Inside Baseball: Will Mets lose Cespedes and Murphy? Plus notes – CBSSports.com

NEW YORK — Yoenis Cespedes carried the Mets through August, and Daniel Murphy is carrying them now, when it counts most, in October.

They are the Mets’ No. 3 and 4 hitters in their lineup, the key guys. But they both could easily be gone by next year.

Both are free agents. Neither is guaranteed to stay, or be kept (however you want to look at it).

Cespedes is expected to receive a free-agent deal of at least five years for well more than $100 million, perhaps over $150 million. And realistically, that may take him out of Mets territory.

While Murphy would be considerably less expensive ($40 million for four maybe?), the thinking all along has been that the Mets will likely find a younger, cheaper second-base alternative in their midst, whether that be the also beloved Wilmer Flores or Dilson Herrera.

The Mets will be built around that young vaunted rotation of theirs for years to come, with Zack Wheeler back to join the fantastic foursome of Jacob deGrom, Matt Harvey, Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz next year, and keeping it all together will get quite expensive. Realistically, that may leave less for elsewhere.

The cost-conscious Mets, whose payroll is down to just over $100 million from $140 million only a few years ago, haven’t signed many big deals in recent years, and frankly very few since the Madoff monies were lost (the Jason Bay $66-million contract was an exception). Cespedes obviously is eons better than Bay, and he loves the big stage, but he could also command double the Bay deal.

So it’s not crazy to think the heart of the order could be ripped away.

Although, one rival scout posed a fair question: “You lose your 3 and 4 hitters, what are you replacing them with?”

The Mets may be thinking the same thing, and perhaps that will spur them to keep one of their two key middle-of-the-order guys. Plus, fan sympathy may be considered; the Mets will do that on occasion. Both guys are beloved.

No one originally figured Cespedes was anything more than a rental when the Mets acquired him by trade for two young pitchers at the deadline, but he made such a magnificent splash — he finished third in the majors with 83 extra-base hits — that folks were starting to figure this could be a repeat of the Mike Piazza story, where they acquired a star player in trade and kept him with a big deal ($91 million, seven years).

The Mets even agreed to the Cespedes camp suggestion to abolish the clause that would have required them to wait until May 15 to sign him, which would have effectively killed their chances to keep him long-term. But that maneuver cost them nothing, and in fact only made them look interested. While they surely do have some interest at some level, whether they are, in fact, intent on keeping Cespedes remains to be seen.

There’s starting to be scuttlebutt that they won’t keep him, and at present there isn’t an overwhelming need in the outfield. The potential outfield setup for 2016 would have Michael Conforto (who the scout says will be their best hitter next year), Juan Lagares and Curtis Granderson as starters. The Mets do seem to loves Cespedes (though he doesn’t walk much, which doesn’t fit their strong, stated preference), but based on talks with Mets people, one rival executive opined, “I will be shocked if they sign Cespedes.”

Rivals seemed to think there was no chance the Mets would even offer Murphy the $15.8-million qualifying offer, as they have a couple younger alternatives, and that seemed to be a steep price for a second baseman who is average defensively, doesn’t walk much and isn’t typically a 20-homer man. But Murphy’s postseason has been so over-the-top great, some may start to wonder whether they alter course following all his October heroics that’s included two homers off Clayton Kershaw, one off Zack Greinke and Jon Lester. (Though, one rival GM said he still thinks they pass on the qualifying offer for Murphy.)

“Murphy’s made himself millions,” said one scout, reffering to his play this postseason.

The Mets have been up and down on Murphy over the years (if you believe the leaked Astros papers from a couple years ago, they once offered Murphy for young shortstop Jonathan Villar in a deal that would have been a disaster). Even if you don’t believe that, they did talk about trades involving Murphy in the past.

Now, Murphy is playing like a man possessed. He hit a key home run in his team’s 4-2 win over the Cubs in Game 1 of the ALCS and ended the game by making a brilliant diving play to throw out Tommy La Stella on Saturday night.

Some of the best trades are the ones you don’t make, of course, and the biggest decision of the year was to pull out of the trade for Carlos Gomez, then land Cespedes the following day. The Mets have made a lot of great calls to get to the NLCS, but the winter decisions involving the heart of their order are going to be interesting indeed.

More Inside Baseball…

Team	News
	Baltimore Orioles News
Baltimore’s usual budget might have a hard time fitting in Chris Davis, who had 47 home runs, but owner Peter Angelos is said to have taken an interest in retaining Davis. Buck Showalter is also believed to be a big fan. So, even with a $200-million asking price, it hasn’t been ruled out.
	Chicago Cubs News
The Cubs’ pick of Kyle Schwarber at No. 4 overall a couple years ago was simply brilliant. If they redrafted that draft, he’d likely be No. 1, while the Mets’ pick of Michael Conforto would be much higher than No. 10, which was where he was picked. The Cubs liked Conforto but they obviously preferred Schwarber (the Mets preferred Conforto). They targeted him early, and stayed with him. “We loved the power/patience profile,” Cubs assistant GM Jason McLeod said. “He’s an elite bat.” They also love the fact he’s a “leader and a gamer.” But one question is: Is he a catcher? Cubs people admit that has yet to be determined. They need him in the lineup, so he’ll play the outfield for now. Meantime, he sits in on the pitcher-catcher meetings, which at this point is more of a learning exercise. Schwarber has four home runs this postseason … While one scout on an NL team said he believes Javier Baez is really a second baseman or third baseman, not a shortstop, Cubs people are expressing faith. He played third against the Cardinals and he was playing “like Nolan Arenado, and Arenado’s the best,” McLeod said, adding that Baez is “a plus defender at three positions.” The scout insisted, “His internal motor is too quick to play shortstop.” McLeod disagreed, saying if anything Baez can be a tad calm at times … In any case, they weren’t about to put Starlin Castro back at short when Addison Russell went down. They won’t say this aloud but don’t believe he has the range for shortstop … It’s amazing what the Cubs pen is doing. Even Fernando Rodney, given up by most after his painfully bad stay in Seattle, is back throwing 96 mph. Life-long Cubs fan Bill Murray was at the game. He told someone at the ballpark, “I think this is going to be the year,” before adding, “Of course I’ve thought that the last 60 years.”
	Kansas City Royals News
The key to Johnny Cueto‘s turnaround, someone close to Cueto says, was finally opening up to Royals catcher Salvador Perez and telling him what he needed. Word is, Cueto still doesn’t feel as comfortable as he did in Cincinnati with Brayan Pena and Ryan Hannigan, but they are working on it. One of the issues is that Perez, at 6-foot-3, doesn’t get as low as the two other catchers … Dave Eiland, the ex-Yankee pitcher, has done a terrific job as pitching coach in Kansas City … Manager Ned Yost continues to confound. Other Royals people get why Alcides Escobar is leading off (“we win every time he leads off,” one Royals person pointed out) but even some of them were astonished Yost called upon Ryan Madson (27 ERA, .600 BAA vs. the Jays) and Luke Hochevar to close out Gam1 5-0. A five-run lead is probably big enough, but after Kelvin Herrera blew away hitters in the eighth, it seemed logical to go with him for the eighth, then to closer Wade Davis. Saber guys, who don’t love Yost, might like that one since he saved Davis with a five-run lead. #YOSTED
	Los Angeles Dodgers News
Dodgers higher-ups are said to give Don Mattingly big credit for the way he’s handled the clubhouse, and particularly some sticky situations, including the spring situation of Andre Ethier (and many other situations), which is why he should stay. Dodgers owners, led by Mark Walter, are also said to very much like Mattingly. And it also doesn’t hurt him that the team’s two biggest stars – Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke – are quite comfortable with Mattingly as manager … Greinke is perhaps the smartest pitcher going, but he’s taking some heat for trying to pitch from the stretch with no one on to red-hot Daniel Murphy in Game 5 of the NLDS. The result was a home run. “What’s he doing?” wondered one scout. “Then, he compounded things by throwing the ball inside, the one place Murphy could conceivably hit the ball out. He’s not homering to left field.” … While not much was said about it afterward, one scout questioned whether right fielder Ethier should have let the sacrifice fly by Travis d’Arnaud drop in foul territory rather than catch it and allow the tying run to score. With Greinke pitching, and an 0-and-2 count on d’Arnaud, I agree … It was tough mentioning Corey Seager as a culprit in Murphy’s heads-up taking of third base with a drastic shift on, as the rookie’s been up only a month and was more used to play in the minors, where shifts aren’t so prevalent … Chris Hatcher was a nice pickup. “He didn’t have that (gosh-darned) splitter when he was with the Marlins,” one scout noted.
	Miami Marlins News
Dan Jennings and owner Jeffrey Loria took a little longer than expected to “iron things out,” but Jennings will indeed be back in the front office, helping folks there find his replacement as manager. The known candidates there are Manny Acta, Bo Porter and Larry Bowa (plus Mattingly should he become available). Bowa’s first interview was with just Loria at Loria’s Upper Eastside apartment, and it went so well that Bowa was called back to meet with the group, as Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com first reported. The name of Reds bench coach Jay Bell is thought to have at least come up at some point, but a source said he is “not in the mix” at this time.
	New York Mets News
One scout who’s followed the Mets says he believes we’ll see only Jeurys Familia and Bartolo Colon out of the pen, unless absolutely necessary. The scout said, “Their middle relief stinks right now, and that’s an issue because they have young kids starting and they’re usually happy to get six innings out of them.” Tyler Clippard and Addison Reed have had some struggles … Why did the Mets not bunt much on Jon Lester? Granderson offered at two balls the first Mets at-bat of the night, but that was about it. “Granderson can do it, Lagares can do it. I don’t know how much further I can go than that,” Mets hitting coach Kevin Long said of the team’s bunting ability … David Wright managed to make it back, and that’s terrific, but to this point he’s “a shadow of himself,” according to a scout, who says he’s “average at third base with below average range” (except on balls coming in, where he’s still excellent). It’s obvious Wright is not nearly 100 percent. “Everything’s tough right now,” Wright said … Noah Syndergaard, who names his gloves, revealed his current gamer is named “Thor.” Which also happens to be his nickname … The infamous billy goat, which allegedly led to the Cubs’ jinx, had the name of Murphy, as the New York Daily News highlighted on its front page Saturday.
	New York Yankees News
The Yankees kept asking about Josh Donaldson over the winter. But give Jays Gm Alex Anthopoulos credit for getting it done. He is the probable AL MVP … Ben Zobrist and Martin Prado could fit the Yankees, as Joel Sherman of the New York Post pointed out.
	Philadelphia Phillies News
Sources say the Phillies did interview J.J. Piccolo, assistant GM of the Royals, for their GM job, and they also interviewed Angels assistant Gm Matt Klentak, bringing to four the number of known interviews (Indians exec Ross Atkins and ex-Marlins GM Larry Beinfest are the others). They’ve also been looking into MLB exec Kim Ng, and many others. They are generally keeping things quiet, however … Former GM Ruben Amaro takes lots of hits, and especially for the $125-million, five-year Ryan Howard contract that blew up after he tore his Achilles, but the idea to pay Cole Hamels a free-agent type deal ($144 million over six years) paid off in helping re-stock the farm system.
	San Diego Padres News
While some Padres people could envision as manager their own exec Moises Alou, the son of Felipe who had a brilliant 19-year career, and GM A.J. Preller is said to love him, three friends of his still doubted whether he’d want to do the job. Alou lives in the D.R. The known managerial candidates there are Diamondbacks minor-league manager Phil Nevin, former infielder Alex Cora, Diamondbacks coach Andy Green, Angels assistant GM Scott Servais and former Twins manager Ron Gardenhire. They are said to have at least one surprise candidate (that may be Alou). To this point Dusty Baker and ex-red Sox catcher Jason Varitek are not candidates.
	Toronto Blue Jays News
The Blue Jays hurt themselves by not going hard for the home-field advantage, and losing the final two games in Tampa Bay with less than their best lineup. In the finale, in fact, Mark Buehrle started only because they were trying to get him two innings to make it 15 straight seasons with at least 200 innings (for the first time in his consistent career, he didn’t get out of the first). That call seemed indulgent, and sent the wrong message. Plus, they unnecessarily handed the Royals a big edge … The decision to give regular jobs to pen members worked wonders however. Aaron Sanchez, in particular came into his own pumping his 98-mph sinking fastballs in the eighth inning. But one scout says, “I’m afraid they’ll try to make him a starter” next year.
	Washington Nationals News
Bud Black, who is perceived as a favorite for the managing job, interviewed the other day. The Nats have done an exceptional job identifying excellent candidates to fit their ready-to-win team, with Baker, Gardenhire, Giants bench coach Ron Wotus and Alex Cora among the known candidates.