As the 2014 MLB Trade Deadline has come and gone, far removed from the blockbusters that saw such leading lights as Jon Lester and David Price change uniforms are the New York Mets, who proved to be neither sellers (of Bartolo Colon or Daniel Murphy) or buyers (of Troy Tulowitzki or Carlos Gonzales). With GM Sandy Alderson (above) missing an opportunity to stockpile young talent while dumping Colon, or conversely, take solid aim at contention in 2015 with the addition of the proven Tulowitzki, unless your name is Ruben Amaro, you’d have every right to wonder “what the fuck is going on”? However, as the far more calm and collected Howard Megdal of Capital New York reminds us, what’s going on is pretty much the same thing that’s been going on every season of the post-Bernie Madoff era (ie. player development aside, very little).
Taking the sum of where the Mets are at this point, it’s easier than ever to see the Mets as one or two key acquisitions away from making a real run at the pennant.
The question, and the whole basis for any serious conversation about Tulowitzki, is whether ownership’s financial problems make such acquisitions close to impossible.
Alderson is finished pretending that the next spending spree is around the corner. The party line is now that as soon as the fans start showing up again, the Mets will spend, a ludicrous blame-the-fans strategy for the predicament the team is in because ownership is spending their excess television revenue to stay afloat financially.
If the Mets had an ability to spend money like the rest of the league, let alone near the top of it, they could afford to make trades like this. They could deal some of their prospects, secure in the knowledge that they were adding the relative certainty of in-prime superstars. (If Tulowitzki’s injury history is an unknown, what on earth do we call the incredibly high attrition and failure rate of pitching prospects?)
I don’t know Gerard, I think this trade deadline worked out alright for the Mets. Do you really think Alderson missed an opportunity to stockpile prospects by holding on to my cousin Bartolo? I’m more inclined to think he didn’t get offered something he thought was worth it, so why just dump the guy?
As far as Tulowitzki goes, the thought of him making $20 million when he’s 33, 34 is frightening. I just don’t see him as the answer, not that Ruben Tejada is either. Tulowitzki is on pace to play under 140 games for the fourth time in five years, he’s only had 500+ ABs three times his whole career. If you’re gonna sell the farm, at least sell it for a guy who can stay on the damn field.
“Do you really think Alderson missed an opportunity to stockpile prospects by holding on to my cousin Bartolo? I’m more inclined to think he didn’t get offered something he thought was worth it, so why just dump the guy?”
It could well be the market for El Barto wasn’t that robust. I’d like to think he’d have greater value to a contender than say, a team with no chance of contending this year (and unlikely to find a spot in the rotation for Colon next spring). And there is some value in simply dumping his contract on another team ; that money that could be applied towards another player’s contract (like they one of the guys they failed to acquire).
“As far as Tulowitzki goes, the thought of him making $20 million when he’s 33, 34 is frightening. I just don’t see him as the answer, not that Ruben Tejada is either. Tulowitzki is on pace to play under 140 games for the fourth time in five years, he’s only had 500+ ABs three times his whole career. If you’re gonna sell the farm, at least sell it for a guy who can stay on the damn field.”
Yes, but I don’t think the Jays wanted to deal Jose Reyes.
I KID, I KID.
In all seriousness, if Tulowitzki’s contract seems onerous to you, imagine how the Rockies feel. I guess we’ll have to presume there was no talk of Colorado paying a portion of it.
Clearly I’m negligent in giving the impression Tulowitzki was the only desirable position player on the block. But I’m not sure the Mets would’ve been willing to pay any of the others, either.
“Yes, but I don’t think the Jays wanted to deal Jose Reyes.”
Daw.
I think you’ve got a perfectly valid view, but still haunted by the Victor Zambrano trade, one that was made under the auspices of a team that was totally a piece away from being a real contender, so let’s pull the trigger on a panic-stricken deadline deal. I think a big improvement can wait until the winter, when everyone’s feeling a tad less pressure to ACT NOW.
True fact, I could very well be a sucker for believing there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. But this is the first time in three or four seasons I actually feel that way.
I haven’t looked very hard, but it seems like everybody in contention dealt prospects or offense for pitching. Maybe the market, maybe I’m missing some info, but couldn’t the cardinals use some offense? Andas a tigers fan, is our problem really starting pitching. It seems like the pitchers available were so good that teams couldn’t help themselves.