Mets To Sign Chris B. Young

[Johnnydollaz89]

By Tim Dierkes [

The Mets reached an agreement with outfielder Chris Young, tweets Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets that it's a one-year deal. The 30-year-old Young is represented by Reynolds Sports Management.

Young spent last season with the A's after being acquired in the three-team deal with the Marlins and Diamondbacks that sent Heath Bell to Arizona. Oakland turned down an $11MM option on Young after the powerful right-handed swinger slashed just .200/.280/.379. Young still managed to club 10 homers, and part of his downturn in batting average to do with a career-worst .237 batting average on balls in play. The low average can't be chalked up solely to poor luck though, as Young's strikeout rate climbed to nearly 25 percent and his 17.5 percent infield flyball rate was the ninth highest in baseball among players with 350 plate appearances.

Young typically grades out as a strong defender and is capable of playing all three outfield spots, making him a valuable pickup for defensive purposes alone. He also owns a career .262/.363/.474 batting line against left-handed pitching. If he can cut down the pop-ups and punchouts a bit, Young could return to the form that saw him average 3.7 fWAR and 4.2 rWAR from 2010-12 with the D-Backs.

Obviously, with Young coming off a poor season, the budget-conscious Athletics did not make him qualifying offer. The Mets, therefore, aren't required to surrender a draft pick to sign him. The Mets have prioritized adding bats early this offseason, and Young figures to be a low-cost option that will still allow them to pursue bigger fish like Nelson Cruz, Curtis Granderson and Jhonny Peralta.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2013/1...medium=twitter

Now if we can add Cruz/Grandy and Peralta with Young, we're looking better

 

[Nasty_Magician]

On a one year deal for not a ton of money it's a low risk move. Agreed, now sign a powerbat in the outfield, see what we can get for Ike, maybe another depth signing and I like the way this team is shaping up.

 

[Johnnydollaz89]

On a one year deal for not a ton of money it's a low risk move. Agreed, now sign a powerbat in the outfield, see what we can get for Ike, maybe another depth signing and I like the way this team is shaping up.

And then it came out today that may not be going over the 87M in payroll we had last season -__- so there goes any hope of building this team through something other than the draft. Alderson is definitely going to walk when his tenure here is done, they give him nothing to work with.

 

[Nasty_Magician]

And then it came out today that may not be going over the 87M in payroll we had last season -__- so there goes any hope of building this team through something other than the draft. Alderson is definitely going to walk when his tenure here is done, they give him nothing to work with.

Where did you read that? Everything I've heard Sandy was saying it will be above that mark:

Mets rumors: 2014 payroll will likely be above $87 million, per GM

Even still, with the contracts that did come of the books, even matching that payroll would be a significant upgrade over what we had. Bay, Johan and Francisco were all flat out dead money. We could certainly find a better way to spend that $50ish million.

 

[Johnnydollaz89]

I'll get the article for ya right now. Saw it when I was at work, but it got busy and forgot to post it.

Mets owners won't increase payroll because of free agent costs

According to a report, Sandy Alderson's resources are very limited this winter.

According to John Harper of the Daily News, Mets ownership won't give general manager Sandy Alderson more than $30 million to spend on 2014 payroll this winter because of the high price of free agent players. It's hard to imagine the team living up to Alderson's prediction that the team's payroll would exceed $87 million next season under such restrictions.

It is, of course, possible to build a winning baseball team on a shoestring budget, but if what Harper heard is true, the Mets' offseason looks awfully bleak. With the contracts of Johan Santana and Jason Bay supposedly off the books -- both player's contract buyouts were supposedly charged to 2013 payroll -- the inability of a baseball team in New York City to spend even a moderate amount of money is incredibly disappointing.

The Mets' inability to spend even as much as the average Major League Baseball team would not come as a surprise, unfortunately. If ownership can't come to grips with the reality of the free agent market, the Mets aren't very likely to be any better in 2014 than they were in 2013. And saying you won't spend more on payroll because market-rate players cost more is a perfect way never to spend money on free agents.

http://www.amazinavenue.com/2013/11/...sandy-alderson