New York Mets: BVW Promises More, but Delivers More of the Same
By Manny Gómez
When the New York Mets announced Brodie Van Wagenen (aka “BVW”) as the new GM, experts were excited to see the franchise do something out of character. So far, however, they’re still the same old’ Mets.
For quite some time now, the New York Mets have operated much like a small market team even though they live in a big market city and are currently the #6 ranked MLB organization in terms of value.
It seems that year in and year out, they make a formulated decision to go after the cheaper version of the guy they’re looking for on the free agent market in order to save money. What they fail to see, however, is that by continually making the wrong decision on players, they’re forfeiting the opportunity to make more money.
Why?
For one, by fielding teams with inferior players, you decrease your chances to win games. It’s no surprise that since 2009, the big market Mets have crossed the 80-win threshold exactly two times.
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When you lose games, you lose concessions, you lose TV ratings, and therefore you lose money.
This offseason, with the introduction of BVW as the new Mets GM, many interpreted this as a sign of change. So much so, that every time BVW signed a player out of free agency, the media was quick to praise the move. However, if you stop an analyze each decision, except for one or two, a better alternative was always there.
Take Jed Lowrie for example. Upon signing the 34-year-old infielder, BVW was praised for the move. Look closer, and you’ll see that a better and younger alternative was available in DJ LeMahieu who ended up signing with the New York Yankees for just $2M AAV more than Lowrie got.
Same old’ Mets, right?
How about Justin Wilson and Jeurys Familia? Two decent relief pitchers, one with prior experience with the team. From a distance, the move seems good, but again better alternatives were available. Alternatives like Zach Britton, David Robertson, Adam Ottavino, and Craig Kimbrel to name a few.
Same old’ Mets, right?
The kicker? The big market team that’s ranked 6th among all MLB organizations in terms of worth has the money to get the better alternative if they wanted to. What’ s more is that if they operated like the big market team that they truly are, the Mets could’ve gotten all of the better alternatives and still remain under the luxury tax threshold of $206M.
Not only that, they’d be the class of an ever-improving NL East division.
For example, if we were to swap Lowrie, Familia, and Wilson for… wait for it…
- DJ LeMahieu
- David Robertson
- Adam Ottavino
…and just for fun, let’s give Bryce Harper $30M p/yr, the Mets still wouldn’t exceed the luxury tax threshold.
Don’t believe me?
The New York Mets total payroll currently stands at $158M. If we were to replace Lowrie, Familia, and Wilson for the aforementioned players plus a $30M AAV Harper, their payroll would increase to approximately $205M.
The point is, BVW gets an “A” for effort, but the organization as it stands will continue to operate as usual.
dark. Next. Mets hand fifth starter role to Vargas
Until the New York Mets start to act like who they are, which is a big market team, good luck continuing to catch up to the Braves, Nats, and Phillies because as it stands, they’re better than you.