deGrom is going into his 30 year old season in 2018 with just over 3 years of MLB service time. He’ll earn $7.4 million this year and be eligible for arbitration in 2019 and free agency in 2021.
I’m not sure if this spells the end of the line for the Captain David Wright. But it certainly adds a lot of stability to the infield for 2018-19. Without knowing what Wright has left, the Mets have been in a quandary about moving forward without him or not. It appears that Sandy Alderson decided to take the middle ground and sign a short-term solution at third base.
Ken Davidoff has a good article in the NY Post this morning about how the Mets and David Wright may part ways. Sadly, it’s been looking more and more like the back, neck, and shoulder surgeries over the past three seasons have ended David’s career. He still plans to show up in a couple of weeks to Port St. Lucie but he hasn’t thrown a baseball in recent memory.
It’s tough to see a hobbled David Wright and “old” Jose Reyes for those of us that reveled in their heyday of the 2000’s and thought that 2006 was “the year” only to fall short to the Cardinals.
Wright still has three more years on his contract. The most likely outcome in my opinion is that he won’t play again and he’ll spend the next 30 years doing media work and making a living “being David Wright” like Keith Hernandez, Ron Darling, Bobby Ojeda, and others.
The truck left Citi Field today packed with equipment for spring training. Pitchers and catchers report in 11 days. I’m ready for some spring training games – I love this time of year.
Mets GM Sandy Alderson spoke to fans gathered to see the truck leave and addressed some important topics from the offseason:
Jose Reyes re-signed with the Mets today on a 1 year – $2 million contract with $500,000 in incentives. The intention is for Reyes to be the utility man coming off the bench.
Jose looked old last year, especially after having a bad start to the season. But he rebounded in the second half. Although he isn’t close to the explosive player that he once was.
Overall, it’s a respectable signing for the Mets amid several holes left to fill on the roster.
Mets fans know that 2017 is a make or break year for Travis d’Arnaud as the starting catcher. He’s always had a reputation as struggling to stay healthy and he’s never been known as a stellar defender. So if he doesn’t supply offense, he doesn’t have much game at all. His regression in 2016 to only playing 75 games and hitting .247/4 HR/ 15 RBI was startlingly poor. I have a feeling that a bad start to the season will put d’Arnaud on the bench permanently this season.
ESPN’s David Schoenfield takes a great look at the positions that teams have struggled to fill over the last decade. The Mets catchers are included with a frightening -14.2 WAA.
The Post got Viggo Mortensen to write a preview of the 2015 Mets. It’s pretty good except for the minor error to mention EY Jr. as a part of the team. He signed a minor league deal with the Braves this week. But otherwise, it’s a pretty solid fan piece.
Mortensen wrote about Matt Harvey and the other pitchers “…Add rookie sensation de Grom, plus rock-solid Colón, Wheeler, Gee, Niese, Torres, Mejia, Familia, Montero, Edgin, Black, Syndergaard… could be an intimidating pitching staff. Don’t count Parnell out either; he could come back with a vengeance as a closer. Sorry if I am leaving anyone out. Bottom line is that the Mets have a lot of talented young pitchers.” I give Mortensen an “A” for effort and optimism.
photo credit: Viggo Mortensen via photopin (license)
The Mets Report 