Last time I checked in, I criticized the Mets for consistently finding reasons to not sign free agents. At the time it was warranted; GM Sandy Alderson would set a figure that he was comfortable with signing a player for, and he would not budge from that figure. From the outside, it was unclear whether he was given orders to not overpay for any player.
They finally showed that they were willing to upgrade the team. While no team was willing to commit a fourth year to Curtis Granderson, the Mets knew he could certainly be signed if the team would just extend an extra year. It was a no-brainer, considering the quality of in-house candidates and the dearth of free agents willing to come to Queens. Granderson is coming off an injury-shortened seasoned, but it was no fault of his own. Basically, it was the perfect scenario for the Mets because his stock dropped due to missing time, but it is not a reason to believe his performance will suffer due to a broken forearm. The four year, $60 million is eerily similar to that of Jason Bay, but there is no reason to believe a player of Granderson’s skill set will erode anywhere near that degree.
My view is that Granderson is precisely the player the Mets needed. Obviously, he is not the same player that hit 38 doubles, 23 home runs, 23 triples and stole 26 bases, but all he needs to do is contribute more than the Quadruple-A talent the Mets have currently. Additionally, he is only two years removed from being the second best hitter on the powerhouse New York Yankee team that clubbed 245 home runs.
As far as the signing of Chris Young, there is not much to be excited about. Like Granderson, he is not the same player he once was, however, his ceiling was much lower than Curtis. His best season was in 2010, but that featured an OPS+ just over league average at 108. Since then, it has gradually declined to 103, 98 to 85. It is possible that he experiences a renaissance year a la Marlon Byrd who re-invented himself from a PED suspension and being released to an .847 OPS. The likelihood of lightning striking twice with declining outfielders is unlikely. His defense should still be an asset but, for a team that was eager to find power, he is just not the impact player they are starved for.
From the standpoint of the rotation, I really like the signing of Bartolo Colon. That is the type of high-reward signing that the team needed. Yes, he may regress during his age-41 season, but with only $20 million on the line for two seasons, that is worth the risk. Colon was not some middling, trying-to-hang-on pitcher in recent years. He was among the best in the American League over the past two seasons. Early on it seemed he was simply off to a nice start, but he never fatigued and ended up being the ace of the AL West champs. 190.1 innings of a 141 ERA+ is nothing to scoff at. Returning to the NL could even shed a couple tenths of a run off that 2.65 ERA. The biggest assurance of his future success is his impressive 4.03 K/BB ratio.
While Colon is only replacing the tremendous presence of Matt Harvey, who finished 2013 with a 157 ERA+, there should be improvement from the rest of the rotation due to a full season of Jon Niese, Dillon Gee and Zack Wheeler.
From the looks of it the rotation could be a strength even without Harvey. That bodes well for 2015, which could be led by Harvey, Wheeler, Niese, Colon and Syndergaard, not to mention Rafael Montero and Jenrry Mejia.
As far as the rest of the offseason is concerned, I would love to see the addition of Stephen Drew to strengthen the middle infield and I am interested to see if Ike Davis could be motivated by all the trade talks. Perhaps he could find an age-27 surge reminiscent of Chris Davis.
