Mets have several of the worst value per dollar players in MLB

According to Spotrac, the New York Mets have several of the league’s worst value per dollar players in 2018.

There are many ways to measure a player’s efficiency or in this case, inefficiency. When it comes to several New York Mets players in 2018, the latter is more appropriate.

Veterans Jay Bruce, Jose Reyes, and Jason Vargas are the three players at the bottom of the roster’s WAR list. Vargas is worth -1.0 WAR with Bruce and Reyes right behind at -0.9. Whether you believe in war or not, I think we can all agree this trio have been miserable in 2018.

Among qualified starting pitchers, Vargas is the worst value per dollar according to Spotrac. His $8 million salary this season and ERA over 8.00 aid him in a score of 0.77 on their scale. This puts him at number 148 of 148. Coincidentally enough, he’s one spot behind Alex Cobb whom many Mets fans wanted to see the team sign over the winter.

Bruce and Reyes aren’t as near to the bottom as Vargas and his last-place finish. Bruce ranks 271 out of 276 with Reyes one spot higher at 270 as of June 20th. Thanks to Chris Davis‘ large contract and historically bad year, his spot at the bottom looks safe.

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Though Bruce is ranked lower than Reyes on this scale, it’s a worse spot for Jose. This system measures the paychecks of players. At only $2 million, Reyes has more leeway to perform poorly. Bruce’s $11 million sets the expectations higher. Regardless of how you look at it, this is bad news.

While we’re talking value per dollar, there are two other Mets worth mentioning. Among the 149 qualified relievers, A.J. Ramos is number 147. Jerry Blevins is slightly higher at 141.

From this, we can gather the Mets aren’t getting the right value for the money they’re spending.

If it is any consolation, Jacob deGrom is the third greatest value among starting pitchers and Seth Lugo is near the top of relievers. Brandon Nimmo has also recently reached the top ten of position players.

I will acknowledge, there is a fault in this system. Younger players on rookie contracts have an advantage.

Meanwhile, veterans are at an early disadvantage. A guy who has yet to reach arbitration putting up worse numbers than someone who signed a modest deal this offseason will rank higher.

Nevertheless, the Mets appear to have missed on way more players than they should have. This doesn’t even include the $29 million from Yoenis Cespedes sitting on the disabled list for the last month.

Next: How the Mets can get Manny Machado

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The narrative that says the Mets don’t spend money is untrue. The truth is, they just spend unwisely.