Oops: Lucas Duda Eligible for Arbitration

It is rare that I make a mistake. Well, that’s a lie. But it is rare that I make a mistake and then own up to it. However, I must begrudgingly do that now, and it involves Lucas Duda.

No, my mistake was not that I said he is a terrible player. He is and will always be. My mistake was that I said he would not be eligible for arbitration this off-season. He will be.

Lucas Duda will be a Super Two (along with Ruben Tejada, but I don’t think I ever made mention of Tejada’s arbitration status, so my error count remains at one). That means the Mets cannot re-sign Duda to near the major league minimum. Instead, he will likely get at least a million dollars, if not more. MLB Trade Rumors estimates a $1.8 million salary for Duda in 2014, which I think is a little high considering his poor production.

But Duda achieving Super Two status could change the Mets thinking. It made sense to re-sign him for a maximum of $600,000, then stick him in the minors to see if he can regain his form (did he ever have a form?). But now he will be making at least double that; that’s a lot of dead money in Triple-A for a team with a limited budget.

The Mets just cannot go into next season with both Lucas Duda and Ike Davis on the 40-man roster. They can’t tie up close $6 million on them. One of them needs to go. Actually, they both need to go, but that’s besides the point. Mets Blog reports that Davis has “a surprising amount of value on the trade market.” And since he makes more money, he is likely the one to be traded.

In any case, I made a mistake, and I am truly, truly sorry and it will never, ever happen again. Yeah, my apologies to my girlfriend are that sincere as well!