4 NY Mets contracts that could hold them back from having the best roster possible

4) Paul Blackburn

Everything already said about Griffin Canning could be restated with Paul Blackburn. Maybe do it with a little more rage. You can almost talk yourself into trusting the front office with Canning. Blackburn has a longer resume and appears to be less of a guy who just needed a change of scenery. He is nothing more than an average pitcher at best.

Set to earn a little over $4 million this year, it's not enough to force him into a situation when he clearly has nothing to offer. However, like the previous example given with Adrian Houser last year, the Mets might lengthen the leash of Blackburn unnecessarily with a trip to the bullpen in an attempt to do several things. One is to keep him around for starting pitching depth. Another is to test out how he performs as a reliever even if mopping up is all he contributes.

The Mets showed they aren't going to get too ridiculous with keeping underperforming players around regardless of their salaries. Marte and McNeil are earning significantly more than Blackburn, in which case, they could linger. The fact that the Mets tendered a deal to Blackburn in the first place is somewhat puzzling unless the plan was for him to get traded in March. Well, that's not happening. The Mets actually could use him even if he's his usual average self.