Good work Sandy Alderson!
In his first major player move since taking over as GM of the Mets, Sandy traded K-Rod to the Brewers for two players to be named later.
When I first heard this, I was a little disappointed that we were just getting back two unknown players. But as the day progressed, and I thought about this more, I congratulate Sandy Alderson on a great move.
Since he has taken over, Sandy has stressed the desire to have “payroll flexibility” in 2012 and beyond. This move provides exactly that. By sending K-Rod packing, the Mets avoid his 2012 option from vesting. Thus, saving the team around $17 million. Add that to Beltran’s contract being up, and you have just dumped close to $40 million for next year’s payroll.
Not only does this make the payroll lower, but it raises the Mets chances of resigning Jose Reyes. Had K-Rod’s option come into play, there would be no way the Mets would have kept Reyes. They can now afford to pay him a market value contract.
Now, there are some negatives to the move. First, the Mets got virtually nothing in return player wise. They get two mediocre minor leaguers in the deal. Secondly, the Mets now lack a closer. Sure Parnell can throw 100 mph and Izzy has done it before, but K-Rod was still one of the top closers in the NL, if not all of baseball. That is hard to replace. If I had to guess, Parnell will get the brunt of it. And hopefully he can get the job done.
Despite these two negative aspects, this was still a great move. The fact that there is no more talk of “the option” or “games finished” is a relief. The Mets can now go out there and use their guys wherever and whenever they want.
So whats next for the Mets. I do think that they will eventually trade Beltran. He is too valuable on the market right now to hold onto him. However, the team is still in the race. By the end of July we should know more about where the Mets stand. If they go out the next two weeks and play bad baseball, well its time to move on. But if they play great and chip away at the Braves’ lead, then maybe we should stand pat. The worst case scenario is if we continue to hover around .500. It’s nice to be in this spot, but sooner or later the team has to lean one way or the other. Lets just hope that its trending up and we can make a run at this thing.
Thanks for reading!
LETS GO METS GO!!!
