I do a lot of radio appearances throughout the year, most of which vanish into the ether. Every now and then a station will post the audio. TSN 1200 in Ottawa is one of those stations. They booked me Thursday morning to talk about Opening Day, the coming 2018 season, and the Blue Jays, specifically. However, shorty before my segment, we all learned of the passing of Expos and Mets great Rusty Staub. As a result, this appearance opens with a remembrance of Staub, and it was my great honor to be able to pay tribute to Staub in a city so close to Montréal. We proceed to the regularly scheduled preview material from there, starting with the Blue Jays and broadening out to work in the Red Sox, Indians, and Shohei Ohtani, among other things. Enjoy.
Tag Archives: New York Mets
The Infinite Inning: Episode 40
One of my New Year’s resolutions is to try to update this site more often, even it is just to catalog my output. Here, then, is my latest appearance on The Infinite Inning podcast. Steve leads with a personal remembrance of the late Oscar Gamble, then digs in on the Mets’ decision to draft Steve Chilcott ahead of Reggie Jackson in 1966. I then join for a conversation that includes some behind-the-scenes experiences at the MLB Network, including surprise meetings with Bill James and Jim Thome, the quasi-retirement of former number-one pick Mark Appel, the excessive depth of modern prospect lists, the importance of developmental age, Bryce Harper, Shohei Ohtani, Yu Darvish, the Dodgers’ rotation, Julio Urias, and the retirement of Davey Lopes.
//percolate.blogtalkradio.com/offsiteplayer?hostId=1083355&episodeId=10568441
Also, I will be back on MLB Now on Monday, live at 2pm ET on the MLB Network. Set your DVR!
Mets Contracts
What follows is the list of Mets contracts that I assembled while researching my SI.com piece on David Wright and the Mets history of bad contracts. This is raw data in that the dollars and years listed are the total values of the contracts announced upon their signing, not what the Mets wound up paying or for how long. The seasons and bWAR totals, however, are only those that came with the Mets.
The top 23 contracts (24 with Wright now included) are, best I can tell, the most expensive contracts in Mets history by total dollars. The ten below that (after the break in the chart) are other contracts of lesser value from prior to 1997 that were nonetheless major deals at the time.
| Player | $ (in millions) | Years | Seasons | bWAR |
| David Wright | $ 138.00 | 8 | 2013- | |
| Johan Santana | $ 137.50 | 6 | 2008- |
14.6 |
| Carlos Beltran | $ 119.00 | 7 | 2005-2011 |
30.2 |
| Mike Piazza | $ 91.00 | 7 | 1999-2005 |
17.6 |
| Jason Bay | $ 66.00 | 4 | 2010-2012 |
1.1 |
| David Wright | $ 55.00 | 6 | 2007-2012 |
28.8 |
| Pedro Martinez | $ 53.00 | 4 | 2005-2008 |
7.6 |
| Billy Wagner | $ 43.00 | 4 | 2006-2009 |
4.7 |
| Tom Glavine | $ 42.50 | 3 | 2003-2006 |
12.5 |
| Kevin Appier | $ 42.00 | 4 | 2001 |
3.3 |
| Francisco Rodriguez | $ 37.00 | 3 | 2009-2011 |
2.5 |
| Bobby Bonilla | $ 29.00 | 5 | 1992-1995 |
8.9 |
| Robin Ventura | $ 23.00 | 3 | 1999-2001 |
10.3 |
| Cliff Floyd | $ 26.00 | 4 | 2003-2006 |
7.0 |
| Luis Castillo | $ 25.00 | 4 | 2008-2010 |
0.9 |
| Todd Hundley | $ 21.00 | 4 | 1997-1998 |
2.2 |
| Kazuo Matsui | $ 20.00 | 3 | 2004-2006 |
0.2 |
| Mike Cameron | $ 19.50 | 3 | 2004-2005 |
3.0 |
| Bernard Gilkey | $ 19.40 | 4 | 1997-1998 |
9.6 |
| Roger Cedeño | $ 18.00 | 4 | 2002-2003 |
-0.9 |
| Todd Zeile | $ 18.00 | 3 | 2000-2001 |
2.7 |
| Dwight Gooden | $ 15.45 | 3 | 1992-1994 |
4.8 |
| Bret Saberhagen | $ 15.38 | 3 | 1993-1995 |
9.7 |
| John Olerud | $ 14.50 | 3 | 1997-1999 |
16.5 |
| Pete Harnisch | $ 9.00 | 3 | 1995-1997 |
0.3 |
| Eddie Murray | $ 7.50 | 2 | 1992-1993 |
2.3 |
| Vince Coleman | $ 12.00 | 4 | 1991-1993 |
1.7 |
| Frank Viola* | $ 7.90 | 3 | 1989-1991 |
9.1 |
| Kevin McReynolds | $ 5.50 | 3 | 1989-1991 |
7.6 |
| Ron Darling | $ 5.30 | 3 | 1989-1991 |
0.4 |
| Dwight Gooden | $ 6.70 | 3 | 1989-1991 |
6.6 |
| Keith Hernandez | $ 8.00 | 5 | 1985-1989 |
14.8 |
| Gary Carter** | $ 10.60 | 5 | 1985-1989 |
10.3 |
| George Foster | $ 10.00 | 5 | 1982-1986 |
3.4 |
*Viola signed a three-year deal with the Twins but was traded to the Mets mid-way through the first season. The contract figures here are for the full contract.
**Carter signed a seven-year deal with the Expos but was traded to the Mets after two seasons. The contract figures here are for Carter’s five years with the Mets only.
Update: the original version of this post listed the total value of Bobby Bonilla’s first Mets contract as $39 million. That was a typo, it was actually $29 million, corrected above.
CliffCorcoran.com 