NY Mets News: Deadline to sign Kumar Rocker at two minutes to midnight

Remember a few Sundays ago when we were all excited about the New York Mets drafting Kumar Rocker? Somehow, the star pitcher from Vanderbilt fell to number ten in the draft. The Mets didn’t hesitate. They pounced and drafted him.

Rejoice! The Mets won the day.

Not much after, we learned some bad news. After evaluating his health, some concerns about his elbow popped up. Rocker and the Mets don’t see eye-to-eye on the originally agreed upon deal which included a $6 million signing bonus. With a deadline at 5pm on Sunday August 1, we’re at two minutes to midnight.

What happens if the Mets don’t sign Kumar Rocker?

Here’s what happens if the two can’t agree to a deal: the world ends.

That’s it. The sky falls. The Mets forfeit the season. We all crawl into a hole and never come out again.

Oh, and the team also receive the 11th overall pick in next year’s draft as compensation.

The odds of the Mets being able to draft someone as highly-regarded as Rocker with the number 11 pick next year is slim. Players of his caliber don’t sneak past as many rounds as he did.

As R.J. Anderson of CBS Sports points out, the fatal mistake with Rocker may be how the club handled the draft after his selection. Essentially, there was no draft insurance policy in case Rocker didn’t sign. They seemed to believe everything would go as planned. It hasn’t.

It’ll be an unfortunate end to the weekend for the Amazins if Rocker doesn’t sign. On Friday, there was hype about the addition of Javier Baez and the return of the black jerseys. The Mets went on to lose the game that night. They did manage to follow it up with a walk-off win on Saturday following the pregame Hall of Fame induction. Momentum swung their way. Signing Kumar, before a finale victory to take the series against the Cincinnati Reds, would be a nice Sunday.

To end things on a cliché: the grass is always greener on the other side. Our calendars now flipped to August, we can only hope this month’s grass begins with a fresh batch of Bermuda. Maybe it includes a series finale win and an agreement with the team’s first-round draft pick.

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But if they fail to sign Rocker, it’ll be the second straight first-round draft pick they lost this weekend. Pete Crow-Armstrong, the selection from last year, was traded to the Chicago Cubs. For two very different reasons, the Mets farm system will have taken one on the chin.