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In a team that has both the likely winner of Cy Young this year (and the deserving MVP candidate) and a superhero at the top of the rotation, it's quite shocking to realize that the element the most fascinating of the 2019 Mets will be … their general director.
By hiring CAA Sports Co-President Brodie Van Wagenen, the Mets avoided the typical past that usually leads to GM-dom. Instead, they entrusted their baseball operations department to a man who for years was sitting at the opposite end of the bargaining table. Van Wagenen represented a panoply of leading Mets players, including Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Yoenis Cespedes, Todd Frazier and Jason Vargas. In his announcement, Fred Wilpon, CEO of Mets, said that Van Wagenen offered a "mix of character, analysis, research and development".
It was unusual to call an agent as the general manager of a team. Many of the best agents in the game have been as skilled (or more) in using numbers to gauge player performance, even if their goal was to support the market value of their clients. But we are still talking about a very different set of experiences with respect to the daily tasks of a GM, including the formation of groups of players in the major and minor leagues, project supervision and management. huge budgets for homeowners who will not always give you what you want when you want
- Result 2018: 77-85, fourth place at NL East
- Major free agents: ONE J. Ramos, RP
- Needs: Receiver, first base, raised pitch
The good news is that the failures of the Mets over the past two seasons have a lot more to do with the fact that management has not spent money productively than it does in the event of lack of funds. . The seven passengers spent more than $ 150 million in opening data on the opening day in 2017 and 2018. But a lot of that money ended up being dead money. I hope that Céspedes still has some good seasons in reserve. It's just that 2018 was not part of those seasons, his injuries limiting him to 38 games, a tough break considering the fact that the Mets have paid him $ 29 million this year. And next year probably will not be, Céspedes being supposed to be absent until the summer following multiple heel surgeries.
Even with big chunks of money coming out of the books, the Mets have surprisingly little financial leeway for a team coming out of such a lousy season. According to the excellent page of Cot's contracts, New York is already expected to generate about $ 144 million in payroll next season, of which about $ 46 million will be tied to arbitration awards. The Syndergaard and DeGrom projects are expected to bring in about $ 22 million combined through arbitration in 2019, with a huge additional increase in store the following year.
These calculations, combined with the Mets' rotating talent base, other positions, the recent futility and collective boredom of baseball writers, fueled many unfounded commercial rumors last season. . Van Wagenen said he wanted to keep DeGrom in Queens for a long time, adding that he expected the Mets "to be on every free agent" this winter. You can read in this last statement either the optimism pie-in-the-sky of the new person in charge, or a rather nebulous message to signify apparently nothing; The Mets can call the agents of each of the top 100 free agents this season, not to sign one and claim to have been "in" everyone.
If we divide the difference, we can assume that Van Wagenen thinks the Mets could bounce back and become contenders in 2019. It's not impossible, if they manage to score a few points. The status of best player to the best player in the league is auspicious for more domination next season. The same is true for Zack Wheeler, who scores the best figures of his career, and Steven Matz finally begins to realize his potential with a good time of 3.38 in the first period and a solid number of his own entries. Meanwhile, six of the eight-player Mets in starting position of the Opening Day are 27 years old or younger, which is a good sign considering the chances of further improving young players.
Youth alone does not guarantee anything, however. Kevin Plawecki has registered a number of substitutes to the receiver following Arnaud's wild trauma event, and first-baseman Dominic Smith has not yet been up to the task. hype that he had achieved with the miners. If the Mets want to spend a bit of money fighting each other without detonating their core, upgrading these two positions could instantly give four or five more wins to the team's big book. The biggest joker could be the team's office. The Mets lifters have completed the penultimate in the major leagues of ERA adjusted to the park. Bullpen's performance being as random as these, the Mets could easily get better by bringing back their 2018 players; an astute and inexpensive pickup, or two, would fuel such a rebound. And if you really want to drink Kool-Aid, know that no one thought they had a lot after six consecutive losing seasons in 2015 … only for a shock spot in the World Series.
The biggest problem could actually be competition. The Braves and Phillies have both emerged as young teams on the rise last season, and the Nationals should be very talented, even if Bryce Harper manages to make his way to greener lands. So, the Mets could easily go back above .500 with some improvements and better luck … and finish in fourth place anyway.
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