#Steve Cohen sets Mets up for Realmuto, Springer and Bauer chase

If and when Steve Cohen gains control of the Mets, he could empower Sandy Alderson and whoever else is running baseball operations to win for free agents J.T. Realmuto, George Springer and Trevor Bauer.

They are arguably the three best free agents available and each plays an area of need for the Mets. Cohen would enter as the richest owner, and this would be a flex of the checkbook that would instantly endear him to a fan base that too often has felt Mets ownership was being operated by Groupon.

For the purposes of this exercise, let’s assume Cohen is going to get the team. Should he fixate on the free agency Big Three?

You would have to believe you are running a win-now club. Can you have a win-now team that hasn’t been winning? Yes. Because the Mets have an unquestioned ace and have already squandered elite years of his prime. But also because the Mets have been held back by a few key elements. They are too left-handed on offense. They are too much of a sieve on defense. And — more of an intangible — they operate amid a negativity that drains attention and energy.

Perhaps that last one begins to clear simply by changing ownership. But the Mets should still be detailed about filling their clubhouse with professionalism while emphasizing defense and, where possible, righty bats. So here’s what this might mean for the Big Three:

J.T. Realmuto

No player more fits what the Mets need right now: excellent defender, righty bat good enough to hit mid-lineup and serious-minded gamer. He is the best overall catcher in the game.

That could have been said of Joe Mauer when he signed his eight-year, $184 million pact before the 2010 season. Within a year, he was a part-time catcher on the way to full-time first baseman because of concussion issues. That could have been said of Buster Posey when he signed his nine-year, $167 million pact. But his age-30 season within that contract was his last good, healthy one and there were still four years to go.

This is offered to remind that catching is the most physically demanding spot on the field, thus, making it as big a risk to sign a receiver long term as a pitcher. And because the contracts to Mauer and Posey still represent the largest ever invested in a catcher. Thus, even in a COVID-19 world, that is what Realmuto will try to beat.

Signing Realmuto solves catching today for the Mets and removes him from the NL East’s Phillies (who want to keep him). But Realmuto will turn 30 in March. Mauer’s $23 million average annual value is still the best for a catcher. Could Cohen blow that away on a shorter deal — four years at $30 million per, say — as a way to mitigate long-term risk, yet be enticing to Realmuto? If not, should the Mets think about signing a very good all-around catcher such as James McCann for less in dollars and length and trading for someone like the Reds’ lefty-swinging Tucker Barnhart and have a strong, above-average tandem while avoiding the risk of a long-term catching contract?

George Springer

Righty bat. Terrific reputation within the game, even with his ties to the 2017 Astros and their sign-stealing scandal. That he was the one established Houston position player whose numbers did not dip this year can make a suitor more sure he didn’t need to know the pitches coming and that he can succeed with controversy around him. He also is an accomplished postseason player (15 career homers and still in these playoffs).

As for the defense, Springer is fine now in center field, but not elite. He will play at 31 next year and will be a corner outfielder, probably by 2022. So Conforto would need to be part of this decision. He enters his walk year in 2021, and if the Mets plan to keep him: 1. Will they want to pay two outfielders high-end money? 2. If extended, Conforto will close one corner spot during Springer’s tenure, so the Mets have to think what roles Jeff McNeil and Brandon Nimmo would play — would you use one to land a pitcher you think has upside like, say, the Pirates’ Joe Musgrove?

The best defensive free-agent center fielder will be Jackie Bradley Jr., but he just would make the Mets even more left-handed. Could you sign him and retain Jake Marisnick and have a defensively excellent platoon?

But remember, many teams are going to be looking to cut payroll due to COVID-related revenue losses this year and projections for more of the same next year. So the willingness to spend money is not only a looming advantage in free agency. For example, the Brewers’ Lorenzo Cain is due two years at $35 million for 2021-22. He played just five games this year before opting out. His righty bat was down in 2019. He will turn 35 next April.

There is a lot working against him, but he has remained an elite defender, and if there is such a thing as a winning player (and I believe there is), Cain is a winning player. How much would the Brewers eat to get rid of the bulk of this deal? How little would they take back?

No matter who is brought in to play center, the Mets should strongly encourage Amed Rosario to play that position in winter ball if possible. Rosario, J.D. Davis and McNeil could provide Rays-like versatility to the roster.

Trevor Bauer

The Mets’ 2021 rotation is deGrom and David Peterson and … Does Seth Lugo stay a starter? When will Noah Syndergaard be back from Tommy John surgery? They need multiple starters, and Bauer is the best on the market.

Like Realmuto and Springer, Bauer’s current team (the Reds) probably will make him the qualifying offer. Unlike those two, Bauer has said he wants to go a year at a time with contracts. So the Mets would be forfeiting draft picks to sign any of these free agents, but that stings more if you only have a player for one year.

That Bauer has that plan to maximize his value one year at a time — does he get one year at $25 million-plus? — is part of the eclectic personality that comes along with a talented right arm and a detail-oriented pitching brain.

Bauer has pitched on multiple playoff teams, so his Twitter beefs and broadsides at the commissioner’s office have not stopped his clubs from winning. But he would be moving from Ohio (having played with the Indians and Reds) to New York, so all of this would have a larger megaphone, audience and, likely, ramifications. Part of why the Diamondbacks and Indians have traded Bauer was fatigue in handling him.

The Mets will have to think about how that would play here, while naturally being attracted to the idea of teaming the likely 2020 NL Cy Young winner with the guy (deGrom) who won the previous two.

The other person likely to finish in the top three of voting this year is Yu Darvish. He is owed three years at $59 million from 2021-23 at a time when the Cubs might be into payroll contraction. Could you imagine signing Bauer and trading for Darvish to top a rotation with deGrom and, perhaps by the end of next season, Syndergaard?

Or how about trading for Darvish and winning on the secondary free-agent market. Again, with the way finances are in the game, not many teams will likely want to add even mid-range pacts. So could the Mets win for, say, Kevin Gausman and J.A. Happ and feel like they have filled out a rotation well?

Don’t forget third base — Davis upgraded defensively at third in 2021, but he still was below average. The Mets have to stop giving away outs and allowing hits.

If money is no object, then maybe the Rockies are worth a call on Nolan Arenado: righty bat, one of the best defensive third basemen ever, gamer. He wants out? He can opt out after the 2021 season. So he either has one year at $35 million left or six years at $199 million. The Rockies don’t want to undersell their franchise face. But do they want to risk getting nothing for him? Do they have to open payroll to try to retain shortstop Trevor Story, free after the 2021 campaign?

Any interested team would need to be sure in Arenado after a down 2020 ended prematurely with a shoulder injury, especially since he will turn 30 in April.

And how about this one: DJ LeMahieu: righty bat, gamer, and from what we have seen, a strong third basemen. Would Cohen — a lifelong Mets fan — like anything more than to take a key Yankee away? LeMahieu is probably the Yankees’ priority in the offseason, but if you want to score points with Mets fans, at least annoying the Yankees and bidding up LeMahieu to make him cost more in The Bronx would not hurt.