New York Mets confident of retaining Angel Pagan – MLB Update
While it is becoming highly evident that the New York Mets will not re-sign Jose Reyes, the franchise is confident of retaining out-fielder Angel Pagan for 2012. Although there has been no official word between both parties, Mets’ general manager Sandy Alderson
hinted that the ballclub will take the necessary steps to ensure that Pagan stays for the next season, at least.
In Jose’s absence, Pagan is likely to become the lead-off hitter for the Mets and it will be interesting to see how the management will deal with the line-up without their home-grown All-Star. For Reyes, the Mets was the only ballclub that he had ever known
in the Majors and it is likely that both will part ways this offseason.
The Mets were waiting for other teams to determine a price tag for Reyes before extending their offer, but it seems that making an offer will be irrelevant now. The Miami Marlins have made a six-year 90-million-dollar offer to Reyes and given that this is
a preliminary offer, it is expected to further inflate. The Mets were considering a three to four-year deal for Reyes, but they are in a fix now and will have to make a lucrative offer if they aim to retain Reyes for a longer-term.
Alderson said, “Angel can be valuable to us whether we have Jose or not. Could he be our leadoff guy? I think he probably could. That is something Terry [Collins, manager] and Angel would probably work through, initially. But even if we have Jose, having
that extra speed dimension is important. If you take Jose and Angel out of the equation, there’s not a lot of speed, offensively, so I think Angel could be a valuable piece for us.”
Although Pagan was unable to impress in the defence this past season, he was valuable between the bases and the Mets will want him to improve on both fronts if an extension of contract is to be worked upon.
The Mets have articulated their aim of slashing their payroll for the next season, even if it means poor results. However, nothing is certain and it remains to be seen how things unfold.
Tags: