, the Yankees meeting with Yamamoto was rather hastily scheduled once he was in the area
But the Wilpon and JH days are over, controlling the messaging.
this is exactly the point ive tried to make since day 1 of cohen, the wilpon days are over. things may not go exactly as we hope with yamamoto, and they certainly didnt in prior offseasons either with the gm/pobo searches, and realmuto, and plenty of other stuff.
but for however long this window lasts the mets have the richest and most aggressive owner in the sport who seems to make shrewd moves even when things arent working out (like moving scherzer). nobody can predict the future but this is a potential golden age of the franchise. we should appreciate cohen while he's here bc things could revert real quick if something happens to him. off the 2000 world series the mets couldnt bring back hampton or get a meeting with mussina. we got kevin freaking appier.
Yamamoto spent much of the last week in Los Angeles meeting with teams and their respective personnel. He had not yet met with Mendoza and Hefner, so it was important for him to get the opportunity to ask the manager and pitching coach questions and learn more about the Mets.
https://theathletic.com/5143633/2023/12/17/yoshinobu-yamamoto-steve-cohen-mets/ - ( New Window )
right now they have $146m against tax (CBT threshold is $241m) including Verlanders option kicking in (so if it doesn't kick in then they have 17.5m more).
let's go high on yamamoto at $40m, that's $186m pre-arb with jv's option triggering. they have no meaningful arbitration guys so let's call $200m a pretty reasonable estimate, with $40m to spend in FA.
so if they keep the rest of the offseason to pretty much 1 year deals (giolito, turner, bp, etc), they enter next offseason with a real chance to stay under threshold with $ to spend to replace those guys via FA. and ideally some young guys have stepped up in 2024 making it easier to spread that $40m over fewer needs.
to extend alonso they'd have to get creative, if they wanted to go for soto or fried or burnes that would probably guarantee they stay in tax, but if the year isn't going great i think they will probably sell off 1 or 2 pieces a30+ (mcneil, nimmo, diaz, alonso) to keep building the farm and create more room to spend on younger players.
swapping marte for yelich or marte just bouncing back and becoming tradeable would be a big boost to the strategy.
if the team plays well and makes the playoffs i imagine they punt on any reset and just eat the tax since revenues will be higher.
Jack Azoulay-Haron
@AzoulayHaron
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The Red Sox’s well documented interest in starting pitching includes pitchers with a qualifying offer attached, as sources tell
@MLBNerds
that they are willingly pursuing pitchers regardless of their QO status.
@AzoulayHaron
·
Replying to
@AzoulayHaron
While he doesn’t have a qualifying offer attached, LHP Jordan Montgomery is a big name to watch for Boston.
yelich or bust!!!!! or more likely probably whatever LF takes a 1 year deal.
Nightengale says they are still interested in Turner and JDM
Jeff Passan
@JeffPassan
·
Outfielder Lourdes Gurriel’s deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks is for three years and $42 million with a club option for a fourth season, sources tell me and
@kileymcd
. The deal also includes an opt-out after the second season.
minus out marte's $39m the next 2 years and maybe a little future $ in the final 3 years (5m per year?) and you get pretty close to something that makes sense. they can take drew smith too.
gurriel was worth 2.1 wins last year, yelich was worth 4.1. he's a few years older so there's a little extra risk but for the better player and to move out marte i think it's worth it.
With pitching costing what it does now.
hard to argue if a team decides there is more overlooked value there, no?
With pitching costing what it does now.
hard to argue if a team decides there is more overlooked value there, no?
i think im in the minority on this, but i mostly view SP as innings eaten at this point. dont think there's a huge difference between any inning eaten under 4 era.
so id rather spend on a high quality deep lineup + bp.
i like winning even the offseason and i have to think all these teams know something so im hoping they get yamamoto, but i think there's almost definitely a better way to spend $400m. not bc yamamoto wont produce value but because you can get 10 gurriel deals. or 1 gurriel, 1 e-rod, 1 lugo, 1 reynaldo lopez, 1 giolito, and probably still some $ leftover.
I could think of worse strategies tophan a deep rotation vs top heavy.
But come playoff time, a deep rotation is useless vs a two headed ace in a series.
It’s a catch 22. Be competitive and make the playoffs is probably the better “business decision”
Seems the best pitching bang for the Buck is spend a ton on pro player scouting & analytics. Identify the misused or bounce back candidates and trade for them. Who knows anymore.
How I read this - Yamamoto wants to be a Yankee (or Dodger) but he also wants to take the highest offer. And if another team offers the most, that’s likely where he’s going.
The Yankees “cautious optimism” is that they hope he goes to the team he wants (Yankees) but for less money.
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Jon Heyman
Verified
@JonHeyman
Yankees meeting today, which has now ended, was requested by coveted free agent righthander Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
Didn’t Beltran try something similar before signing with us in 2005?
Quote:
is giving them every chance to close the deal, but he won’t take less money to go there.
Didn’t Beltran try something similar before signing with us in 2005?
Beltran recently admitted he wanted to sign with the Yankees but they only offered him 1 year with a promise of a long term extension after the one year.
I could think of worse strategies tophan a deep rotation vs top heavy.
But come playoff time, a deep rotation is useless vs a two headed ace in a series.
It’s a catch 22. Be competitive and make the playoffs is probably the better “business decision”
Seems the best pitching bang for the Buck is spend a ton on pro player scouting & analytics. Identify the misused or bounce back candidates and trade for them. Who knows anymore.
all of the above isn't a bad approach either.
senga/yamamoto (or another 'ace', which i think snell arguably more is than isnt)
3 quintana/severino types (i think giolito or imanaga could fit here, maybe manaea)
and build a system that spits out high velocity arms like LA's (eventually) to fill gaps as they open up.
obviously they are way behind on that last part and there's no way to speed that up.
the interactions directly with cohen are a curveball. maybe it's just bc he wants the most money and everyone knows cohen has the most money, but i cant recall a FA having multiple dinners with an owner, including one at his house.
also dont imagine cohen being so willing to be the face of a pursuit that doesn't work out. so id imagine he's genuinely prepared to top any offer.