While Phillies President Dave Dombrowski has been scouring the gutters for relievers, Mets owner Steve Cohen opened his rather sizable checkbook and made the New Yorkers a lot better.
In the last 24 hours, the Mets have signed outfielders Sterling Marte and Mark Cahna and infielder Eduardo Escobar. Marte hit .310 with an .841 OPS while playing excellent defense for Oakland. Cahna is an on-base machine and Escobar is a versatile infielder who hit 28 homers in 2021.
Marte would have solved the Phillies search for a center fielder and leadoff guy, but the Mets signed him for four years and $78 million, which to me seems kind of insane for a 33-year-old outfielder. Speed is a big part of Marte's game, and you don't know how fast he'll still be in the third and fourth years of that contract.
Look for the Phils to counter this weekend or before the Dec. 1 deadline for a new agreement between players and owners which will most likely result in a lockout. More on that in a future post. I fully expect the Phils to overpay for the oft-injured but supremely talented Byron Buxton from the Twins. He's played 140 games only once in his seven-year big league career, and averages about 70 games a season because of injuries. Think of him as a much more talented Roman Quinn.
I like the idea of a healthy Byron Buxton in Philly. But he's missed time over the years with a sprained thumb, knee contusion, back spasms, migraines, groin strain, strained wrist, fractured toe, sprained foot, and concussion symptoms. Last season he only played in 61 games because of a hip strain, hamstring issues, and a broken hand.
Does healthy Byron Buxton even exist? Who knows? But the Mets have gotten better this weekend, and the Phillies have done squat.
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