Dollar Store Dave Strikes Again

I won't mince words here. Losing Edwin Diaz to the Dodgers was an epic failure for David Stearns and the Mets organization. And the way it went down will sting for a very long time. 

To sum up, here's what happened. After the season ended, Diaz opted out of his contract that still had two years remaining with an AAV of $20.4 million. Stearns offered him a three-year deal with an AAV of $22 million. So, basically, the Mets offered inarguably their best pitcher, and arguably their third best player, a pay increase of $1.6 million. They then told his agent to "circle back" to them in the event another team came to the table with a higher offer.

For those not familiar with the art of negotiating, Stearns broke every rule in the book. First, he knew Diaz was not happy with his contract, hence the opting out; second, his offer of a $1.6 million raise was an insult to his closer; and third, he added insult to that injury by actually having the nerve to tell his agent to "circle back" to him if he received a higher offer. In other words, Stearns could've offered more and he chose not to. 

Don't blame Diaz for this. He went with the higher offer. Free agents do that all the time. And don't blame the Dodgers. What were they supposed to do, not sign him? The blame here lies squarely with Stearns. 

I spent 25 years in sales, 13 of them in retail. It is an axiom among people in my profession that you never allow the customer to walk without making your best offer. And above all else you never say "if you find a better price bring it back to me." You might as well kiss that customer goodbye. My managers would always chide me whenever I got pissed that I lost a sale. "Don't blame the customer," they would say. "It's your fault for not closing them."

They were right.

If Stearns could've offered more, he should've done so before the Dodgers got into the act. Going cheap the way he did made it that much easier for them to swoop in and sign him. And as far as "circling back," let's get something straight: there is no obligation on the part of a player agent to give the home team the last shot. Juan Soto was a special case. Scott Boras knew he had a bidding war between three teams; two of which were the Yankees and Mets. It was in his client's best interest to drag the process out as long as possible. Most teams know, or at least are told, that they need to make their best offer up front. The irony in this fiasco is that after the season Stearns said his primary focus would be "run prevention." Well he just let his number one run preventer leave.

My fear is that this isn't a one-off. I'm not a betting man, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if Pete Alonso is wearing a Red Sox uniform next year. The Mets were lucky last offseason. Alonso had an off year in 2024. That gave them the leverage they needed to re-sign him to a team-friendly deal. However he rebounded very nicely in '25 to have one of his best seasons as a Met. You can bet the ranch Boras will find a team that will be willing to meet his demands; whether that's Boston or Baltimore - the other team rumored to be interested in signing Pete.

And if Alonso leaves, you can flush next season down the drain. I'm serious. Who do you think provided Soto all that protection in the lineup? How many more times would he have been intentionally walked without the Polar Bear batting behind him? Even with Alonso, the Mets were a top heavy team. Without him, they'd be the fucking S.S. Poseidon on New Year's Eve. [If you don't know the reference there, you're too young.]

Why would a team owned by Steve Cohen, a billionaire 23 times over, be so penny wise and dollar foolish? I think the below chart might offer an explanation. 

Several things stand out. 1. Only the Dodgers had a larger payroll going into 2025 than the Mets; 2. the Mets made $444 million in revenue in '24, $308 million less than the Dodgers; and 3. they spent 90 percent of that revenue on salaries plus luxury tax, by far the largest percentage of any team in the majors. And that includes the $61 million Soto is getting.

I have no way of proving it, but I think Cohen didn't expect to win the Soto sweepstakes. The prevailing sentiment was that if the offers were close, he would return to the Bronx. Indeed, the Mets bid was only $5 million more than the Yanks. As elated as the fanbase was at the time, in retrospect, Stearns could've used that money to beef up a pitching staff, which as we know all too well, was terrible last season. While the Yankees used the savings to sign Max Fried, who went 19-5 with an ERA of 2.86, the Mets went with a rotation of Moe, Larry, Curly and Shemp.

It's entirely possible that Stearns has been told by Cohen to trim payroll wherever possible and seek out more team-friendly contracts. That was his specialty when he was with the Milwaukee Brewers. While the Dodgers are putting together a package to land Tarik Skubal, the Flushing Faithful may have to be satisfied with getting Devin Williams.

I hope I'm wrong; I hope Pete re-signs with the Mets and they get a big-name starter. I'm just not getting my hopes up. 39 years of frustration can make a cynic out of even the Pope.

And he's a White Sox fan. 

Yamamota Goes with the Dodgers

I'll be honest. I was really looking forward to seeing Yoshinobu Yamamoto in a New York Mets uniform for the next ten years. Just based on the scouting reports, the 25 year old has a chance to become one of baseball's most dominant pitchers. And I'm pissed that Steve Cohen, with all his billions, couldn't close the deal. 

But the more we learn about what was going on behind the scenes, the more it becomes apparent that Yamamoto simply didn't want to play for an east-coast team. The Yankees offered him $300 million over ten years; Cohen went a step further and upped the anti to $325 million. That still wasn't enough.

The Los Angeles Dodgers, who only a few days earlier had signed Shohei Ohtani to an unprecedented ten year $700 million contract, matched Cohen's offer and inked Yamamoto. Think about it: $1 billion tied up in just two contracts. Somewhere, Charlie Finley is having a stroke.

To those who think Cohen should've just shot the moon, as it were, and gone up to $400 million, there are two inherent problems with that: 1. Regardless of what Cohen offered, the Dodgers would've matched it; 2. Once Ohtani signed with the Dodgers, they pretty much had the inside track on Yamamoto. All Cohen would've succeeded in doing was driving up the asking price for a free agent he was never going to sign. If you think Cohen is despised by the owners now, that stunt would've been the icing on the cake. Take it from a former salesman, trying to out dick the other guy is never a successful strategy.

But let's play devil's advocate for a moment. Let's say Cohen inked him at $400 million. That would've been great, right? A starting rotation consisting of Yamamoto and Kodai Senga would be formidable. With the return of Edwin Diaz, and the addition of a couple middle relievers, the Mets would be a much better team going into 2024 than they were at the close of 2023.

But then there's the matter of what to do with Pete Alonso. The all-star first baseman is set to become a free agent after next year. The price tag for him will not be cheap. His agent is Scott Boras. If you think Boras is going to let one of the game's most prolific home run hitters sign for anything less than what he thinks he's entitled to, this must be your first day on the planet. Trust me, there will be no home-town discount for Cohen. If Yamamoto was worth (fill in the blank), then Pete will be worth at least that much.

You can bet the ranch that if Cohen had signed Yamamota, Boras would've started the bidding for Alonso at that precise number. In other words, by trying to screw the Dodgers, Cohen would've ostensibly screwed himself. I think Cohen realized this, which is why he didn't shoot the moon. And the money he saved by not landing Yamamoto he can now use to address other areas of this roster that need fortifying.

It's important to remember that even without Ohtani and Yamamoto, the Dodgers still had one of the highest payrolls in major league baseball the last two seasons. Yet despite impressive campaigns which saw them win 100 and 111 games respectively, they were upset in the first round by teams that finished considerably behind them in the standings.

The Arizona Diamondbacks, with a record of 84-78, won the National League pennant last season. If I'm Cohen, I'm probably thinking why should I spend all that money on just one player, when I can spend half that amount and get several players? Even in a sport that long ago forgot the meaning of the word frugal, two plus two still equals four. The fact is had Diaz not gotten injured last season, the Mets most assuredly would've finished better than 75-87.

Translation: they're not that far away from a possible wild card berth. Cohen and his new president David Stearns know this. That's why they didn't panic; and Mets fans shouldn't either. Let the Dodgers play the role of pariah. When they crash and burn again in October, something tells me a lot of people in Queens will be grinning from ear to ear.