1/6/17

Mike Maar - the Neil Walker Gambit




Don’t get me wrong, I like Neil Walker.  Solid player.  And who knows, he could be destined to be immortalized in Met lore with some future huge playoff or World Series moment.  I wouldn’t be surprised.  But with nothing much else going on with the Hot Stove lately, I’ve had these recurring nagging thoughts…

Might the Mets have taken a calculated risk and lost when Walker accepted their $17MM qualifying offer to stay with the club for 2017?  To be fair, at the time of the offer the Mets did not yet know whether they’d be able to resign Yoenis Cespedes


  At least part of their calculus had to be geared toward strengthening the lineup top-to-bottom - especially in case Cespedes bolted for a bigger payday elsewhere.  Even at that time though, they might have been secretly happy if Walker would have declined the offer and signed a multi-year contract elsewhere, giving them an additional high draft pick as compensation.  Had that happened, I t would have opened up ample playing time at 2B for Jose Reyes, Wilmer Flores and/or TJ Rivera, while freeing up those $17MM to shore up the bullpen, or make a free agent splash at C, 1B or CF.  As it is, it’s hard to argue that the front office doesn’t have a tougher budget challenge ahead of them in rounding out the team heading into Spring training than they might have had.

But enough negative thoughts.  I’m sure the back problem that cost Walker the end of the 2016 season is fixed, and won’t be an issue, right?  Just picture that big playoff moment next Fall.  Tying and winning runs in scoring position - Neil Walker strides to the plate..

9 comments:

Unknown said...

When you're positioned to win, you sign and trade for NOW guys. You don;t make Tenders based ENTIRELY on the hope that you'll get a Draft choice who will play in 3-5 years.

I'd have prefered a Non-Tender to Walker, Duda, and Bruce---40 million Bucks!!! The Richly priced players I could buy would be better fits than the richly priced players they've re-signed.

The only advantage of the three guys they re-signed is that they have just a 1 year commitment--- MNEH!!!!!

eraff said...

This was My Comment (not My Wife's)

When you're positioned to win, you sign and trade for NOW guys. You don;t make Tenders based ENTIRELY on the hope that you'll get a Draft choice who will play in 3-5 years.

I'd have prefered a Non-Tender to Walker, Duda, and Bruce---40 million Bucks!!! The Richly priced players I could buy would be better fits than the richly priced players they've re-signed.

The only advantage of the three guys they re-signed is that they have just a 1 year commitment--- MNEH!!!!!

January 6, 2017 at 8:12 AM

Tom Brennan said...

I think they could have signed a stud pen arm with the Walker money and relied on Reyes, Flores, and Rivera instead...but may Mr. Walker of the fixed back have a career year and prove me wrong.

Of the minor league overachievers, while Rivera's 2017 playing time most likely took a big hit, the use of the $$ on Walker and not a killer reliever (plus Familia's likely suspension) may mean another minor league overachiever, Paul Sewald, will see the light of day in Queens in 2017. The question is, if he reaches the Mets in 2017, will he at least be an achiever.

Reese Kaplan said...

In conversation with a friend the other day he floated a very outside the box idea...offer up Walker now in trade while you're also trying to peddle Bruce and/or Granderson.

Zozo said...

The dumbest thing was to offer Walker QO. The one position we are stacked at is 2nd. The money would have been better spent anywhere else.
I would have picked up
$11 million for Carlos Gomez
$6 million for Wilson Ramos (2yr $12 million he got)
That's my thoughts

Also I think the QO came before Familias ordeal, but not too positive on that.

Reese Kaplan said...

The deadline for the QO was about 3 weeks prior to the Cespedes contract. I understand the logic, just don't agree with it. Without Cespedes, Walker wasn't going to be enough offense to give them a pennant, so ensuring he'd be here didn't achieve anything.

That Adam Smith said...

It looks like (from my not at all in depth assessment) a down spending year across baseball - or at least a year with less over exuberant spending - which makes Walker's contract look like a big overpay (given the alternatives at that money). Second base was definitely a position (maybe the only position besides wherever Grandy plays) that we could have adequately filled a hole. It would probably have been wise to let Bruce walk as well. I don't believe that getting rid of Bruce frees up much money, as I think the FO sees itself as around $10mm over budget at this point. And their unwillingness to spend even a little before unloading that contract tells me that there is virtually zero market for the guy at $13mm. All of that said, let's hope that Walker has a huge year, and that Sandy can find someone to pay all of Bruce's contract without us having to actually give them a sweetener to take him. As to Duda, I'm in the camp that he's a good risk at his salary.

Tom Brennan said...

Presumably Bruce is going - but he is not gone yet - it takes 2 to tango. It would be something if he ended up not traded and then what? Conforto back to AAA? Let's hope the logjam loosens.

Zozo said...

I believe you have to wait til a designated date before you can trade him, like June?