December 21, 2013

One Time Mets Target, Choo Signs With Texas

If you were in search of any additional evidence that this winter's free agent market is absolutely nuts, free agent outfielder Shin-Soo Choo just signed a 7-year, $130 million dollar deal with the Texas Rangers. You may recall that late this past summer, many baseball experts predicted that Choo would sign a deal in the 5-year, $80 million dollar range. Shows how much they knew...

Once upon a time, Choo was the top offseason target of the New York Mets. He was without question the ideal player to fill both their outfield and lead off needs. However the Mets were immediately out of the race when Choo's agent, Scott Boras, was reportedly seeking at a deal in excess of $100 million.

Ultimately, it will be $130 million for Choo.  It should be noted that he turned down a seven-year, $140 million dollar offer from the Yankees.  However, there is speculation that he will take home more money due to a lack of state income tax in Texas, with one source reporting that the Yankees bid would have to have exceeded $147 million to match up with that of Texas.

You may be thinking, if they Mets spent like the big market team they supposedly are, then why couldn't they make something like this happen. To some extend you're right, but contracts like this inevitably turn into an albatross.  Choo will be 38 years old before this contract expires.  That's a very dangerous deal for the Rangers, but there are in "win now" mode and the Mets most definitely aren't, yet.

No comments:

Post a Comment