The ripple effects of a possible shortened season on the New York Mets
New proposals are making the rounds; what does this mean for the Mets?
This pandemic-affected 2020 season is throwing a wrench into every team’s plans, both short-and-long term, but possibly no team’s worse than the New York Mets. GM Brodie Van Wagenen had a lot riding on this season, banking on the combination of youth and experience to push the Mets over the hump and into the postseason after a successful finish to 2019.
After going 40–50 in the first half of the season, the Mets posted a record of 46–26 in the second half, fighting down the stretch for the second wild card spot after a first half of non-contention. The delayed start to the 2020 season has surely affected a team that was ready to fight in a highly-contested NL East.
A restart plan was accepted by MLB owners on Monday. The next step in agreeing to a deal to start a 2020 shortened season, is presenting the prospective deal to the MLBPA on Tuesday. The details of which, according to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, are:
- The shortened season could begin on July 1st, and reportedly will be 80 games, with 78 and 82 games also being possibilities.
- The schedule would be completely regional, with teams facing opponents only from their own division and the opposite league’s geographic counterpart. (Ex: NL East only plays its own division and the AL East.)
- Most teams would start in their actual home parks with no fans in attendance. If teams aren’t cleared yet to even play at their home parks with no fans, then their spring training sites or other MLB parks across the country could be other options.
- The postseason would put seven teams from each league into the playoffs. It would give the top team in each league a bye into the Division Series round, and then the two other division winners and the top wild card would host the other three wild cards in best-of-three series to advance to the Division Series.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported that a universal DH is another inclusion in the proposal for the unique 2020 season. It would only be installed for this year.
Another key aspect of the shortened season would be an expanded roster to reportedly 30 players, with a traveling taxi squad that would bring the total amount of players traveling with the team to roughly 50. It would allow for many teams’ prospects to get major league experience and allow for added depth in the majors with no minor league baseball this season.
One key sticking point in the current negotiations on a possible shortened season has to do with the split in revenue between owners and players.
Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich, both of The Athletic, say:
“An economic system in which player compensation would come from 50 percent of league revenue in 2020 instead of the current salary structure is a non-starter for the Major League Baseball Players Association, union officials told The Athletic on Monday. The union believes such a system amounts to a salary cap, while the league disagrees.”
Major League Baseball does not operate under a salary cap, and the MLBPA will simply not allow for one or even a system that mirrors one, even in a shortened season like this.
So how does all of this directly affect the Mets?
They have many young players who are still in pre-arbitration situations contract-wise. Players like Pete Alonso are currently on extremely cheap deals, allowing the team to focus their funds elsewhere. Losing those types of cheap seasons definitely hurts long-term. Capitalizing on successful seasons during a homegrown player’s pre-arbitration years is the ticket to long-term success in today’s game.
This season was/is the last year before free agency for some important players, including: outfielder Yoenis Cespedes, outfielder Jake Marisnick, starting pitchers Marcus Stroman and Rick Porcello, and relief pitcher Justin Wilson. Plus, relief pitcher Delin Betances has a player option that he, in all likelihood, will turn down to return to the open market.
Jacob deGrom would be losing a full year off of his peak, while Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz each only have one year of team control after 2020. The once vaunted, team-controlled starting rotation of 2015 and 2016 would be closer to the back-end of its existence in Flushing. Matt Harvey is out of baseball at the moment and Zack Wheeler signed a lucrative deal with the Philadelphia Phillies earlier in the off-season.
The acquisition of Marcus Stroman at the 2019 deadline for that year’s stretch run and this season is losing more and more value by the day. Losing this season, or having it shortened with an early July return, would make the Stroman acquisition a tougher pill to swallow. There’s a decent chance we’ll only get to see Stro’ in a Mets uniform for less than an entire season.
Brodie Van Wagenen’s 2020 gamble has the potential to be thwarted by Mother Nature. While it shouldn’t be entirely labeled as anyone’s fault, the possibility of new ownership taking over in the near future, may mean trouble for Brodie. It could be the perfect excuse for them to clean house and redo the entire front office structure. News about the sale of the team has not been as public lately, as the Wilpons are in all likelihood waiting for the pandemic to settle somewhat before changing hands.
With all of the great reporting going on regarding the possible 2020 season, there are still many hurdles to conquer and hoops to jump through before the season can start. Truth be told, with no income coming in through the gates of the stadiums — including tickets sales, concessions, and parking — it may be in the owners’ best interests to say, “See you at spring training 2021,” and cancel the 2020 season.
Either way, things are not breaking well for the Mets right now.
