House That Hank Built
Fansided

Off-season evaluation of the Atlanta Braves NL East’s rivals: the Mets

By Alan Carpenter

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 10: An aerial view of CitiField the home of the New York Mets baseball team area as photographed on November 10, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 10: An aerial view of CitiField the home of the New York Mets baseball team area as photographed on November 10, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
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NEW YORK, NY – NOVEMBER 04: Carlos Beltran stands between General Manager Brodie Van Wagenen and COO Jeff Wilpon after being introduced as manager of the New York Mets during a press conference at Citi Field on November 4, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY – NOVEMBER 04: Carlos Beltran stands between General Manager Brodie Van Wagenen and COO Jeff Wilpon after being introduced as manager of the New York Mets during a press conference at Citi Field on November 4, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images) /

What Has Changed in Queens?

Notable offseason transactions to date (admittedly, we have to lower the bar on what constitutes ‘notable’ in many cases):

DEPARTURES

TRADES

CLAIMS

  • RHP Chris Mazza claimed by the Red Sox (had been DFA’d)

NOTABLE SIGNINGS

COMEBACKERS

  • RHRP Brad Brach re-signed

HEADLINERS

Perhaps the most significant news is that the Mets and OF Yoenis Cespedes – who appeared in only 119 games over the past three seasons and none in 2019 – have settled a pending grievance case about his injury situation.

In the settlement, Cespedes agrees to…

  • retroactively reduce his 2019 salary by $6.1 million (to $22.9 million)
  • accept a base salary of $6 million for 2020, which could escalate to $11 million if both of his feet/legs are injury-free once the season begins
  • accept a heavily-incentive laden package of escalators for 2020
  • accept a $2 million assignment bonus if traded to an AL club; 500K for an NL team.

Based on this agreement, Cepedes isn’t admitting to having done anything stupid to cause his 2019 injuries… but he did something stupid to cause his 2019 injuries.

So will Cespedes be back in a Mets uniform in 2020?  A recent radio report (MLB Network Radio) suggested that he was now ‘running’ again, but the guess here is that if there’s any way the Mets can dump him on some other club… they will.

The Mets were already getting medical insurance relief from Cespedes’ contract in 2019, but (a) that’s never a 100% compensation return, and (b) Undoubtedly the insurance carrier itself will be sending the Mets a letter to find out how they can get their own hands on some of that saved money.

So while the Mets are said to have saved ‘over $10 million’ in the process of restructuring Cespedes’ deal, the final tally may not yet be in.

Nonetheless… it was shortly after this announcement that the team went out and signed Dellin Betances to a $10.5 million contract for 2020 (plus options).

But with that… let’s figure out what this team should be able to do in 2020.

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