Predicting 3 moves the NY Mets make after the LA Dodgers steal Kyle Tucker

Steve Cohen was waiting for the smoke. It came out blue, Dodger Blue. Kyle Tucker won’t be playing for the New York Mets. As the broken computer made him do, he’ll sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

What a big, fat disappointment. Also, what a relief! $60 million AAV for…that? We’ll be covering a mix of emotions about the deal. The Mets made an equally as preposterous offer as the Dodgers. New York may be better off for it.

We move onward. How do the Mets respond? This isn’t what I’d necessarily like best or the complete plan of what the Mets can do. It’s more reactionary and a reasonable way to approach the fallout.

1) Sign Framber Valdez

The Mets aren’t going to exit this offseason without signing at least one qualifying offer player, right? You try to avoid two, something the Dodgers ignored. Framber Valdez to the Mets has been a MLB rumor as old as time. If they were willing to go as expensive as they were with Tucker, a high AAV deal with Valdez seems very probable.

You already probably know the pluses and negatives with Valdez. Signing him does bring the Mets a legitimate top of the rotation arm. They still need to clear some space on the roster and frankly that’ll require a move more complicated than any of us are emotionally able to come up with at the moment.

The Mets shouldn’t wait too long on the Valdez market. Currently, it feels like the Baltimore Orioles are the other top suitor with the Mets being linked mostly by logic. New York can certainly outbid the Orioles. The trouble will be convincing David Stearns to get uncomfortable with the number of years. Can they meet eye-to-eye on something shorter? It might require the Mets including a multitude of opt-outs. Ranger Suarez’s 5-year deal worth $130 million is a bar Valdez will try to overtake. Paying him that much over 4 years is a start. Up it to $35 million over four seasons and it’s at $140. That’s not terrible for an arm like Valdez who’ll be a ground ball machine for the Mets and can re-enter free agency late in his career for a fat two-year AAV deal.