Mets: 3 overpaid players we need to break up with immediately
The New York Mets management has swung and missed again by overpaying at least three major roster additions into 2022 and beyond.
While the Mets are still searching far and wide for a president of baseball operations, the New York team has finally landed a new general manager in Billy Eppler. Eppler, a former New York Yankees assistant manager, made a splash as the Los Angeles Angels GM when he signed Shohei Ohtani, 2021’s AL MVP. But when he couldn’t bring the Angels the wins, he was fired in 2020 before taking over the Mets in 2022.
Eppler is inheriting a host of issues as Mets general manager, including a roster dotted with overpaid players that are making it difficult to acquire free agents. The Mets are trying to retain free agents Marcus Stroman and Javier Baez, but players like Carlos Correa laugh at the notion of signing with the troubled New York team.
If Eppler can find talent like Ohtani, the Mets wouldn’t need overpaid players with inflated values and can leverage for better deals and attract better players. Inheriting the team that is still paying Bobby Bonilla isn’t easy, and Eppler will need to make tough decisions to stay competitive in the the NL East.
To kick the 2022 season off, Eppler should get started on the contracts of these three overpaid Mets players.
3. Carlos Carrasco
Carlos Carrasco is a 35-year-old veteran pitcher who spent his entire career in Cleveland until they traded him to the Mets in 2021.
He was a part of the package deal for Francisco Lindor, but Carrasco hardly played for the Mets this year. Battling a hamstring injury, Carrasco emerged in late July and threw a home run on his first pitch. Not a good start for someone getting paid $12 million per year.
Carrasco finished the year with a 6.04 ERA in 12 starts, which averages out to $1 million per start. In a year that was described as “discouraging” and “frustrating” for Carrasco, the same can be said for the Mets who inherited his substantial contract.
If Mets fans were wondering if Carrasco’s situation could improve over the next year, the chances are that the pitcher is on his way out of the league. Carrasco had surgery in October to remove a bone fragment from his pitching elbow, giving him several months to recover from his hamstring injury and elbow surgery.
Carrasco worked for years to earn the contract he wields today, but for the Guardians to trade him and to suffer such injuries, he has done nothing so far to merit his contract in New York. With injury concerns at 35 years old, the Mets would be better off finding someone else to use up cap space.