[ad_1]
Are you exhausted? I’m exhausted. Imagine how exhausted the Mets and Francisco Lindor would feel right now if they had endured all this stress and drama and not completed a long term overtime.
Here are five quick thoughts on Lindor’s $ 341 million 10-year deal with the Mets, which begins next year and ends in 2031.
1. Who would have thought that the San Diego Padres would dictate the terms of this marriage from start to finish? On January 8, the morning after the Mets acquired Lindor from the Indians, I wrote that in order to buy Lindor out of free agency in November, the Mets would have to offer “something beyond the $ 300 million package on 10 years. that Manny Machado landed with the Padres in February 2019. ”Then, even before Lindor’s arrival at Port Saint Lucia, the Padres themselves overtook him, guaranteeing their young shortstop Fernando $ 340 million Tatis Jr. (for whom Machado slipped to third base). This latter number turned out to be the threshold that Lindor wanted to cross, albeit more in symbolism than in reality thanks to the deferred money involved.
Yes, the players are very competitive with each other. All humans are, in fact. For my next contract extension with The Post, I’m going to try to get exactly $ 1 million more than Andrew Marchand.
2. Is this the riskiest contract in baseball history? Jacoby Ellsbury (Yankees), Jason Heyward (Cubs) and even Trevor Bauer (Dodgers) come to mind as chords that elicited more of a “Oh boy, I don’t know about this” reaction, measuring the dollars. compared to achievements / projections / adjustment. Still, this ranks as the third highest engagement in the history of the sport, and I would say it poses a significantly greater risk than the two above.
The Angels threw an extra $ 360 million at Mike Trout in 2019, on top of the $ 66.5 million they already owed him, and we’re talking about a guy very well on his way to being one of the top 10 players in 2019. all the time. The Dodgers guaranteed Mookie Betts $ 365 million knowing he had shone in the American League killer of the East, in the killer market that is Boston.
Through no fault of his own, Lindor only played for the team that drafted him, the Indians, who compete in a small market and arguably baseball’s worst division, AL Central. He’s also just completed a 2020 season, though shortened and defined by a pandemic, it was his worst. He looks great in spring training. His bubbly personality (little known fact: his nickname is “Mr. Smile”) looks like it will fly in the Big Apple. However, you don’t know it until you know it. And we don’t know.
3. The advantage of leading a large market team like a midrange club? When you finally sell, you leave a pretty canvas open for the successor. With Lindor, Steve Cohen has so many leads, even in the context of normal baseball payroll, to do so much more. The only albatross left by the Wilpons and Brodie Van Wagenen is Robinson Cano, and at $ 20.5 million for 2022 and 2023, it’s not that bad for the currently suspended second baseman.
Michael Conforto presents an interesting challenge for Cohen: How can the hedge fund titan defend himself against the baseball portrayal equivalent of Scott Boras? If the Mets can match Conforto, either now or next offseason, they’ll put their positional body in such a strong position that they can plan to spend their free agent money to start pitching, be it their own. guys Noah Syndergaard and Marcus Stroman or interesting older guys like Lance Lynn, Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander.
4. I would like to suggest that we impose a fine of $ 50 on anyone who asks, “What does this mean for Ronny Mauricio?” until December 31 of this year.
Mauricio, one of the Mets’ best prospects, plays the shortstop. He is also 19 years old. He did not play above the South Atlantic League Class A, which took place in 2019.
Maybe he will prove to be a fantastic shortstop and therefore, with Lindor sticking around, a commercial chip. Maybe he can learn to play third base if JD Davis doesn’t thrive. Maybe it will shut down due to injuries and / or performance issues.
Decidedly, leave the child alone for the moment. Let him enjoy a return to the minor league ball after last year’s COVID challenges. On New Year’s Day 2022, you can ask what the Lindor contract means for Mauricio.
5. We should and will define this contract as a watershed moment for Cohen’s ownership of this team. Still, let’s not forget the imprint of Sandy Alderson, who returned to the organization as team president when Cohen took over. Alderson earned a reputation as a conservative economist when he served as general manager for the Wilpons. However, when you look at Alderson’s story, you see how much he loves colored stars.
Its 1980s and 1990s employed Rickey Henderson, Jose Canseco, and Mark McGwire, among others. He reveled in the unique character of Bartolo Colon’s Mets. He lobbied for the Mets to sign Tim Tebow and appreciated Yoenis Cespedes’ star power (maybe too much, eventually) after trading for him. He openly said how intrigued Bauer had been.
George Springer is an October stud and a type of community pillar. JT Realmuto is revered by his teammates. Neither can match Lindor for star power.
Cohen landed his first star. Alderson landed his last.
This week’s Pop Quiz question came from Gary Mintz of South Huntington: In a 1971 episode of “The Brady Bunch,” Bobby Brady dreams of hitting a home run against a major league pitcher. Name the pitcher.
In 2019 (like 50 years ago), I touted a live reading of Don DeLillo’s short story “Pafko at the Wall,” starring well-known actors Billy Crudup, Zack Levi and Tony Shalhoub. Simon & Schuster Audio is now releasing an audiobook based on this reading.
The Pop Quiz answer is Dave McNally.
If you have any information that links baseball to popular culture, send it to me at [email protected].
[ad_2]
Source link