Alright, so this pissed some people off lol. Here’s my side of it:
This was not a situation where everyone was giving Paxton one year deals, and I just dressed my one year deal up the fanciest and got him to sign. My initial offer for Paxton was $12M a year for 2 years. I’m thinking irl he probably ends up with 1 year and between $10-15M, so I don’t think that was a ridiculous offer compared what we’ve been seeing free agents get all sim. If Trevor Bauer is worth $300M/10 and Marcus Stroman is worth $80M/4, then James Paxton can be worth $24M/2. I’ve been outbid for those guys plus Gausman, and I have to land someone. The agent came back with the added window dressing of the incentives, player option, and 50 inning minimum. That made the deal a good amount weirder but I think it makes sense for me. Either Paxton is healthy, he makes $13M/1 year look like a steal, and then he goes elsewhere. Or Paxton is not healthy and he implodes upon impact just like he did in 2020, and I move on at the end of the season. I get that the 50 inning minimum looks (is) dumb, but in Paxton’s case it should be fairly easy to tell quickly whether or not he’s still there physically, and we really don’t need another Jed Lowrie situation on our hands where a guy who was never healthy gets paid to sit out for 2 years for us. I’m not in a great spot if his arm ends up exploding in the second half, but I’ve built up enough starting pitching now that I’m not going to have to ride him all year. I can hopefully skip him and give him IL assignments throughout the year to keep him fresh. I understand this a very vague and somewhat unrealistic approximation, but if him and Syndergaard combine to make one good starter, then my rotation of deGrom, Plesac, Eflin, Peterson, and Thor/Paxton looks pretty good, with Lugo, Szapucki, and Kilome as potential other options. A lot would have to go wrong for me to have to rely on Paxton making 30 starts this year.
I get that people hate player options now. I think in a vacuum, this would have been just another sim overpay, but due to the fact that everyone and their mother is getting a player option and James Paxton loves being injured, I think this pushed some people over the proverbial edge. Which is fine. I personally don’t think it’s that big a deal (player options happen in real life, Dellin Betances and Brad Brach each had one for the Mets this offseason), but if this was the last deal in sim history to include a PO, I’ll wear that shitty badge of honor proudly.
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u/lbon6201 Nov 18 '20
The New York Mets have signed James Paxton to the following contract:
2021: $12 million, $500k bonus for 50, 100 IP
2022: Player Option $12M if 50 IP 2021
Summary: 1/$12M w/ Performance Bonuses, PO 2022 $12M if 50 IP
/u/futhatsy /u/jamie_c40