When Steve Cohen held his introductory press conference as the owner of the Mets on November 10, he referred to the Dodgers because the team wanted him to emulate his franchise.
Cohen and the Mets saw the difference between the franchise on Friday as Trevor Bauer picked the Dodgers.
The difference is physical that the Mets can’t do anything about – 2,805 miles that separates City Field from Dodger Stadium. Bauer, from the Los Angeles area, gets to go home.
But Bauer accepted a few million dollars less in total value to become the Dodger rather than the Met for more specific Pacific reasons. The Dodgers are everything the Mets aspire to be (and pretty much every team).
He is MLB’s most potent contender, having won eight straight NL West titles and winning the World Series last year. The Mets have made it to the playoffs twice in 14 seasons. The Dodgers are on the pawn of modernism pitching; Important for Bauer, who has done more mainstream cutting-edge equipment than any active player to possibly maximize performance. The Mets are trying to gain momentum in this area. The Dodgers are blessed with the kind of mature clubhouse that can absorb a polarizing player. The Mets are still trying to prove that not all of the laxity in their shop was due to vipon.
The Dodgers also provide a mega-city stage for Bauer, who has ambitions to be a powerful personal brand. New York City may also distribute. Also, under Cohen, the Mets may be financially competitive compared to the Fred Wilpon version, which was always trying to retake the Dodgers – the Brooklyn Dodgers.
The Mets offered three years for $ 105 million, which was estimated to be $ 40 million each in the first two years and a chance to exit after each – the annual value would have come in at $ 35 million, which Gerrit Cole Had a record low of 36 million. . The Dodger deal is for three years at $ 102 million. It pays Bauer $ 40 million in Year 1 and $ 45 million in Year 2 and he can opt out of either.
The strength of current dodgers is that they have created such a monster or financial resilience, productive agricultural system and attractive locale that they push into every market simply to see if they can land inter-manufacturers. His leverage suggests that he will still be great without a player. For example, he worked hard on Cole last year, made fewer offers than the other New York team and did not get one. They ao In the Young Race, they lost to second and third placed Kenta Maeda and Hyun-jin Ryu respectively. And David Price dropped out of the season. Nevertheless, he won it all, partly because he still had too many oodles to start potting.
This offseason, they did not offer much as a New York team and still landed as the winner of the 2020 NL Cy Young Award. He tried such a short-lived, high annual value pitch with Bryce Harper a few years ago and it didn’t work. This happened now, as the Dodgers made way beyond the $ 210 million luxury tax limit when capitalizing other big market clubs like the Yankees were treating it as one that the demilitarized zone never contacts.
Bauer is probably there for at least two years before exiting at $ 17 million (with health) due to the final season of 2023. The Dodgers have $ 87 million due to their books later this year, namely Clayton Kershaw, Kenley Jenson and Corey Seeger with free agents. They would have to retain or replace Kershav and Seeger. But by the time they decide on Cody Belinger and Walker Buehler, Bauer and his large payments will be removed from the books.
In addition, the move countered the Dodgers’ strongest NL West chase, the Padres, who strengthened their rotation this offseason with Yu Darvish, Blake Snell and Joe Musgrove. Bauer joined Buehler, Kershaw, Price, Tony Gonsolin, Dustin May and Julio Urias. This quality / quantity strikes a season when teams fret about covering 162 matches of the innings, as there were just 60 games on the pitches last year (and none of the minors).
In addition, the Dodgers hired Bauer from the Mets, who became a strong Syndall with a perfect version of Wright. It’s a loss that way. But I maintain that it was the wrong man at the wrong time for the Mets as they try to promote a culture and foundation that can absorb any type of player.
The Mets still have ways to take a strong shot in 2021, with Jackie Bradley or Lorenzo Cain improving the center without disrupting the future, playing upside down on James Paxton or imagining – of all things – Dodgers spending. And Sandy Han Alderson tried to reunite with Justin Turner.
But it is about 2021. Failing on Bauer, the Mets retained their second-round pick and $ 500,000 in international pool money (which compensates for signing Bauer) this June. They should use it wisely. Cohen has several miles to fulfill his ambition to become the East Coast Dodgers. On Friday, he faced for the first time what he had the hunger to do.
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