Phillies Sign Ex-Met Marlon Byrd

Mets fan woke up to good news Tuesday morning — Marlon Byrd has reportedly signed with the Phillies. This keeps the Mets from overspending on an aging player who will likely not repeat his surprise performance of 2013.

The deal is said to be for two years and $16 million. That is an awful lot to spend on a player who will turn 37 years old during the 2014 season. It also shows that with the new national television contract kicking in, teams may spend lavishly this off-season.

Byrd had an incredible year — 24 home runs, 88 RBIs and a .291 batting average. Twenty one of those homers came for the Mets before they dealt him to the Pirates in late August.

There were reports that both the Mets and Marlon Byrd were interested in a Flushing reunion, but the Mets apparently did not see Byrd as anything more than a fourth outfielder and thus would not offer anything close to what he will get from the Phillies.

The Mets assessment is the correct one. It is just dumb to assume that Byrd can keep going like he did in 2013; he is getting older, not younger. Then again, no one expected Byrd to do what he did this past season, so who knows?

This is a homecoming for Marlon Byrd — the Phillies drafted him in 1999 and he made his major league debut with Philadelphia in 2002.

But this is a risky move on the part of the Phillies, counting on an older player who just had a career year. But Phillies GM Ruben Amaro is not risk-averse like his Mets counterpart. I think Sandy Alderson should take some risks, but I’m glad he did not take this one.