Mets Non-tender Turner, Hefner
In addition to non-tendering Jordany Valdespin, Omar Quintanilla, and Scott Atchison, the Mets also chose to not tender contracts to Justin Turner and Jeremy Hefner, making them free agents.
They did choose to keep Daniel Murphy, Dillon Gee, Ike Davis, Bobby Parnell, Eric Young, Jr., Ruben Tejada, and Lucas Duda, and thereby have 35 players on their 40-man roster.
Why would the Mets cut loose Hefner and Turner?
Personally, I’d take Turner and the sub-million-dollar contract he’ll earn in 2014 and plug him in as the starting second baseman, and cut loose Murphy and the nearly $6M he’ll likely earn through arbitration. But that’s me.
Of course, it’s not the end of the world to lose Turner, who is viewed by the Mets as a utilityman. I’m guessing they already have in place a deal for utility guy they think is better than Turner to take his place. Who — or Hu — I’m not sure, but it’s strange that they’d let go both Turner and Quintanilla without a plan in place. Maybe one of the two has already agreed to come back on a cheaper deal. If not, it’s really not a big deal. Considering all the holes the Mets have, they can’t be too concerned with dropping a couple of fringe bench players to open up spots on the 40-man roster for new ballplayers with more upside.
Which brings us to Hefner, who will miss most if not all of 2014 due to Tommy John surgery. Before going down with the elbow injury, Hefner was a pleasant surprise, seemingly “putting it all together” after many years in the minors / as a AAAA guy. But it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense for Hefner to hog (see what I did there?) a precious 40-man roster spot this winter when he’s unable to pitch in 2014. I’m assuming that the Mets have spoken to Hefner and have a gentleman’s agreement to re-sign at some point in the near future, because, with the price of mediocre starting pitchers these days, and the relatively inexpensive cost of Hefner, it’s silly not to have him come back in 2015 to compete for a back-end rotation spot. Because the Mets do intend to field a team in 2015, yes? I haven’t heard anything about contraction …
By the way, Valdespin wasn’t even arbitration-eligible, so the Mets dropped him for no other reason than they’ve tired of his act; he’s essentially been outright released.
What’s your thought? Do you see any of these men returning to the Mets on lesser, perhaps minor-league, deals? Do you want any of them to return? Why or why not? Answer in the comments.
As for Hefner, I don’t get this move. They could have placed him on the 60 day to free up a roster spot. A cheap, quality starting pitcher under team control, and they let him go? I guess they must think that by the time he’s ready to come back, Montero, Syndergaard, and guys like DeGrom, Mazzoni, Gorski, etc… will have supplanted him. But still, doesn’t make a lot of sense to make this move now, unless as you suggest, they have an understanding with him.
As for Hefner, I could be wrong but I don’t think a player can be placed on the 60-day DL until the season begins — which means Hefner would be taking a 40-man roster spot until April (or late March?). With that in mind, I understand why they’ve non-tendered him — assuming there’s an agreement to bring him back.
Why is this good? At least two reasons. One, the FO can keep a secret (when it wants to) and two, moves become unpredictable, bringing back the magic of anything is posible (fans in essence never should lose hope, and most fans that post seem to have long ago).
Best explanation? The bottom line seems to be, that they want room on the 40 man, either for rule 5 signings, recently nontendered FA or even maybe a bigname FA. With Hefner it seems reasonable for both to have an agreement. With Turner, if they tried to shop him then it seems that nobody was interested. Therefore he’ll probably sign a minor league contract with spring invite and where he lands will depend on where he has a better chance to play.
Keep your day job (unless this blog is your day job…).
He is hardly a smooth defender, and he is no stranger to boneheaded plays. Would I prefer Robinson Cano at 2B? Yes, genius, I would.
But Murphy is an excellent hitter, making him a rarity on the Mets. If a few things broke right, I could see Murph challenging for a batting title one year.
I don’t read this blog that often because, even though I’m starved for Mets news, you have schmucks like yourself popping off like you have half a clue about baseball. Sure, run Murphy outta town while getting nothing in return – for an offense that did nothing last year.
Rising apple.com is much better, so yes I will decamp for greener pastures, sir.
Andrew Lloyd, I don’t appreciate the name-calling, but since you’re new here in the comments section, and I have a thick skin, I’ll look past it. However, if you are going to criticize an opinion, we all would appreciate a supporting argument that goes beyond identifying us as “dopes.” Like, something tangible. Because this blog is about conversation, not name-calling.
Further, I am curious: when you say you’ve played baseball your entire life, how many years is that? And what was/is your highest level of play? I always appreciate input from former / current players and like to know their backgrounds.
First, let me just point out that the “name-calling” was initiated by your pal, Izzy. I merely responded in kind – dopes is his word.
I’m 43 and have not played any pro ball. Learned the game from my Dad practically as an infant, then t-ball, then little league, high school ball, and organized softball most of my post-college years. I play softball in NY 3 seasons a year, because I love it and am really good at it.
But I am not an ex-pro player, scout, etc. So if you feel your credentials give you some kind of credibility in recommending ridiculous moves to the Mets, like cutting Murphy, go right ahead.
We are all in agreement on defense up the middle being important – actually, I like good defense everywhere on the field. As it pertains to Murph, his main skill, aka making contact/hitting line drives/hitting for average outweigh his supposedly below average defense, and his undeniable lack of instincts.
I actually think Murph is a better defender than people give him credit for, and I’ve heard Gary/Keith/Ron express that notion on the broadcast on more than one occasion. So, I like to think they’re in my camp on this one, and – I don’t know, but they seem to have some credibility. Again, if I worry about something re: Murph, it’s that he’ll do something stupid someday in a pivotal playoff game. If he ever sniffs one in a Mets uniform.
So all this to say, I respect what you do with this blog but you’re just wrong on the Murph question. The Mets as currently constructed badly need him on the team and performing like he’s capable of doing. They can more than live with his defense while they address the real problems on the team.
No need to get defensive about your credentials vs. mine. I didn’t ask about your background for the purpose of putting you down — I asked because, again, I am genuinely interested in the people who take time out of their day to share thoughts here. If you’ve been visiting this blog for any length of time, you know that I am fairly active in the conversation here. Further, I’ve already laid out who I am, what I’ve done and do, and feel it’s fair to know whether I’m conversing with a 13-year-old wiffle-ball player or a 43-year-old softball player.
As for Murphy, we’ll have to agree to disagree on a few points. I value defense much more than others, and I don’t think Murphy’s defensive performance is underrated by any stretch. Though they often offer negative comments about Mets players, ultimately, GKR are paid by the Mets to say good things about the team. They also see Murphy on a regular basis and are friends with him, and if I had that kind of access/relationship with him, I’d likely also cut him some slack and defend him. But I have the luxury of watching him play on TV from the comfort of my home, with no personal ties, and from my perspective, Murphy doesn’t hit enough to make up for his defense, lack of fundamentals, baserunning mistakes, and frequent brain freezes.
He might very well win a batting title one day, and in my opinion, he has to hit at least .330 to be worth the negatives. When/if that day comes, I might change my opinion. But as of now, and from what I’ve seen, Murphy’s best role on a championship club is as a super-sub, not as a starting second baseman.
Added to which, yes, we disagree on Murph. I just think the notion that he’s a below average defender defies what I saw with my own eyes watching him play. Dan Uggla, for example, is a far worse defender (not saying much really, but still).
Hitting .330 is not a realistic standard for any everyday player – that’s elite of the elite level performance. That’s batting title.
Anyway, I’m not his agent, or his buddy, and I won’t be heartbroken if he’s traded – just expressing some displeasure with your reference to him as garbage and your (utterly incorrect 🙂 assessment of his value.
-Andrew
You’re being overly sensitive to my choice of language and modifiers. I’m not going to feel bad about comparing Murphy’s baseball skill set to garbage, any more than I’m going to feel bad about comparing another ballplayer’s skills to gold — it’s part of what I do here, and rarely do I criticize/laud a player for something other than what’s happening on the field.
And for what it’s worth, I’m often directly told on this blog that I’m “garbage” (or much worse) due to my writing and/or opinion — you think I lose sleep over it? It may not be polite but it’s part of the deal when one writes a blog and puts himself/herself out there, and I accept it. And I don’t even get paid millions of dollars to experience it.
Don’t understand it whatsoever.