The Mets want to move Bartolo Colon, if for nothing else, to redirect the $11 million he is owed next year to other needs.
But multiple executives from outside the Mets say it is exactly that $11 million owed in 2015 that will make Sandy Alderson’s job trading the righty anywhere from difficult to impossible — unless the Mets swallow a huge sum of next year’s payday.
Though there are multiple teams — including the Yankees — looking for rotation help, the case against Colon was described by several personnel men as significant. One put it this way: “His old team [the A’s] didn’t want to sign him for two years. The only team willing to sign him for two years already has him and that second year is a killer for the Mets to move him even if they don’t want any prospects back.”
Colon has a 4.12 ERA. But when you adjust that for the league and his big ballpark, Colon’s ERA is actually 15 percent worse than the league average. He already has surrendered 14 homers — the same number as all of last season. There is always worry about his weight and his steroid past. All of that might be possible to overlook — to some extent — as one NL scout said, “if his contract were expiring.”
“But it is not,” the scout said. “That is why I think there is zero chance they find someone to take him. You have to consider all the issues and that you have to pay him $11 million next year when he will be 42 and no one wants to do that. No one is going to trust to give up prospects and take on that risk.”
One executive accentuated his point about how difficult it will be to move Colon by saying he thought if Colon were put on waivers and claimed by a team in August, that the Mets simply would let him go so that the new team had to pay the $11 million next year. Translation (if this scenario were true) is the Mets ultimately would accept nothing back for Colon if another club paid his 2015 contract.
It should be said that if Colon stays healthy (a big if, obviously), he is not a financial albatross to the Mets. He could be a veteran innings-eater — and actually a trade candidate again this offseason or at some point next year. But, clearly, the Mets envision a 2015 rotation that has Matt Harvey back to join Zack Wheeler, Jon Niese, Dillon Gee and Jacob deGrom with Noah Syndergaard and other Met pitching prospects pushing into the conversation.
With what, so far, have been sub-$100 million payrolls, Alderson would be best served having that $11 million to apply to other areas of the roster.
Royals not ready to flush hopes
The Royals continue to behave on the trade front (looking for a righty outfield bat, in particular) like a team that will not surrender, though with a loss Monday they had fallen two games under .500. Since a 10-game winning streak that put Kansas City in first place by 1 ¹/₂ games on June 18, the Royals were 9-18 — the AL’s second-worst record in that time — heading into Tuesday.
You could understand the zeal to push forward and not just because jobs are on the line, particularly that of manager Ned Yost and perhaps even GM Dayton Moore. Kansas City has gone the longest in the majors without reaching the playoffs (since 1985).
There have been moments this year when it appeared the three teams that have gone the longest without reaching the playoffs — Kansas City, Toronto (1993) and Seattle (2001) — might all make it. But now only the Mariners are in playoff position.
In fact, of the seven teams that have gone the longest without making the playoffs, only Seattle was in postseason position: the Marlins (2003), Astros (2005) and the Mets and Padres (both 2006) were not only on the outside looking in, but under .500.
Sanchez — not Syndergaard — first to bigs
At the time the Mets traded R.A. Dickey, Toronto was perceived to have two talented pitching prospects in its low minors: Noah Syndergaard and Aaron Sanchez. The sense was the Mets liked Syndergaard better and — internally — the Blue Jays preferred Sanchez. The pair was picked four slots apart (Sanchez 34th, Syndergaard 38th) as high schoolers in the 2010 draft.
Syndergaard was traded to the Mets and began this year as a consensus top-15 prospect, Sanchez in the top 35. Both have endured struggles this year, but Sanchez is going to beat his fellow righty to the majors — in part out of desperation by the Blue Jays.
Sources say the plan was to call up Sanchez on Tuesday to work out of the bullpen even before Boston trampled Toronto 14-1 on Monday. Sanchez, 22, had worked Sunday, so the Blue Jays wanted to give him a day off before summoning him to the majors.
A career starter, Sanchez was transitioned to the bullpen in the last week and appeared twice as a reliever at Triple-A. A scout who covers the Toronto system went against the general high-end perception of Sanchez and said he believes — in part because of control issues (5.1 walks per nine this year between Double-A and Triple-A) — Sanchez’s big arm will end up in the pen.
Sanchez is among the most regularly requested Blue Jays in significant trade talks, along with Double-A lefty Daniel Norris and defensive whiz center fielder Dalton Pompey. But sources say Sanchez’s promotion is not a showcase. He already is at a career-high 100 1/3 innings, and moving him to the pen allows Toronto to better control his innings.
And it just so happens to be an area of extreme need for the fading Blue Jays. Toronto was 38-24 on June 6, good for the second-best record in the AL. Their subsequent 13-25 record is the second-worst in the AL, and their 177 runs allowed in that time is the third-worst. Toronto’s 4.50 relief ERA is 27th in the majors, so the hope is Sanchez’s high-end stuff and groundball penchant trump his propensity for wildness and help the Blue Jays, who begin Tuesday tied with the Yankees for second in the AL East, four games behind Baltimore.