☕️ Good Morning: Mets fall back in the draft. The Winter Meetings remain quiet, but Stearns picks up reliever Michael Tonkin and infielder José Iglesias. The Rule 5 Draft is today. Grab your coffee for your morning dose of Mets Fix!
Happening now: While the Winter Meetings remain as quiet as a church mouse, there was no lottery luck for the Mets on Tuesday, as their first round selection dropped 10 spots to 19th overall due to their excessive spending last season.
What this means: Beyond the obvious of picking later in the first round, what could prove even more consequential is a smaller bonus pool. Using the 2023 slot values, the difference between the 9th pick ($5.7 MM) and the 19th pick ($3.9 MM) results in approximately $1.8 million less to spend, which is the equivalent to the slot value for the 47th overall pick.
Scouting: “With Houston, we’ve picked anywhere from 1 to 28 to 80,” the Mets’ new vice president of amateur scouting Kevin Gross said, via MLB. “So I’ve seen it all. I’ve been through it all. Nineteen is a pretty enticing spot.”
Pick value: While history has proven there’s an inherent advantage in selecting 9th instead of 19th, there have been some gems found with the nineteenth pick, including Roger Clemens, Bobby Grich and Mike Scioscia.
Lottery Production: Mets fans watching the lottery in real time were left confused as to whether they had advanced into the top 6 (therefore protecting their first-round selection from falling back). As country star (and Dodgers fan) Brad Paisley revealed the team logos for each pick, it appeared as if the Mets were still in the running for a lottery spot when in fact the teams were being revealed after it was known the Mets had dropped back. Kudos to those who realized this must have been the case once three playoff teams were revealed in the top 18.
Winner, Winner: The Cleveland Guardians turned a 2% chance of winning the lottery into the number one overall pick. Technically, the Nationals won the lottery (and were later drawn again), but because they had the second pick in the 2023 draft and they pay into the revenue-sharing system, they are not allowed a lottery selection in consecutive drafts, dropping them to 10th.
What’s next: At 2:00 pm ET, MLB will conduct the annual Rule 5 Draft. The Mets protected top prospect Alex Ramírez, but left some intriguing options on the table for other teams to select, such as right-hander Coleman Crow, who is recovering from Tommy John surgery so could be an easy pick-up for a club who can hide him on the 60-day IL.
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Check out our latest episode where we discuss the MLB Draft lottery, the Winter Meetings and how the Mets have managed offseason expectations.
🍎 Minor Moves
While the baseball world clamors for meaningful activity, the Mets made a few minor moves on Tuesday, signing reliever Michael Tonkin and infielder José Iglesias.
Tonkin: The Mets like them some players with experience overseas. Tonkin made 45 appearances with the Braves last season after spending parts of five years in Japan and Mexico. The 34-year-old right-hander will earn up to $1 million on a split contract, per Mike Puma.
Tonkin gives the Mets a depth arm for the bullpen. He found moderate success (4.28 ERA / 4.43 FIP) eating innings in low-leverage situations for the Braves last season — 30 of his 45 outings were multiple innings.
Iglesias: The veteran shortstop joins the Mets on a minor-league contract with an invite to spring training. He will look to find his way back onto a big-league roster after failing to make a team last season.
The 33-year-old continued to show strong contact skills in the minors last season, a skill that has helped him keep his average close to .300 and his strikeout rate low over the course of his career. Also known for his defensive prowess, he represents yet another signing by David Stearns with an eye on run prevention.
❄️ Frozen Meetings
The Winter Meetings have become so slow that Mets fans were left to refresh X (fka Twitter) to find out if they would sign depth starter Erick Fedde, who ultimately chose the White Sox on a two-year, $15 million deal.
Interesting choice: What intrigues me most about this signing is why Fedde decided the south side of Chicago was a better place for him than Queens, as the Amazins were reportedly in the running until the final hours.
The 30-year-old, coming off an MVP campaign in Korea, offers intriguing upside with a changed approach and new pitch shapes. If all of that translates back to the major leagues he could find himself on the trade block for a rebuilding White Sox team when perhaps he could have found more stability with a Mets organization desperate for pitching depth and aiming to be competitive next season. But who knows what the deciding factor proved to be.
Latest Hot Stove chatter:
The Mets are reportedly interested in right-hander Lucas Giolito, who is also drawing interest from the Dodgers, Red Sox, Diamondbacks and Royals, per Jon Morosi.
Shohei Ohtani “couldn’t see himself playing in New York” according to a clubhouse source to Jon Heyman.
🔹 Edwin Díaz is ready to sound the trumpets at Citi Field: “If spring training started tomorrow, I’d be 100% ready right now,” Diaz told Newsday in an excellent profile by Laura Albanese. “I’ve got a lot of power in my leg. I’m ready to go.”
🔹 Ronny Mauricio continues to smoke the ball in the Dominican Winter League. With three more hits last night, he is 9-for-17 with two stolen bases to start the season. Importantly, he also looked better at third base:
🔹 David Stearns named DJ Stewart and Mark Vientos as an internal options for the DH spot. “I think DJ demonstrated over the last couple of months last year that he can hit,” Stearns said. “That is something important to us and the lefty bat is important to us. He’s a bat-first player and how he fits is dependent on how the rest of the offseason shakes out and how the roster shakes out. But I think it was very encouraging what we saw over the last two months of the season.”
🔹 Gary Cohen has been nominated for the Baseball Hall of Fame’s Ford C. Frick Award. We discussed some of Gary’s best calls in our latest podcast.
The Athletic: “In many ways, Cohen and his original partner Murphy are the lifeline of Mets baseball. The franchise has been around for 62 seasons, and either Cohen or Murphy has called just about every game it’s ever played. If Cohen wins the Frick, the Mets will have had a Frick Award winner calling their games in each of those 62 seasons.”
🔹 Luis Severino posted a video of himself working out. The bounce-back campaign is underway!
🔹 Dwight Gooden had some harsh words for the previous front office, via the NY Post:
“Just my opinion, from the outside looking in as a fan, it seemed like [owner Steve Cohen] wanted to spend and do the right things, but he mostly spent it on names instead of talent,” Gooden told The Post on Monday night at SBH Health’s “NY Team of Heroes” Gala at Chelsea Piers.
“And I think part of it was because the guys that were working for him were more yes men than people who told him what he needed to hear. Hopefully with [David] Stearns coming in and the new guys coming in, they’re baseball people and they’re gonna get together and brainstorm and do the right thing. Because Steve wants to win.”
◾️ Dave Roberts has Dodgers fans worried he committed a cardinal sin by revealing to reporters his team had met with Shohei Ohtani. It sparked several articles to be written on how Ohtani and his agent have navigated his free agency.
◾️ The Red Sox and Yankees made a trade, with outfielder Alex Verdugo headed to the Brongs for right-handers Greg Weissert, Richard Fitts and Nicholas Judice.
◾️ The Braves turned around and dealt left-hander Marco Gonzalez to the Pirates after acquiring him a few days earlier from the Mariners.
◾️ The Astros signed catcher Victor Caratini to a two-year, $12 million contract.
◾️ The Rangers signed reliever Kirby Yates to a one-year deal.
🔗 Third base test will provide insight into David Stearns’ grand Mets plan, by Joel Sherman, NY Post: “Without an obvious third-base veteran to step in, Stearns has his most obvious first vehicle to begin making big-picture decisions. He is going to let a game of Darwinian Hot Corner begin. He will hope for the energy of youth and the education offered by watching the inexperienced play. He is trying to do something big here — bring order to the Rorschach test.”
🔗 Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s contract could reach $300 million, but is he worth the risks? by Jayson Stark, The Athletic ($): “So in a sport in which teams are increasingly reluctant to invest long-term in players in their 30s, this exec said he’s convinced that the temptation to sign a potential international superstar who is still five years away from turning 30 is fueling all of this. And he’s probably not wrong.”
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"due to their excessive spending"--I would put it this way: "due to an amount spent on salaries that exceeded the artificial boundaries created by parsimonious owners".
Gooden is right in his comments. The previous regime's so called leadership resulted in the teams downward spiral in 2023 and the effects of Eppler's leadership & decisions will continue to haunt the Mets for years to come. I still hold out hope that Stearns & Co can turn the direction of this franchise around. However, given what Stearns inherited that turnaround is going to take at least 2-3 years to accomplish. There are still too many holes to fill in the '24 roster for the Mets to think that they can compete with the Braves for a division title.