The Metropolitan: Who wants to be a 400-millionaire?
Recapping Lindor talks & all the day's news. Plus, ex-Met Ty Kelly brings you inside Opening Day
Good Morning,
Today, former Met Ty Kelly brings you inside the dugout to see what Opening Day is like for a player. But we start with the news, including the latest on Francisco Lindor.
⏰ Catch me up on the Lindor extension…
💰 FINAL SHOWDOWN: Just when you thought it was all fun except for the ravioli, several reports surfaced late on Monday to suggest the Mets and Francisco Lindor are still far apart on agreeing to a contract extension before Lindor’s stated deadline of Opening Day.
METS OFFER: The Mets have reportedly made a 10-year, $325 million “best and final” offer to Lindor, as first reported by Andy Martino. That would give Lindor the 5th largest contract in terms of total value (tied with Giancarlo Stanton) in baseball history. It would also more than double the largest contract in Mets history (with David Wright at 8-years, $138 million).
LINDOR’S ASK: Lindor is reportedly seeking a deal closer to $400 million, with multiple reports putting his target ask at 12-years, $385 million, a number the NY Daily News reports the Mets did not expect, and “it’s a price from which his camp is not willing to move.”
AAV: If the reported numbers are accurate, the two sides appear close on average annual value (~$32 million), but differ on the years and total value. The Mets’ offer would place Lindor next to Nolan Arenado with the 8th highest AAV in baseball.
COMPARISON: Last year, Mookie Betts found himself in a similar situation (and at the same age) as Lindor. After being traded away from a team unwilling to sign him, Betts agreed to a 10-year, $365 million extension with the Dodgers on the eve of the season opener. Betts had an MVP Award in his back pocket (Lindor does not).
OPTIONS: If the Mets don’t reach a deal with their new shortstop by the opener, and Lindor holds to his promise not to negotiate during the season, he will enter a free agent market stocked with shortstop talent, including Corey Seager, Trevor Story, Javy Báez and Carlos Correa.
The Mets are one of the few teams with money to burn. If they miss out on Lindor, you would have to believe they will find a way to spend that money elsewhere, including on making sure to secure outfielder Michael Conforto.
By passing up one of the richest deals in baseball history, Lindor would be taking on significant risk, as he tries to rebound from a sub-par 2020 campaign, while hoping he can stay healthy and generate a better market next offseason amid fierce free agent competition at the same position — and within the shadows of an impending labor war between the owners and players.
SIDE NOTE: Don’t discount the role the next CBA fight plays in these negotiations. Lindor is a star player who is active in the Union, so he has incentive to use his own negotiations in setting a precedent for future negotiations.
Should Mets fans be worried? Negotiations get ugly late in the process. But in most scenarios, a deal only gets done right before the closing bell. Despite all of the noise, it shouldn’t come as a surprise if a compromise is eventually reached. And if not? Well, it certainly changes some of the good vibes heading in to the season. But who’s to say the two sides can’t work something out next winter?
In other news…
◼️ BLACK IS BACK: In a Q&A with Mets radio broadcaster Wayne Randazzo which included fans’ questions, Mets owner Steve Cohen announced black jerseys will return on a limited basis this season.
◼️ COHEN’S CORNER: In the Q&A, the owner also said he’d look into having more day games on Saturdays, adding an Old-Timer’s day in 2022, and creating an annual Bobby Bonilla Day to present the former outfielder with the yearly check he receives every July 1 until 2035. He also defended the addition of former New Jersey governor Chris Christie to the team’s Board of Directors, saying, “This is not about politics. This is purely about baseball.”
◼️ INTERNAL REVIEW: Cohen also announced, in an organization-wide email, that law firm WilmerHale has been hired to conduct a review of the Mets’ “workplace culture … with a focus on sexual harassment, misconduct and discrimination issues.”
📚 March 30, 2000: Benny Agbayani gives the Mets their first win of the season with a grand slam in the 11th inning against the Cubs in Tokyo, Japan.
Opening Day: A Major Leaguer’s Inside Story
🧓 by Ty Kelly, Mets Fix’s Resident “Former Met”
If there’s one sentiment that describes the first week of the Major League Baseball season for fans and players alike, it’s got to be: “This Could Be the Year.”
Everyone comes to camp “in the best shape of my life” but until Opening Day arrives, you really have no idea what the season has in store. And “This Could Be the Year” can undergo a lot of changes and versions as the season advances.
Here’s the story of my Major League opening day with the Mets in 2017. It had been quite a spring: I was designated for assignment (DFA’ed), cleared waivers, entered camp as the most humbled version of a player possible (i.e., no longer on the 40-man roster), played in the World Baseball Classic for Team Israel, went back to camp in Florida, and, thanks to some stuff happening and pieces falling into place... I made the Big League Opening Day roster — back on the 40-man and important again! “Maybe this could be the year,” I thought.
Before the big day, the guys making their first Opening Day Roster met David Wright in the back studio of a Midtown department store and got fitted for clothes. We each picked out a suit, blazer, and button-down shirt — all on his tab. At this point in my life, I owned two suits — both of which my dad had bought for me at a Men’s Warehouse in Salt Lake City, Utah when I had just been promoted to Triple-A, four years earlier.
The next day, we rookies got our physical initiation: we were put, clothed, into shallow laundry carts and wheeled into the shower to be sprayed with a beer shower. We licked whatever remaining alcohol we could salvage from our faces and then showered off, emerging from the steam as legitimate members of the team — not just mercenaries. “This is the year,” we collectively imagined.
Then Opening Day arrived. The rookies were nervous and the veterans were ready for a 162-game season. Everyone wants to get off to a hot start to make things easy for themselves, but the season is just too long to worry about whether your first few grounders to the left side get through or not. (I once started a season 0-18 and was pretty sure I would not get a hit all year. I ended up hitting .263 with 15 home runs.)
Fans came out in the freezing cold like it was a World Series game in November. They begrudgingly clapped for me as I was introduced as a reserve before the game. The big applause came for the starting pitcher Noah Syndergaard, who came out and dominated as we beat the Braves in a shutout. The team didn’t even need me to play.
The next day was an off-day, so my dad and I went to a Knicks game. We got last-minute tickets in the upper deck. During the first timeout, the jumbotron brightly displayed Noah and his girlfriend, seated courtside — huge applause again. “Just wait — I’ll be up on that jumbotron someday; this could be the year,” I (foolishly) dreamt.
The next day, the team did need me to play. A mercenary-esque pinch-hit with a chance to tie the game. I pumped myself up: “This is why you’re here. This could be the ye—” A strikeout. We lost. A few days later, after having not needed my services since the strikeout, I was DFA’d again. “I guess this isn’t the year, after all.”
The next few days, I waited in my hotel for someone to tell me if I was claimed off waivers, not knowing what the whirlwind next two weeks would have in store.
After sitting in my hotel room for a day, I went to the Eataly by the World Trade Center with my parents and got recognized by someone who worked there. My dad loved that. I got claimed off waivers by the Blue Jays and flew to Toronto the next day. The customs officer didn’t want to give me a work visa but, luckily, someone had already changed my Wikipedia to say that I played for the Blue Jays, so when he decided to Google me, he found that webpage and decided it — and I — was legit, and allowed me to work in the country.
I went to the team hotel (located inside the stadium) and was told to wait there until they figured out if Josh Donaldson needed to go on the Disabled List. No problem. Three days and a self-led walking tour of Toronto later, I was sent back to Triple-A Buffalo because Josh didn’t need to go on the DL. But after playing two games on the road in Scranton, I got called back up to Toronto — this time for real.
I was in the Big Leagues again with new life — in the clubhouse, meeting the coaching staff, meeting the chefs who wanted to know my specific food preferences, meeting the training staff who was designing my specialized workout program. Three games on the bench and three moot “get ready for a (mercenary-esque) pinch-run”s later, I was DFA’d again. Then I got claimed by the Phillies and that’s when things really did change.
I was sent to Philly and told to wait for the last game of the series and the ensuing off-day, and then I would finally be put on the roster. As I sat in yet another hotel waiting for a chance to actually play baseball, I was totally confident it would be my year. This was it. I was really on the team. I wasn’t going anywhere. “This could be the ye—… Nothing? I’m still here? I haven’t been DFA’d or traded or sent down or anything? I’m not dead, am I?”
I wasn’t dead. I spent the rest of the year — save for four games in Triple-A Lehigh Valley — as a Big Leaguer in Philadelphia. It was different from how I planned it, but I got to feel like I was a real person on a Major League Baseball team. I even made plans further than one week in advance. I mean, I still stayed in a hotel for the entire season but I had them book me for every homestand, automatically. It wasn’t the year but it was still a great year.
The moral of this story? Whatever you think is going to happen during the season, is definitely not going to happen. Or at least not in the exact way you think. Opening Day is fun and exciting and might be a sign of things to come. Or it might just be a snapshot of how people play in April when it’s mostly too cold to function.
In any case, this could be the year.
⚾️ Angels’ two-way star Shohei Ohtani was removed from yesterday’s mound appearance, due to a blister on his right middle finger. While it affected his performance in the game, it is not expected to be a long-term problem.
⚾️ White Sox star Eloy Jimenez received a second opinion confirming that he needs surgery to repair a torn left pectoral muscle. He’s expected to miss 4-5 months.
⚾️ The Angels signed a pair of free agent relievers — RHP Steve Cishek and LHP Tony Watson — to bolster their bullpen in the lead-up to opening day.
⚾️ Dustin May was named the Dodgers' number 5 starter, beating out some stiff competition, including former Cy Young winner David Price.
🔗 Pete Alonso to launch NFT, with proceeds helping minor leaguers, by Ryan Morik, SNY.com: “Alonso will launch his nonfungible token on Tuesday through Blockparty with proceeds going to two charities: his own, Homers for Heroes, and More Than Baseball -- a charity that helps minor leaguers who need financial support with housing, equipment, and more to get through the grinds of the minor league season.”
🔗 Mets fans and the black jerseys: A love story, by Danny Abriano, SNY.com: “For many fans who grew up in the era of the black jerseys and caps, those uniforms bring on nostalgia and visions of stars from the past. Some fans who are traditionalists can do without them, so we'll call this a mostly love/partial hate relationship.”
🔗 2021 MLB award predictions: Jacob deGrom will win N.L. Cy Young, by John Healy, RADIO.com: “Jacob deGrom is one of the most intriguing future Hall of Fame cases for where his career stands entering the 2021 season. He was a late bloomer who has gotten some of the worst run support imaginable but he has been arguably the best pitcher in all of baseball over the last three years.”
🔗 ‘Steve Cohen Effect’ Mets bolstering analytics department, by Justin Toscano, NorthJersey.com ($): “As baseball continues to evolve, Steve Cohen has provided the Mets with infrastructure that isn’t visible on the field but matters. The Mets are using the manpower and technological might of Point72. This has boosted data engineering and analytics.”
And we leave you with the full video from Steve Cohen’s Twitter Q&A…
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