On Thursday night, the Giants announced they had signed free agent OF Denard Span to a three-year contract.

Jon Heyman of MLB Network said the deal was worth $31 million over those there years.

The Mets had been linked to Span during the early part of the off-season, but in late December signed another left-handed bat in Alejandro De Aza with the intention of using him in a platoon with Juan Lagares, ending the possibility of a pursuit for Span.

The Mets apparently had concerns about a long-term engagement with Span, presumably because of the health risks he comes with at age-32. That’s understandable, considering he is coming off August hip labrum surgery, his third procedure in the last year.

Span was reportedly willing to workout for interested teams near his home in Tampa, Florida this month, and that was an indication other interested parties are concerned about Span’s health as well, and are weary of meeting such demands.

But it’s surprising the Mets wouldn’t at least watch Span in some baseball activities before jumping the gun on De Aza, who seems like he should have been a mid-to-late January signing anyway.

If he is healthy, however, Span is a catalyst for the top of a lineup, and certainly would’ve been a better fit in center field than De Aza, who has played three games at that position since the 2013 season and was always a below-average defensive player at that position.

And Span has shown to be a winning presence, as the Nationals were 36-25 with him in the lineup in 2015, and 47-54 when he did not play.

Span doesn’t draw a lot of walks, but he makes contact, has first-to-third speed, and when he’s healthy, can be counted on for 200-plus total bases thanks to his ability to take advantage of big ballparks with his triples speed. Acquiring Span would have gone a long way towards improving the team’s on-base percentage, and it would’ve allowed Curtis Granderson to be moved towards the middle of the lineup as well where his power could be much more valuable, and could help account for the loss of Yoenis Cespedes.

Contact rates and on-base percentage something the Mets have strived to improve upon this winter, evident by their pursuit of Ben Zobrist before he went to the Cubs, but haven’t really accomplished in their offensive acquisitions to date.

The Mets payroll for 2016 currently stands at about $109 million, which includes players currently under contract, those earning the league minimum, and the high-end salary projections for arbitration eligible players.

While that figure is unquestionably below-market, that payroll figure is approximately the same as it was by the end of the 2015 season for all players on the 40-man roster, according to Cots Contracts. But it’s also approximately seven percent higher than their Opening Day, 2015 payroll.

And as Sandy Alderson noted on Thursday afternoon at the New York Athletic Club, their payroll is significantly higher than it was two seasons ago, and stands to grow even higher in 2016.

“Our payroll at the end of 2014 was $85 million, $86 million all-in,” Alderson explained. “I would suspect this year we’ll end up at $115 or so, or maybe higher than that, $120. That’s a $35-million increase in just two years.”

When the Mets escalate their payroll to the General Manager’s projection is unclear. Is that figure a budget set ahead of Opening Day? Is that their all-inclusive payroll for the season, including players they call-up and acquire throughout the season?

With requirements still unfulfilled on the bench and in the bullpen, it remains to be seen how that is truly defined.

But no matter what, Alderson believes the perception the club isn’t spending available monies on external talent is directly tied to one player who remains available on the free agent market.

“The idea that we’re not investing in the team I think is really misplaced, and sort of tied up in the populism involving Cespedes,” Alderson opined.

That really isn’t a totally inaccurate statement, really because the Mets have improved their situation at second base, created Major League depth at both second base and shortstop with the acquisition of Asdrubal Cabrera, and have addressed a major need on the left side of their bullpen by retaining Jerry Blevins.

Still, there are questions about how much they’ve improved their defense, especially up the middle with Cabrera and Alejandro De Aza.

And for a pennant winning team which came three wins shy of a World Championship, it’s difficult to see that they’re as good or better than they were talent-wise at the end of the season, although they’re indisputably better today than they were on Opening Day in 2015.

Certainly, Alderson and the front office are going to be putting a lot of faith in the growth of Michael Conforto and Travis d’Arnaud, and the health of David Wright anyway, but it remains to be seen if their faith in the defense of those new acquisitions is misplaced.

As for Cespedes, Alderson has been clear that he knows how important Cespedes was for the team down the stretch of the season. But he and the rest of the front office believe by having Cespedes in center field – where he is below average at best – is not ideal for the long-term.

“We know that Cespedes was instrumental to us getting to the postseason,” Alderson said. “We know Daniel Murphy was instrumental in us getting to the World Series. But I think along the way we learned a few things about ourselves, about the team, and I think the way we approached the offseason, we put some of those lessons into play. It’s not as if we’re not looking to improve the team, and if possible, in significant ways. But it has to make some sense in terms of how these pieces all fit. And even if you go back to the trade deadline, we were trying in many ways to fit a square peg in a round hole.”

In the cases of Cespedes, Alderson believes for a shorter period of time, it’s fine to try and push those square pegs into a round hole. But in the grand scheme of things over a longer period, it’s not ideal for either the team or the player.

“For two months or three months, it may make sense,” Alderson said about Cespedes. “For five years or six years, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to try to do that. If we had the right, healthy player in the right position, it might be a very different story for us. This isn’t about inching up on team improvement. This is about trying to be thoughtful about it, but also realistic.”

That isn’t unreasonable, especially since others in the industry seemingly share the same sentiment about his skills at that position. The question isn’t whether or not Cespedes can or cannot play centerfield – he can at a below average rate. The question for the Mets is whether or not his value can be maximized for two years with below league average play at the position, and whether or not his bat can ultimately outweigh his shortcomings defensively in centerfield.

In fairness to the Mets, that’s a legitimate question no matter how good he is offensively.

Having said that, they signed De Aza to be Juan Lagares’ platoon partner in 2016, and he’s hardly a centerfielder, let alone a good one defensively. Certainly, De Aza doesn’t come with the same risk as Cespedes, but he also isn’t the same caliber player as Cespedes is, either.

Now, it could still make sense for longer than two months. The club had been reluctant to go beyond three years in a deal for Cespedes, and they have maintained that stance to date. But Cespedes remains unsigned, and with the Giants no longer positioned to sign Cespedes and the clock ticking to the start of Spring Training, Cespedes’ market could shrink into the Mets comfort zone in the coming weeks.

That of course does not mean the club will sign Cespedes, and it still remains unlikely, as it has really since they traded for him in late July. And if Cespedes’ market continues to shrink, more clubs will presumably become interested in him at that price point.

But for the Mets, it will be hard to ignore Cespedes’ availability at half the term of his original demand. His bat is too dynamic and transformational at this stage of his career to do that, even if he would be such a square peg.

The results of the 2016 Hall of Fame election are in, and for Mike Piazza, he is now officially a baseball immortal.

Piazza was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame along with Ken Griffey Jr. on Wednesday evening, the Hall of Fame announced.

Piazza received 83 percent of the vote. 75 percent of the vote is required for entry into the Hall of Fame.

“It’s a tremendous honor,” Piazza said Wednesday night. “I just want to say thank you very much to all the writers for their support. It’s just overwhelming. I’m very honored and I’m a huge student of the game as far as the history of the game so this is just something for me that really words can’t describe.”

Griffey received 99.3 percent of the vote, surpassing Tom Seaver (98.7 percent) for the highest percentage in baseball history.

Piazza failed in each of his first three attempts for Hall of Fame induction. He first appeared on the ballot in 2013 when he received 57.8 percent of the vote. His marks have improved each year since, as he received 62.2 percent of the vote in 2014 and 69.9 percent of the vote in 2015.

“We are really thrilled that Mike Piazza has taken his rightful place among the other greats in Cooperstown,” Mets COO Jeff Wilpon said in a statement. “Mike’s offensive prowess, ability to deliver in the clutch, and tireless work ethic helped him become of the great catchers of all-time.

“On behalf of Mets Ownership, front office staff and our fans, we congratulate Mike, his wife Alicia, his parents, Vince and Veronica, and the entire Piazza family.”

But the fourth time was his charm, and it is a well-deserved honor even if it took longer than it should.

“When you put everything in historical perspective, the fact that I mentioned Yogi Berra had four ballots and Joe DiMaggio had three ballots, myself being a student of the history of the game and having respect for the process as you mentioned it was nail biting at times but again I had a tremendous amount of support throughout my career from the writers and the fans,” Piazza said. “I think fans have obviously supported me in my post-career, so you can’t describe this honor and for me I don’t want to say it was difficult but I want to say it was definitely all the emotions came into it every year but again knowing the history of the game and knowing how many great players throughout this game had to wait years, sometimes many years, it keeps it in perspective. So for me that was something that I was able to sort of draw from to just keep patience and keep optimistic.”

A 62nd-round pick in the 1988 first-year player draft, Piazza earned National League Rookie of the Year honors in 1993, and was an All-Star 12 times and hit 396 home runs as a catcher, the most in Major League history. He was a lifetime .308/.377/.545 hitter with a total of 427 home runs, 344 doubles and 1335 RBI in 1912 games from 1992-2007 with the Dodgers, Marlins, Mets, Athletics and Padres.

Piazza is the lowest draft choice among all Hall of Famers.

He hit .296/.373/.542 with 220 home runs in 972 games over eight seasons with the Mets from 1998-2005. is easily the best and most prolific hitter the Mets have ever had, not to mention the greatest hitting catcher in baseball history.

He said in the memoir he wrote a few years ago he would like to go into the Hall of Fame as a Met. If that happens, he would become only the second player enshrined in the Hall of Fame in a Mets cap.

The other is Seaver, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1992.

“Without a doubt Mike Piazza was one of the top hitting catchers in the history of the game,” Seaver said in a statement. “For Mike to compile the stats he did while catching is amazing. His election to Cooperstown is most deserving.”

Now, the next question could very well be how the Mets might honor Piazza in 2016. Such an honor should include retiring his number, something which is long overdue.

That will be up to the team’s committee which is responsible for such decisions, but his election into the Hall of Fame should now make such a decision academic.

This is a truly an exciting day. Piazza came to the Mets when I was 18, and was the first true Met superstar I could admire, understand and appreciate. I remember idolizing Gary Carter and Darryl Strawberry, but that was well before I had a mature understanding of the game as both a player and a fan.

Piazza alone re-established credibility for the franchise and transformed them into a true powerhouse in the league over a three-year span, twice coming close to helping the club win a World Championship. He was such a dominant hitter for so long for this franchise and had an ability to carry this team for weeks and months at a time.

He was as much fun as he was emotional to watch given his propensity for home runs which froze moments in time, from his home run against John Smoltz in Game 6 of the 1999 NLCS to carry the Mets all the way back from a seven-run deficit, to his three-run home run against Terry Mulholland in the famous ten-run inning against the Braves at Shea Stadium, to one of the most iconic and inspiring home runs in baseball history against the Braves in September, 2001.

Yes, his bat could make people cry and jump for joy at any moment. He created memories for millions all around New York City which will never be forgotten.

Plus, Piazza was – and still is – so cool.

“Congratulations to Mike, an outstanding ballplayer and a great man,” said Dodger Hall of Fame Manager Tommy Lasorda. “I couldn’t be prouder of him after seeing his hard work to go from a 62^nd round pick and converted catcher to one of the best ever at his position and now, a fellow Hall of Famer. I’d also like to congratulate Mike’s family and everyone back in Norristown (PA) on this honor.”

Piazza is only the ninth catcher ever voted into the Hall of Fame by the writers. The last catcher to be elected was Gary Carter in 2003. Piazza became the 17th catcher enshrined in the Hall of Fame.

The Hall of Fame is comprised of 312 elected members, including 217 former major league players, 28 executives, 35 Negro Leaguers, 22 managers and 10 umpires. The BBWAA has elected only 121 candidates to the Hall while the veterans committees have chosen 165 deserving candidates (96 major leaguers, 28 executives, 22 managers, 10 umpires and nine Negro Leaguers). The former “Committee on Negro Baseball Leagues” selected nine men between 1971-77 and the Special Committee on Negro Leagues in 2006 elected 17 Negro Leaguers.

Indeed, the Hall of Fame is reserved for exclusivity. It may be a flawed and antiquated voting system, but those voters have kept the Baseball Hall of Fame a sacred place, and easily the most meaningful Hall of Fame in all of professional sports. It is not the Hall of very good players or Hall of nice people. It’s about what’s above been a very good or even a great player, and potentially even more than being the dominant player at a given position. It should be reserved for players and people who encapsulated that greatness, defined the standard and could serve as the barometer for all that follow.

And in most instances, the writers have gotten the vote right in the end, whether a deserving player has gotten 75 percent or 98.7 percent.

Piazza’s skill set alone embodied what it means to be a Hall of Famer. And his moments defined what it means to be a player who is better than great. It’s a rare intangible which enhances that skill set.

Now, that player and person has been officially recognized as one of the sport’s all-time greats.

The induction ceremony will take place on Sunday, July 24 at 1:30 PM ET in Cooperstown, New York.

Kelly Johnson is returning to his roots once again.

According to a report from MLB.com’s Mark Bowman, the veteran utility player has agreed to return to the Braves on a one-year deal.

The Braves who originally drafted Johnson in the first-round of the 2000 first-year player draft, brought Johnson back on a one-year contract last season before trading him to the Mets on July 24.

He hit /250/.304/.414 with five home runs and 13 RBI with the Mets in 49 games following the deal, and went 1-for-9 in the postseason as well.

Johnson has played in ten big league seasons with the Braves, Mets, Diamondbacks, Blue Jays, Yankees, Yankees, Red Sox and Orioles.

That left a huge void on the minor league side of the Mets organization, as DePodesta led the re-organization of the Mets minor league, player development and scouting system.

Fortunately, DePodesta has been surrounded by some very smart and experienced people who assisted in their re-organization, including Tommy Tanous, Adam Fisher, Ian Levin, Dicky Scott, and more.

And the Mets appear inclined to promote DePodesta’s replacement from within.

John Harper of the Daily News says the Mets are likely to promote Tanous, their current scouting director, to the head of player development and amateur scouting.

Tanous joined the Mets in 2010 as a scout, and was promoted to scouting director after Chad MacDonald departed the organization in 2011. He has overseen the last four drafts along with DePodesta.

This is probably the most logical move the Mets can make, and certainly going with someone in-house who knows the system that’s in place and the people involved in that system is wise as well.

Tanous has spent his time in the organization essentially being the eyes and ears to DePodesta and the rest of the front office from an amateur talent perspective. He has always been at DePodesta’s side at the various amateur showcases, and obviously spends the bulk of his time scouting around the country looking at all kinds of players throughout the year, playing a key role in the decision making process in their draft strategy.

The results of the 2016 Hall of Fame election will be announced on Wednesday evening at 6 PM ET on MLB Network, with live coverage beginning at 3 PM ET.

And for Mike Piazza, it could be a day long remembered.

According to Ryan Thibodaux, who tracks and counts Baseball Hall of Fame ballots, Piazza has received 150 of 174 votes to receive entry into the Hall of Fame, a total of 86.2 percent.

Candidates need at least 75 percent of the vote to gain entry into the Hall of Fame.

Piazza has failed in each of his first three attempts for Hall of Fame induction. He first appeared on the ballot in 2013 when he received 57.8 percent of the vote. His marks have improved each year since, as he received 62.2 percent of the vote in 2014 and 69.9 percent of the vote in 2015.

Piazza was elected to the Mets Hall of Fame on the final day of the 2013 season. A 62nd-round pick in the 1988 first-year player draft, Piazza was an All-Star 12 times and hit 396 home runs as a catcher, the most in Major League history. He was a lifetime .308/.377/.545 hitter with a total of 427 home runs, 344 doubles and 1335 RBI in 1912 games from 1992-2007 with the Dodgers, Marlins, Mets, Athletics and Padres.

He is easily the best and most prolific hitter the Mets have ever had, not to mention the greatest hitting catcher in baseball history.

He said in the memoir he wrote a few years ago he would like to go into the Hall of Fame as a Met. If that happens, he would become only the second player enshrined in the Hall of Fame in a Mets cap.

The other is Tom Seaver, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1992.

So if Piazza is indeed elected, the next question could very well be how the Mets might honor him in 2016. Such an honor should include retiring his number, something which is long overdue. But that will be up to the team’s committee which is responsible for such decisions.

But an election into the Hall of Fame should make such a decision academic.

There are approximately 450-475 ballots for this year’s Hall of Fame election, so the numbers made public is obviously only a fraction of the electorate. So Piazza will very likely finish a lot closer to the 75 percent threshold than he is at now, but still appears likely to be among the Class of 2016.

If elected, Piazza would become only the ninth catcher voted into the Hall of Fame. The last catcher to be elected was Gary Carter in 2003. Piazza would become the 17th catcher enshrined in the Hall of Fame.

The Hall of Fame is comprised of 310 elected members, including 215 former major league players, 28 executives, 35 Negro Leaguers, 22 managers and 10 umpires. The BBWAA has elected only 119 candidates to the Hall while the veterans committees have chosen 165 deserving candidates (96 major leaguers, 28 executives, 22 managers, 10 umpires and nine Negro Leaguers). The former “Committee on Negro Baseball Leagues” selected nine men between 1971-77 and the Special Committee on Negro Leagues in 2006 elected 17 Negro Leaguers.

There are currently 68 living Hall of Fame members.

The induction ceremony will take place on Sunday, July 24 at 1:30 PM ET in Cooperstown, New York.

At the beginning of the off-season, Sandy Alderson said one of the areas he wanted to improve upon was the club’s bullpen ahead of the 2016 season in an effort to create less of a dependence on the starting rotation and create shutdown formula with Jeurys Familia at the end of the game.

But so far this winter, the Mets haven’t done much to address their bullpen with the exception of retaining Jerry Blevins and signing Buddy Carlyle and Jim Henderson to minor league deals.

And Blevins comes with question marks of his own, as he’s coming back from a twice broken left arm in 2015, which limited him to seven games and season-ending surgery in August.

As such, in addition to finding another right-handed reliever, the Mets could be looking at shoring up the left side of their bullpen as well, as Buster Olney of ESPN says the Mets have been in discussions with LHP Antonio Bastardo.

Olney says the Orioles have also been in discussions with Bastardo.

Bastardo had an up-and-down 2015 season with the Pirates in 2015, but was stellar in the second half after posting a 4-1 record and a 2.32 ERA in 34 appearances down the stretch. He was dominant in general, holding opponents to a .188 average overall, but he was especially stingy against left-handed hitters, allowing only 17 lefties to reach base all year which was good for a .138/.233/.215 line.

Bastardo is a flyball pitcher with a low-90s fastball. He used it a lot more in 2015 and shied away from his change-up, which could be attributed to his success considering he saw a modest uptick in velocity during the year. In fact, opponents hit under .150 against Bastardo’s fastball in the second half of the season.

He would be an excellent fit for the Mets, but if the Mets sign Bastardo and both he and Blevins stay healthy, there might not be room for Josh Edgin once he returns from Tommy John Surgery. But certainly a tandem of Bastardo and Blevins on the left side of the bullpen would be among the league’s best, giving the Mets a good problem to deal with once Edgin returns.

There is, of course, the issue of what Bastardo might be able to command in free agency. Teams have clearly been willing to pay a premium for relievers this winter as they emphasize strengthen the bullpen and shortening games. As a result, more and more relievers are getting multi-year deals, including Darren O’Day, Tony Sipp, Joakim Soria, and Ryan Madson.

Those multi-year deals should be able to net Bastardo a multi-year deal for himself, and it remains to be seen if the Mets consider going that route – especially for a reliever – after being seemingly reluctant to give multi-year deals to other players not named Ben Zobrist and Asdrubal Cabrera.

And for now, the Mets are unwilling to give Bastardo a multi-year deal, tweets Mike Puma of the New York Post.

Original post: January 5, 8:45 am
Updated: January 5, 9:15 pm

The Mets have had one of the highest profile front offices in the industry since Sandy Alderson took over as the club’s general manager following the 2010 season, with John Ricco, Paul DePodesta, and JP Ricciardi serving as his chief lieutenants.

But now it appears Alderson will be losing a key member of his team.

DePodesta will be leaving the Mets – and the industry altogether – to become the Executive Vice President of the Cleveland Browns, reports Joel Sherman of the New York Post.

DePodesta will serve as chief strategy officer for the Browns, according to Chris Mortensen of ESPN.

DePodesta has served as the team’s Vice President of Player Development and Amateur Scouting, playing a key role in their drafts and associated strategies as well as heading the entire rebuild of the Mets farm system and organization as a whole. He was one of Sandy Alderson’s key set of eyes and ears and an integral voice throughout their rebuild and ascent to National League Champions in the last five seasons.

“Paul completely reorganized the Mets scouting and player development functions and had an extraordinary impact in both areas, but he was also very directly involved in our trade and free agent acquisitions,” Sandy Alderson said in a statement. “His commitment to excellence and his passion for innovation will be missed by the Mets and all of Baseball. I wish him well with the Browns.”

He’s also one of the smartest people in all of professional sports. A graduate of Harvard University, he has served as a front office advisor to Billy Beane in Oakland and Mark Shapiro in Cleveland, as well as General Manager of the Dodgers in 2004 and 2005.

DePodesta was often viewed as the eventual successor to Sandy Alderson as the club’s General Manager.

Said Mets COO Jeff Wilpon, “Working with Sandy, Paul put into process a new approach toward player development throughout our organization.  Ownership and all of us at the Mets thank Paul for his tireless efforts.  We look forward to seeing Paul’s continued success with the Browns.”