Did Mets Make Offer to Grant Balfour?
No sooner than Grant Balfour signed with the Rays came a flurry of reports that the Mets offered the same or more money to the reliever, but he preferred to pitch near his home in Florida. The Mets are denying all if it.
Fox Sports midget Ken Rosenthal was the first to tweet that sources told him that the Mets actually offered Balfour more than the two-year, $12 million deal he got from Tampa Bay. Adam Rubin of ESPN New York then tweeted that an “ultra-reliable Mets source” told him that the Mets made an identical offer.
But the Mets say it is not true. Mike Puma of the New York Post tweeted that a Mets official “denies the team offered Grant Balfour more than the $12 million deal he received from Rays.” Note it says “more than” — in the Mets world of deceitful doublespeak, it could mean they offered exactly $12 million or less, but they do not want to admit that they, a team in New York, lost a player to crummy Tampa.
Puma went on to tweet that the Mets admitted to having “dialogue” with Balfour agent, “but would have needed to be ‘real creative’ to land him.”
Whatever the truth, it appears that the Mets did have some interest in Grant Balfour. And I find that curious. First of all, the Mets payroll seems to be at its peak. Perhaps Sandy Alderson is confident of trading Ike Davis and/or someone else to make room. Or maybe Alderson has more flexibility than he is letting on.
I also find it strange that the Mets would pay so much money for a reliever, especially when Bobby Parnell is supposed to be the closer. Perhaps that means they do not think he will be fully recovered from his neck surgery. Or maybe they just do not have faith in Parnell’s ability to close. If they do, why would they spend $6 million per season on an eighth inning guy?
It is also interesting because the Mets did not want to give LaTroy Hawkins $2.5 million to come back in 2014, yet they were willing to give Balfour $12 million for two seasons. Balfour is five years younger than Hawkins, but is he really $10 million better?
I think the $6 million could be better spent than on one reliever, such as for a new first baseman or putting the money towards Stephen Drew (not that he is a game changer, but he is far better than Ruben Tejada).
But such is the life of a Mets fan, watching a general manager who does not seem to have a cohesive plan.
balfour’s a good reliever. depends on how the mets wanted to use him, but he’s durable and solid. it’s hard to figure whether the rays overpaid b/c it seems like everyone overpays free agents these days. but i think he would have been a solid pick up. more of a hawkins than a brandon lyon.
I agree, Balfour is very good. And I don’t think the Rays overpaid; $6 million for a closer is a good deal. I just don’t think it would have been a good deal for the Mets, especially since they don’t really need a closer (as long as Parnell is healthy). Spending $6 million for a set-up guy is something that contenders do (like the Mets did with JJ Putz in 2009, thinking they would compete that year). Sadly, the Mets are not good enough to contend in 2014.
…but it would have been $12mil/2yrs, and we should hope that, with Harvey back, that we WOULD be ready to contend in 2015.
i agree, although it sounds like the mets needed to blow him out of the water to get him here, so maybe for a few extra million it wouldn’t be worth it. But yeah, this sounds like the problem sandy’s had the last few years, undervaluing players b/c they don’t help immediately. Had sandy been slowly adding players, he could be one or two pieces away when the mets are ready, but instead he was stagnant the last few years. However, (and we don’t know how balfour would pitch), the mets would be in a good position with their bullpen going into next offseason had they signed him
Tom — I have been saying that for years about Alderson. Even though the Mets were not ready to win and had money issues, he should have added at least one major league piece per off-season, so by now the team would be ready to go. There was no excuse for just doing nothing.
Mets Fan — If/when the Mets are ready to contend in 2015, there will be plenty of quality relievers for them to sign. No reason to waste $6 million in 2014.