With the Winter Meetings now officially over, there’s only one way to describe how the New York Mets fared – they underachieved.
Heading into the four day Winter Meetings, New York Mets general manager Sandy Alderson seemed confident that the he would be able to trade either Jay Bruce or Curtis Granderson. In fact, early in the week reports showed that a trade between the Mets and the Baltimore Orioles was beginning to gain traction.MLB insider Joel Sherman suggested that the Mets were interested in Orioles reliever Brad Brach, but Baltimore felt that Granderson and Bruce’s contracts were too large to fully take on. The Mets, however, were adamant that they wouldn’t eat any of the contracts themselves.
Another report by MLB insider Ken Rosenthal showed that Granderson was drawing more interest in trade talks than Bruce, a surprising turn for Mets brass and fans alike.
So what exactly does not finding a trade partner for either player mean for their market value?
Well with Mark Trumbo, Edwin Encarnacion, and even Mike Napoli still around, teams will certainly undervalue Bruce and Granderson, especially with the somewhat heavy contracts attached to them.
Granderson will make $15 million this coming year and Bruce is owed $13 million, leading teams to look in other directions unless the Mets decide to change their mind and take on some of those contracts.
Most of all, this hurts Alderson, who expected to get a mid-tier relief pitcher to add depth and create a backup plan in case closer Jeurys Familia is suspended due to his pending domestic violence case.
While of course there’s still a chance Alderson makes a move for a relief pitcher, the value of his trade chips did take a hit, ultimately leading to the front office underachieving at this year’s Winter Meetings.
