With Trevor Bauer officially a Los Angeles Dodger, the Mets will now look for other ways to complete their rotation. In addition, they can now turn their attention and money to meet other needs on the list. One of these escalation needs is a strong defensive central defender.
According to Ken Davidoff and Joel Sherman of New York Post, Mets can intensify its efforts to bring Jackie Bradley Jr. to Queens. It seems logical that the Mets were waiting for the Bauer chip to fall before making further moves. From Sportrac, Mets was about $ 28 million below the luxury tax threshold on January 16, 2021. Add Aaron Loup ‘s $ 3 million, and Mets is now about $ 25 million below the point where the tax starts to apply.
The Dodgers will pay Bauer $ 40 million in the first year of their contract, according to Mark Feinsand.
Trevor Bauer receives $ 102 million for 3 years from the Dodgers, by source. He chose to leave after each of the first two years; $ 40 million in 2021, $ 45 million in 2022. He will be the highest paid player in MLB history at 21, and again at 22. Good job for @AgentRachelLuba & Jon Fetterolf of @zssports_law.
– Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) February 5, 2021
Joel Sherman tweeted that Mets offered Bauer more money, so if they had signed Bauer, Mets would have significantly exceeded the luxury tax and would have had to choose between paying the fee or reducing the payroll. In either case, it is unlikely that they would also spend in Bradley.
MLB commercial rumors predicts that Bradley will run a business of about $ 16 million a year. While the MLBTR suggests that a two-year contract may be enough for Bradley, others speculate that the former Red Sox central defender may end up signing for four or five years.
With the $ 25 million Mets under luxury tax, they can certainly fit Bradley and have room for another rotation arm (the Jake Odorizzi Rumors about “he is or is not” continue to spin).
Bradley is a good, though not ideal, fit for the Mets. Defensively in the central field, it would be a significant update Brandon Nimmo. Bradley’s DRS in 2020 was 5 (career 48), against Nimmo at -5 in 2020 (career -14). Bradley in the center of the field would allow Nimmo to move to the left field, where he is above average defensively, and far superior to the other Mets options. Dominic Smith and JD Davis (if Davis is not in third base).
The Virginia native, however, is not a great offensive player, with a career cut line of .239 / .321 / .412 with 98 home runs over eight seasons. He has a career bWAR of 18.0, being his best season 2016, when he posted a bWAR of 5.8 bWAR.
Another reason why Bradley is not the ideal fit is that he is a left-handed hitter and would join a lineup already tilted to the left (Jeff McNeil, Nimmo, Smith, Michael Comfort) The other concern is the duration of a potential contract. If Bradley signs for four or five years, he will be around thirty at the end of the contract.
There are other options for Mets to consider for defense in the center field. None of them would be the ideal fit (Albert almora, Delino DeShields Jr. are among the options). Both DeShields and Almora are right-handed hitter, but none of them is as good a defender as Bradley.
In the end, the Mets lost Bauer, whose addition to the rotation would have given Mets one of the best, if not the best, rotation in the game.
However, Mets is still subject to luxury tax and has working capital and the opportunity to meet other needs. It will be interesting to see how they continue to grow their list in the last days of the off-season.
