DOWN THE DRAIN: As the Mets to continue to build on a younger core of talent and regain some financial stability, they can’t wastefully overspend like they have in the past on players like Jason Bay (left) and Johan Santana. (
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This 2013 Mets season, their fans hope, will be more about talent and transition and less about turmoil.
But the trickiest concept, when we’re talking about financially strapped baseball teams, might be timing.
Even if Matt Harvey excels in his first full major league season, even if Zack Wheeler and Travis d’Arnaud both live up to their hype, the Mets must build a championship roster around that trio, David Wright and Jon Niese. A core that can blossom alongside them.
“The big thing for me is it feels like the Mets are stuck in some kind of purgatory,” an official from another NL team said recently, on the condition of anonymity. “They didn’t blow up their club like Houston did, but they also aren’t a serious threat in the NL East behind Washington, Atlanta, and even Philadelphia.
“Players like Ike Davis and Daniel Murphy have value, but are they going to be part of the next division winner in Queens? Unlikely. They are losing value every day as their salaries increase and years of club control decrease.”
Davis and Murphy both became arbitration-eligible, landing seven-figure salaries, for the first time in 2013. Murphy can be a free agent after 2015, and Davis after 2016. Ruben Tejada enters the arbitration world next year, and he, like Davis, can explore the open market after 2016.
Bobby Parnell, whom the Mets would love to be their full-time closer, can join Murphy as a free agent after 2015.
Tick, tock.
No, this doesn’t qualify as a dire situation. It’s not like the Mets will have multiple, significant decisions to make following this season.
Yet the window on one cluster of Mets — let’s call Davis, Murphy, Parnell and Tejada “Omar Minaya’s parting gift,” since, well, that’s exactly what they are — is closing just as the next harvest — Minaya’s final top draft pick Harvey, plus Sandy Alderson’s trade acquisitions d’Arnaud and Wheeler — is getting ready.
On the conference call Thursday night to announce the terrible news about Johan Santana, Alderson said this about Wheeler: “We will bring him up when he is ready, and no immediate need will impact that. We feel we have … not just depth in the system, but also some exceptional talent coming through the system, and we just have to see how our needs and the maturation of that talent connect.”
That’s exactly the right philosophy, and let’s not kid ourselves, holding Wheeler back for half the season reaps benefits financially (pushing back his arbitration clock) and control-wise (stalling his free-agency clock). The greater take-away from this comment, though, is the line about the connection of the Mets’ needs and the maturation of their talent.
The Mets’ first two drafts under Alderson have not received high grades in the industry, nor has the team come up with any under-the-radar finds through waivers or minor league free agency. They have done better internationally, with 2011 Dominican pitchers Rafael Montero and Luis Mateo climbing the organizational ladder. Their clear need is for position players, as top draft picks Brandon Nimmo (outfielder, 2011) and Gavin Cecchini (shortstop, 2012) have underwhelmed outside observers.
For sure, those two and others still have time — you can’t properly grade a baseball draft until you’re five years into it. Nevertheless, with four straight losing seasons on their resume and a virtually guaranteed fifth one coming this way, the team’s ownership and upper management understand that an upturn needs to occur soon.
Which brings us to the most important issue: funds. Fred Wilpon is on record that his family is free of debt and will be ready to engage in next offseason’s free-agent market. Alderson, too, speaks of the increased flexibility the club will acquire once the majority of money owed to Santana and Jason Bay come off the books.
You can buy your way out of disappointing drafts, out of synchronization concerns. Out of being labeled a “financially strapped baseball team.”
No, the Mets shouldn’t revert to the suspect process that landed them Santana and Bay in the first place. When they see a high-priced player they like, however, they must be able to pounce. Since they still are charging big-market ticket prices for their games, they need to possess the big-market asset of room for error. They should sign Davis, for instance, into his free-agency years if they determine he merits such an investment (not a great bet, given his easy-to-fill position).
So the point here, made before and to be made again, is that Wilpon had best be serious about opening up his checkbook. The $138 million commitment to Wright serves as an excellent sign, but given what has transpired around this franchise over the last five years, we need to see more.
Mets leadership will monitor their gems in 2013, and they also will work on the lesser jewels. Because they and their fans know all too well about “purgatory,” and no one wants any more of that.
kdavidoff@nypost.com