If there was ever a winter for the Mets to forgo their obsession with stars and improve their depth instead, this was the one. Injuries practically everywhere on the diamond devastated the team in 2009, forcing the team to turn to such non-entities as Angel Berroa, Lance Broadway and Wilson Valdez. It’s certainly true that no team could have survived losing as much of its top players as the Mets did last season, but there was also no reason for a club with a $150 million payroll to have to turn to mediocre Triple-A veterans so early and often.
GM Omar Minaya, though, showed no signs of learning his lesson. Instead of concentrating on the second- and third-tier free agents that were only going to keep getting cheaper as the winter dragged on, he spent $66 million to bring in Jason Bay on Tuesday. The deal could be worth more than $80 million if the option for the fifth year vests.
That is the Mets for you. The club now has five players making at least $12 million per season: Johan Santana, Carlos Beltran, Bay, Francisco Rodriguez and Oliver Perez. David Wright and Jose Reyes aren’t quite yet there, but they’ll combine to make $19 million next year and $25 million in 2011 before Reyes becomes a free agent.
Will it buy anything more than another fourth-place finish? The team. at present, looks like this:
SS – Jose Reyes – $9 million
2B – Luis Castillo – $6.25 million
CF – Carlos Beltran – $20 million
LF – Jason Bay – $16 million (approx.)
3B – David Wright – $10 million
1B – Daniel Murphy – $450,000
RF – Jeff Francoeur – $4.5 million (approx.)
C – Free agent
OF – Angel Pagan – $1.1 million (approx.)
INF – Alex Cora – $2 million
C – Henry Blanco – $750,000
C/INF – Chris Coste – $650,000
INF – Anderson Hernandez – $450,000
Total: $71.15 million
SP – Johan Santana – $21 million
SP – John Maine – $3.3 million (approx.)
SP – Oliver Perez – $12 million
SP – Mike Pelfrey – $500,000
SP – Jon Niese – $400,000
RP – Francisco Rodriguez – $12 million
RP – Pedro Feliciano – $2.1 million (approx.)
RP – Bobby Parnell – $420,000 (approx.)
RP – Kelvim Escobar – $1.25 million
RP – Ryota Igarashi – $1.25 million
RP – Sean Green – $750,000 (approx.)
RP – Brian Stokes – $420,000 (approx.)
Total: $55.39 million
That’s $126.5 million spent on a team that’s still short a starting pitcher and a catcher. Plus, an upgrade at first base would be nice. The defense takes a hit with Bay replacing Pagan in left field, and it doesn’t look like it will get any better at second base, since Minaya has been unable to find a taker for Castillo.
Fourth place seems just about right at the moment. There simply aren’t any sure things in the rotation with Santana coming off elbow surgery, and while the top of the lineup looks awfully strong, there will also be a lot of quick innings turned in by the bottom half.
Some other thoughts on the Bay signing:
– I don’t think this means Bay needs to be avoided in fantasy leagues this year. While Wright’s decline made it appear as though Citi Field was an impossible home run park for right-handed hitters in its initial season, the stats say it actually helped them. Its home run park factor for right-handed hitters was 110 (with 100 being average), putting it behind only Cincinnati, Colorado, Philadelphia and Houston in the NL. With plenty of strong OBPs ahead of him, Bay should be good for 30 homers and 110 RBI in year one as a Met.
– For that reason, Bay won’t have to worry about being viewed as a disappointment right away. Still, I really think the Mets would be better off playing him at first base, even though it would block a quality prospect in Ike Davis. Maybe we’ll see it in 2011 if Davis disappoints in the minors next year.
– Right now, it’s Fernando Martinez who is blocked. He needed some additional Triple-A time anyway, but he’s now at the mercy of Jeff Francoeur. If Francoeur continues to hit like he did in the second half of last season, he won’t be budged at any point during 2010.
MLB, WNBA postpone games due to smoke from Canadian wildfires
Tariq Zehawi/USA TODAY NETWORK
NEW YORK — With the stench of smoke permeating Yankee Stadium and wafting through its walkways, Major League Baseball postponed games in New York and Philadelphia on Wednesday night because of poor air quality caused by Canadian wildfires.
A National Women’s Soccer League game in New Jersey and an indoor WNBA game set for Brooklyn were also called off Wednesday amid hazy conditions that have raised alarms from health authorities.
The New York Yankees’ game against the Chicago White Sox was rescheduled as part of a doubleheader starting at 4:05 p.m. on Thursday, and the Philadelphia Phillies’ game against the Detroit Tigers was reset for 6:05 p.m. on Thursday, originally a day off for both teams.
“These postponements were determined following conversations throughout the day with medical and weather experts and all of the impacted clubs regarding clearly hazardous air quality conditions in both cities,” MLB said in a statement.
The National Weather Service issued an air quality alert for New York City, saying: “the New York State Department of Health recommends that individuals consider limiting strenuous outdoor physical activity to reduce the risk of adverse health effects.” In Philadelphia, the NWS issued a Code Red.
The Yankees and White Sox played through a lesser haze on Tuesday night. A day later, stadium workers and fans arriving early to the ballpark wore face masks for protection in a scene reminiscent of the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was business as usual for me coming in. I got in around 12, 12:30, and didn’t really think too much of it,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “I actually walked outside about 2 o’clock and was like – like everyone else, like – whoa.”
White Sox manager Pedro Grifol thought MLB made the right decision postponing the game.
“These are health issues, right? So this has got to be it. We’ve been through everything – snow, rain, hail. I don’t think I’ve been through something like this,” he said. “Today at one point, it was pretty bad out there. We walked out of the dugout and it was kind of orange. They did the right thing. They got all the information.
“I’m assuming if Major League Baseball is comfortable setting up a doubleheader tomorrow, they have some type of information that it should be better than what it is today, or at least safe.”
In Philadelphia, the Phillies beat the Tigers 1-0 on Tuesday night in a game played in hazy conditions with the smell of smoke in the air. Afterward, manager Rob Thomson and his Phillies players said the conditions didn’t affect them.
About a half-hour before Wednesday’s postponement, Thomson said he thought the game would be played. But the Philadelphia skyline could not be seen from the ballpark in the afternoon, and the smoky smell remained.
Minor league teams nearby also changed plans. The Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in Pennsylvania, and the Mets’ top farm club in Syracuse, New York, postponed their games for the second consecutive night.
The Mets’ High-A affiliate in Brooklyn completed a game Wednesday against Greenville that began at 11 a.m.
The WNBA called off a game between the Minnesota Lynx and New York Liberty, saying the decision was made to “protect the health and safety of our fans, teams and community.” A makeup date wasn’t immediately announced.
Even inside Barclays Center at the morning shootaround, reporters could smell smoke in the arena.
The NWSL postponed Orlando’s match at Gotham in Harrison, New Jersey, from Wednesday night to Aug. 9.
“The match could not be safely conducted based on the projected air quality index,” the NWSL said.
At nearby Belmont Park, the New York Racing Association said training went on as planned Wednesday ahead of Saturday’s Triple Crown horse race. However, NYRA canceled training Thursday morning at Belmont and Saratoga Race Course upstate “due to poor air quality conditions forecast to impact New York State overnight and into Thursday morning.”
NYRA said a decision about Thursday’s live racing program, scheduled to begin at 3:05 p.m., will be made Thursday morning “following a review of the air quality conditions and forecast.”
“NYRA utilizes external weather services and advanced on-site equipment to monitor weather conditions and air quality in and around Belmont Park,” spokesman Patrick McKenna said Wednesday. “Training was conducted normally today, and NYRA will continue to assess the overall environment to ensure the safety of training and racing throughout the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival.”
New York’s NFL teams, the Giants and Jets, both had Wednesday off from offseason workouts. The Giants had been planning to practice inside Thursday, and the Jets said they are also likely to work out indoors Thursday.
Youth sports in the area were also affected, with parents quick to voice concern about their children’s safety outdoors.
In a statement Wednesday, the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association said schools should understand that all schedules were subject to change.
“NJSIAA is closely monitoring air quality data across New Jersey and local/state health advisories. As start times for athletic events draw near, we will make decisions for each venue and sport based on currently available information,” the organization said.
It’s not the first time in recent years that wildfires forced changes to the MLB schedule. A two-game series in Seattle between the Mariners and Giants was moved to San Francisco in September 2020 because of poor air quality caused by West Coast wildfires.
About an hour after Wednesday night’s game at Yankee Stadium was postponed, two fans visiting on vacation from Vancouver, British Columbia, were still lingering outside the ballpark.
“It’s just circumstances. What do I say? It makes me disappointed because this is one of the highlights of the trip,” said Malcolm, who was in town with his daughter and didn’t want to give his last name.
“I have a heart condition. That’s the only reason I’m wearing two masks and whatever. And my personal thought is that, why wasn’t it canceled two days ago? Because we knew about all this two days ago. But having said that, I don’t want the players running around and putting out in this, too. It can’t be good for them.”