I found myself thinking the other day, “eh, maybe Stephen Drew isn’t worth a two year deal, he’s especially not worth a three year one.”
And then I stopped. Why was I thinking this?
I determined that I was being swayed by popular opinion, because at the start of the off-season, I was advocating signing Jhonny Peralta to either a 3 year 36 million, or 4 year 48 million if it meant over paying him to get him on the team. This contract seemed at the time more feasible than Drew. Back then it looked like Drew would be in line for the real pay day.
But the baseball off-season is odd and the first few major free agents that go off the board too early (Peralta was the one this year) get overpaid and the better talent, the perceived more expensive talent, especially in the time of the CBA gets more scrutiny over whether the playing ability is worth the financial and draft pick cost.
The Mets will be better next year, but as right now, just not good enough. There is a lot of uncertainty, players need to have breakout (d’Arnaud) or comeback (Chris Young) years to push us over. It isn’t a long shot for that to happen, but betting on hope isn’t helpful. Since the Mets will be better next year, it is difficult to imagine that they will find themselves in the position of a protected first round draft pick, like this season.
Stephen Drew will only cost a third round pick. He is going to be below market value from where he was at the start of the off season. MLBTradeRumors says he’s the 14th best player to be a free agent this year, 7 spots above Peralta.
In short, Drew doesn’t make us world champs, but he makes us better. He puts us in a better position, and allows our other pieces to provide depth. If the general consensus at the start of the off season was frustration for not signing Peralta, then why are we not shouting for Drew?
Fans need to wake up and start being responsible. They need to get past the idea that because a ballplayer is a free agent he should be showered with money and years. They need to learn the difference between “need” and “want.” Drew is not needed by the Mets. For what he wants, he isn’t providing anything super special. He doesn’t deserve huge amounts of money distributed over several years. Boston, his former team, doesn’t want to go there so why should the Mets. And why even discuss a contract with a guy who wants several years with the option to jump after one. Obviously, he doesn’t want to be in New YorK and if he thinks he is that good, and only needs to re-enter the free agent market next year and get his “big money” then he should show some confidence and drop the two year security net. We don’t need Drew . We don’t need to spend money on a contract that will be in our way down the road. DON’T SPEND FOOLISHLY NOW AND THEN NOT HAVE THE MONEY TO SIGN GUYS LIKE HARVEY TO LONG TERM CONTRACTS.
The Mets are just being the Mets. They went out and signed Granderson & Chris Young & figured that would placate the fans enough that they wouldn’t have to spend any more money to make the team better. There are many free agents that would help the Mets lineup such as Kendrys Morales, Nelson Cruz & Stephen Drew but the Mets in there infinite wisdom will not spend any more because they are cheap. They figure they gave fans enough to hope the team will be better & that will be enough to bring the fans back to the park. Same old stuff!!!