Good Morning,
It might be February, in the middle of a lockout, with tons of snow on the ground in New York, but that won’t stop us from sending you a jam-packed newsletter about your favorite baseball team.
As we wait for the CBA to get resolved, we will publish at least every Tuesday and Friday.
Today, we will talk about the Mets’ spending plans after the lockout, Kumar Rocker (sorry) and who made Keith Law’s recent Top 100 prospect list, Robinson Canó’s winter, why Eric Chavez is an important hire, and we will remember Jeff Innis.
Now, let’s get into it!
💸 BIG SPENDERS
MLB insider Jon Heyman tweeted on Monday that the Mets “might consider signing another significant pitcher and hitter once the lockout ends … If so $270M payroll could approach $300M.”
🔹 WHAT THIS MEANS: Hmm... You think this might be Scott Boras trying to ignite the market for his clients coming out of the lockout?! Remember when agents used to use the Yankees for this goal? It seems a new sheriff is in town.
Heyman’s tweet comes days after Andy Martino reported the Mets were “likely done adding significant, expensive free agents, particularly on the position player side.”
🔹 TARGETS: On the hitting side, Kris Bryant is the biggest name that makes sense as a potential fit. On the mound, Yusei Kikuchi has been linked to New York, with more headline-grabbing names like Clayton Kershaw and Carlos Rodon both still available, but extreme longshots. Of course, the team could also add an impact name via trade.
🔹 PAYROLL: The competitive balance tax remains one of the sticking points in CBA negotiations. While the luxury tax thresholds are likely to increase over the next few seasons, it’s unclear by how much (naturally, the players seek a more rapid increase than the owners).
We also don’t know how stiff the penalties will be for teams that exceed those thresholds, with the league proposing to more than double the penalty a team like the Mets would have to pay in luxury taxes, along with harsher draft pick forfeitures.
Under the current system, a $300 million payroll would result in a tax penalty of $41.7 million, which is nearly the amount of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ entire payroll. However, for an owner worth $13 billion, that is like the price of a weekend getaway, or approximately $1,600 for someone worth $500,000.
🎸 KUMAR ROCKER
Some of you might want to skip to the next section if last year’s draft is still as sore spot, but unsigned first round pick Kumar Rocker could pitch in an independent league this year, according to Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin.
“Based on my conversations with him, [Rocker] could be playing a little bit of baseball this year but it would be in an independent league, but I’m still not sure about that,” Corbin told reporters last week, via the Tennessean. “Those are the things that he’s doing with his advisement. But he’s doing well, he looks great, he looks as great as he’s ever looked in my opinion over the last four years, he’s working out very well and he’s very much on course to be very healthy and be pitching at some point. … Unfortunate situation, but he’s made the best of it.”
🔹 LOOKING AHEAD: The Mets will make two selections within the top 15 picks of next year’s draft, after receiving the 11th overall pick as compensation for failing to sign Rocker, who is currently ranked 30th among the Top 100 Draft Prospects by MLB Pipeline.
🔹 TOP PROSPECTS: Even without Rocker, the Mets boast five players on Keith Law of the Athletic’s latest Top 100 prospect list, released on Monday.
Francisco Álvarez continues his impressive rise amid prospect watchers, landing 8th overall on Law’s list: “He could be as mobile as a statue and still be an above-average regular for a catcher with — dare I say it — a Mike Piazza-like upside if his bat keeps improving.”
Ronny Mauricio (40th), Brett Baty (41st), Mark Vientos (71st), and Alex Ramirez (100th) round out the list.
🇩🇴 CARIBBEAN SERIES UPDATE
Look out for Robby Canó! The Dominican native is off to a torrid start in the Caribbean Series, leading his home country to a victory on Friday with a game-winning single:
🔹 WINTER BALL: As Canó continues his long road back from his 162-game suspension, he is hitting .500 (7–14) with 7 RBIs and a few extra base hits for the Dominican Republic, after hitting for mostly average in 10 games for the Estrellas Orientales of the Dominican Winter League.
🔬 GO DEEPER: “There are too many players in too many cities who remain beloved despite violations of the Joint Drug Agreement. There are still others who we are almost certain used but weren’t caught, and who are not just beloved but enshrined in Cooperstown.” Exploring a Mets mystery: Why do so many fans dislike Robinson Cano? by Andy Martino, SNY
📊 INFORMATION OVERLOAD
After replacing the popular Chili Davis with Hugh Quattlebaum last season, the Mets are bringing in Eric Chavez to try to solve the team’s hitting woes. The new hitting coach “signals a dramatic shift in philosophy after a 2021 season in which the Mets went so heavy on analytics that players expressed frustration at the daily information overload,” per SNY’s John Harper.
“According to sources, players were presented with so much information regarding a pitcher’s tendencies and the specific movement of his pitches -- by analytics executives, not coaches -- that it messed with their heads,” Harper reported on Friday.
🔹 EXAMPLE: Harper writes about an April game against Jake Arrieta and the Cubs when an analytics exec told hitters in a pregame meeting to “eliminate Arrieta’s changeup from their thinking” since he rarely threw the pitch anymore. Davis objected to the guidance since it was too early in the season to draw such conclusions.
Arrieta ended up shutting down the Mets, allowing one run and three hits over five innings that night. He threw his changeup 13 times, using it to keep the Mets off balance with two whiffs, three foul balls and to generate several outs. Harper writes this “anger[ed] the players, notably Dominic Smith, about being misled by their analytics people.”
💔 RIP
Former Mets reliever Jeff Innis passed away on Sunday after a long battle with cancer. He was 59.
🔹 LIFETIME MET: A 13th round pick by the Mets in 1983, Innis spent his entire big league career with the organization, appearing in 287 games between 1987 and 1993 (8th most in franchise history). He is one of 24 relievers who has pitched at least 200 innings for the Amazins, and his 3.03 ERA is tied with Roger McDowell for 9th lowest in club history by a bullpen arm (min 200 innings).
🔹 HELP OUT: You can help his family cover hospital bills and funeral arrangements by donating to their GoFundMe page.
📖 READ MORE: “A ballplayer dies; the amount of attention his passing gets is proportional to his career statistics, and he is defined by milestones such as All-Star selections and championships. It is a wholly inadequate way to reflect upon a life and never more so than in the case of Jeff Innis.” Jeff Innis Was Much More Than a Workhorse Middle Reliever, by Tom Verducci, Sports Illustrated
🔹 MLB and the MLB Players Association are scheduled to meet in person today. While the two sides have met with increased regularity over the past two weeks, Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich of The Athletic warn “a new CBA is not close.”
🔹 Angels two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani will grace the cover of MLB The Show 22.
🔗 Brooklyn born Mets prospect inspired by Jackie Robinson statue, by Gerard Gilberto, MLB.com: “After his promotion to High-A Brooklyn in August, Mets prospect Jaylen Palmer found a new addition to his pregame routine. Approaching the main entrance of the Cyclones’ Maimonides Park sits a monument depicting a “simple gesture [that] challenged prejudice and created a powerful and enduring friendship.” That sculpture immortalizes the moment when Jackie Robinson, playing in his first season with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, got a hand from Pee Wee Reese.”
🔗 MMO Exclusive: Former Shortstop, Mike Bordick, by Matthew Brownstein, MetsMerized Online: “I had the pleasure of speaking with Bordick in January, where we discussed how he signed as an undrafted free agent in 1986, his time in New York, and thoughts on Buck Showalter.”
🔗 How Mets should handle Jacob deGrom’s looming contract situation, by Ken Davidoff, NY Post: “A return to form by deGrom in the season’s first three months could nip this issue in the bud by the All-Star break: Tear up those last two years, eliminate the opt-out and give him $174 million over four years, through 2026, exceeding Scherzer’s yearly salary by $167,000. Such an outcome would bring joy to both sides and to Mets fans.”
🧩 And we leave you with something fun: a Mets-themed Wordle! Tag us on Twitter to let us know how you did. We will reveal the answer in our next issue.
Thanks for reading! Follow us on Twitter for regular updates until our next newsletter.
And please check out our newsletters about the Knicks and Isles, too.
Funny Mike Bordick story: I was backpacking Europe summer of 2000. Read in an internet kiosk (remember those?) that we traded for Barry Larkin. I came home 2-3 weeks later, turned on my first Mets game…Mike Bordick?!
Also, glad you guys are back!