NYP: Chris Young Will Be The Full-Time Left Fielder

Since learning the terms of his signing late last week, Mets fans have been wondering what role Chris Young will play for the team in 2014.  Joel Sherman shed a bit of light on the topic yesterday, with this little nugget of information buried inside his article that discussed the Mets need to be better bottom feeders:

Alderson went to Houston to meet face-to-face with Chris Young. One reason the Mets believe they succeeded in signing him is the GM promised full-time play, though probably not in center. The Mets believe Young is one of those players who needs regular at-bats to succeed, to be closer to the All-Star he was in 2010.

To spell that out for everyone... The New York Mets have agreed to pay Chris Young, a player who hasn't hit better than .250 since the 2010 season Sherman references, who is a career .225 hitter against lefties and is coming off a season during which he managed an OPS of just .659, a whopping $7.25 million dollars.  That's full-time money for what will apparently be full-time duty.

Sherman explains that if the Mets aren't going to add big time free agents, they need to spend what money they do have better.  Its common sense, which Sherman believes the team didn't use when deciding to bring Chris Young on full-time.  Unfortunately, I'm included to believe.

As I wrote on Friday, Young is a major risk as a full-time player.  He is significantly better against left-handed pitching.  Of the 679 pitchers who appeared in the majors last season, only 198 or 29.2% were lefties.  This severely limits Young's chances of full-time success in my opinion.  One is only left to conclude that this is a very suspect signing by Sandy Alderson given both the financial and playing time commitments that have apparently been made.

ICYMI: Mets Can't Afford Anyone

I don't mean to start your Monday morning off with bad news, but its becoming more and more likely that the Mets can't afford free agents this winter.  Over the weekend, Mike Puma of the New York Post reported that the Mets fear they will be priced out of mid-market free agents such as Curtis Granderson and Nelson Cruz.

Have no fear though, its because Marlon Byrd's shiny new contract with the Phillies worth as much as 3yr/$24MM, has sent the market soaring, not because the Wilpon's have no money.  For a third consecutive offseason, the Mets front office doesn't want to pay market price for anything resembling a competent major leaguer.  Remember..the free agent prices are "scarey", said Jeff Wilpon last week.

Despite Sandy Alderson reassuring fans that the organization plans to spend more on the free agent market than it did last winter (a whopping $5MM), I remain increasingly skeptical.  Look, I can sympathize with the Mets not wanting to blow half the budget on one player, but something has to give here.  Fans want to see players they can get excited about, not another cheap crop of low risk/high reward has beens.

The Mets like to say they don't want to commit too much to a player with obvious flaws.  That's a swell way of thinking until you realized that the players who aren't flawed are the ones who will make in excess of $100MM this winter.  There are no perfect players when your trolling the same shallow end of the free agent pool where Sandy has set anchor in previous offseasons.  The Mets aren't entrenched there because they want to be, they are being priced out of the market because they can't afford them.  Its that easy...

Should Wally Walk?

Photo by Michael Baron

On Friday, the New York Post reported that Wally Backman could leave the Mets' organization if he is not offered the big league managerial position this offseason.  Such a game of chicken will almost certainly draw a line in the sand for many of the team's followers, should it come to fruition. 

The 53 year old skipper has a love him or hate him relationship with the team's fanbase.  Known by the elder faction of Mets fans for his tenure during the 1980s, the notion of having him at the helm brings with it a lot of nostalgia.  For the younger group, his brush with the law aside, Backman has become a bit of a YouTube sensation in recent years with his theatrical, and often profanity laced ejections.

Whether you think his history or his method of management would be good for the team, I think its fair to say that Backman has put in his time with the organization.  Hired to manager the Mets AA affiliate after interviewing for the big league gig in 2011, Wally was promoted to manage the AAA team in 2012.  Since that time, he has had a hand in the development of many key contributors of the current big league roster.  Basically what I'm saying is, he's put in his time here.

If the Mets do choose to extend the contract of Terry Collins at year's end, Backman's progression to the major league manager will be stalled yet again, potentially several additional seasons.  At some point a man has to go elsewhere.

Personally, I don't think Collins' contract should be extended (but that's another post for another time), but I also not sure Wally Backman is the answer either.  All opinions aside, Backman has had success managing at the AAA level and is due a shot at the next level.  If the Mets won't give him that opportunity, I think its only fair he go find it elsewhere.

Like what you've read?  You can follow me on Twitter at @RobPatterson83.