Hot Stove Musings: Patrick Corbin Auction (Greed Personified) and the Middling Mets
Four, Five, or Six Years?
Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported the Yankees decided they wanted to go four years on Patrick Corbin, but then decided to add a fifth year to the contract. Then they were told Washington would go six years to secure Corbin’s signature. That’s six guaranteed years. So, in the interests of more money, Corbin signed with the Washington Nationals. Greed personified.
Don’t fret, that’s capitalism at work. Be as greedy as you can. How do you think the billionaires who own the teams became wealthy? They took the sixth, seventh, eighth and 10th years guaranteed, and then demanded more. Whether they earned it or not.
Free agency is about greed. About signing the largest guaranteed contract. There’s nothing surprising about players who chase the largest contract because everyone who is eligible for arbitration or free agency does it. Meaning everyone with at least three years of major league service begins to see dollar signs in front of their eyeballs.
After all, free agency is the other side of the Reserve Clause. The days when teams controlled players in perpetuity because after a contract completed, teams had the following season reserved, and on and on. The owners were greedy and the players had no recourse, which is why no team ever offered a player anything close to his real value.
Even Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle were never paid what their true value was to the New York Yankees. There was no need to pay them their full value. The player would either bite his lip and sign the anemic offer, sit out the season or hope his team traded his contract elsewhere so he might receive a pittance more. The Yankees only traded Ruth when he was finished, and they limited him to one team, the Boston Braves, rather than allowing him to choose where he wanted to play his last season. DiMaggio and Mantle were never traded or released. They were that valuable.
That was baseball for the first hundred years of its existence. But Marvin Miller changed the game in the 1970s. Affording players the chance to demand more. So really, even if Patrick Corbin was a Yankees fan in his childhood days, why would he walk away from an extra $23 million dollars (as reported in the Washington Post)? Would you? Now that’s greed personified.
The Free Agency Secret
Of course, if Patrick Corbin handles his bounty responsibly, he and his family are set for the rest of their lives. And whether it was $120 or $140 wouldn’t make a huge difference. But let’s face it, Patrick Corbin is 29 and this deal takes him to his age 34 season. More than likely, as a pitcher approaching his age 35 season, he won’t be receiving anymore large contracts after this. So, he maxed now, while he could.
Whether another number-three pitcher will help the Nationals is debatable. But money was not the issue for the Nationals. They added another arm, a lefty arm at that, in the suddenly competitive National League East, and that cannot hurt. But $23 million per season only guarantees Patrick Corbin will receive bigger paychecks every two weeks, not that he will pitch effectively, or that Washington will score runs for him, or that opponents will continue to bite at his slider. That’s the secret, Mike Rizzo has no idea how Corbin will perform in the future. All he can do is hope he hasn’t wasted $140 million dollars. Of course, no one forced him to commit that kind of money to Patrick Corbin. Teams can be greedy, too.
Questions for the Mets and Nationals
Can the Nationals change their mindset? As talented a team as they have been, they’ve also been an emotionally fragile nine. Though losing Bryce Harper might help them in the long run because he won’t be in the clubhouse or out on the field. And they can swap hungrier players into their starting eight and hope they’ll battle their way to the top. And make Washington a better team as a result.
Now, it remains to see who else Washington will add to their mix. They’ve already addressed catching with Kurt Suzuki and Jan Gomes, just as Atlanta added Brian McCann to its catching mix.
Both teams stole the potential thunder of the New York Mets, seeking to toss whatever they can against the wall to entertain their flummoxed fans, yet who still desperately need some good players, everywhere on the field. How about competence behind the dish, forget about exhilarating or spectacular.
Travis d’Arnaud, Kevin Plawecki and Tomas Nido. As mediocre a trio as any team could assemble. No wonder Mets fans are apoplectic. These guys cannot hit. It’s even debatable how whether they can catch well enough for the major leagues. More than likely, the Mets aren’t going to be able to offer enough to trade for J. T. Realmuto, now that they gave away their two best prospects to Seattle in the Robinson Cano/Edwin Diaz trade. Although the New York papers continue to trumpet columns shouting that the Mets need Realmuto. I agree, they do. But someone should have whispered that pearl of wisdom into Van Wagenen’s ear before he traded away the Mets’ future. Can the Mets find anyone crazy enough to relocate to Flushing Meadows?
So, What Do the Mets Need?
Intelligent leadership. Something that seems foreign to Flushing Meadows.
Where are you Frank Cashen when we need you? Even Steve Phillips.
It is true the Mets need relief pitching. Their bullpen was atrocious last season. I like that they jettisoned Jay Bruce and Anthony Swarzak, neither of whom offered much in the way of production last season. But for what? Were it only Robinson Cano and some millions of dollars back, I’d give it a grudging okay. But to package prospects to add an asset they did not need, no matter how good he was last season, makes no sense. Sorry Edwin Diaz.
Someone should remind Van Wagenen about the value of diamond defense. Catcher. Second base. Shortstop. And center field. It would be nice to have someone at each position better than league average. The Mets are below league average at all these positions, unless you consider Amed Rosario a top-notch major league shortstop (I don’t, not yet). And while Juan Lagaras is an excellent defender in center field, he cannot hit. Has never has put a charge into a baseball, which is why he’s never been a regular.
Rather than beefing up for a run at the playoffs, perhaps the Mets should acknowledge they are a mediocre team in a suddenly tough division. They should admit that Cano and Diaz are not going to prevent Atlanta, Philadelphia and Washington from pummeling them the 19 times they play each team in 2019. Only Miami will play nice. That’s 57 games against top competition in the division. Who wants to bet the Mets end up 17-40, at best, against those top three teams? Throw in Miami and the Mets are 28-48 in the division. Ouch. Tough to get to the playoffs with those numbers.
I’m waiting to see what other brilliant ideas Van Wagenen is willing to toss against the wall. How could Van Wagenen possibly acquire J. T. Realmuto without any more assets to move? Why would Miami trade with the Mets? In effect it was either Realmuto or Cano/Diaz. Van Wagenen made his choice.
Mike Rizzo tossed all that money at Patrick Corbin because he and the Nationals have seen what Atlanta and Philadelphia have done already (forget the Mets, they don’t count), and Rizzo does not want to be left behind. But the Mets are behind. And will be no matter how many Cy Young Award seasons Jacob deGrom has.
What the Dodgers Had Once Upon a Time
When Sandy Koufax dominated the National League in the 1960s, the Dodgers had great pitching and enough offense. They featured an excellent supporting cast around Koufax. Not the best players in the League, but solid defenders (save Frank Howard) and offensive contributors. Maury Wills. Willie Davis. Tommy Davis. Ron Fairly. Frank Howard. Don Drysdale. Ron Perranoski.Enough to win the World Series in 1963 and 1965, losing to the Orioles in 1966. That’s three World Series appearances in four years. The Mets could only hope to construct a team of this quality.
For many teams, the Baseball Winter Meetings in Las Vegas next week promise more thrills, spills and chills to come. For the New York Mets, just whom does the bell toll for? Or does it toll at all?
