MLB insider proposes an unrealistic backup plan if the Mets fail to sign Yoshinobu Yamamoto

So what if the New York Mets don’t sign Yoshinobu Yamamoto? The variety of backup plans ranges from waiting completely until next year to a pitch made by NY Post’s Jon Heyman that would get fans fired up yet seems completely unrealistic in every way possible.

Heyman proposes the Mets go after Blake Snell and Josh Hader. I know, right? It’s a pair of fantasy additions that would make the Mets better but it comes with huge penalties and just doesn’t seem to make much sense at all for how the team has operated otherwise.

Why the Mets aren’t going to sign Blake Snell and Josh Hader

First of all, it seems Heyman is ignoring the penalties. By signing one player who signed a qualifying offer, the Mets lose their second and fifth-highest draft picks plus $1 million in international bonus slot money. For the right guy, it’s a worthy sacrifice.

Sign a second? The Mets lose their second, third, fifth, and sixth-highest picks. Next year’s draft is obliterated.

The harshness of the penalty is a result of the Mets “overspending” last year. Funny how a team can be penalized for paying its players.

Snell certainly fits the bill as an alternative for Yamamoto. As the reigning NL Cy Young winner and a two-time recipient of it, it’s not worth getting into a fist fight with someone who does like him. Many fans know better than to believe Snell is the true ace he’ll get paid to be. If you think he’s worth losing two draft picks and getting penalized in the international draft, that’s okay. He really is the best secondary option in free agency and by a wide margin.

The fantasy starts to be less believable when Hader is thrown into the mix. Likely to get a deal similar to what Edwin Diaz did last year, are the Mets really going to pay a second reliever around $20 million per year? Wouldn’t it have made sense to embark on building a bullpen of multiple $5-10 million guys instead of all of these wild cards they’ve been adding?

What’s more, Hader needs to be willing to not be the closer. It’s not even about ego. It’s his role and one he has excelled at. One of the rare instances of a relief pitcher even receiving a qualifying offer, it’s hard to understand why he’d even want to come to the Mets.

This “easier said than done” backup plan proposed by Heyman doesn’t work. It completely flips the script on how the Mets have operated all offseason. Why penalize yourself again after failing to sign the star you want most?