Byrd agreed to terms with the Philadelphia Phillies Monday on what multiple outlets reported was a two-year, $16 million contract—a number that stunned much of the baseball establishment.
Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro, here in Orlando for the annual general managers and owners meetings, wouldn't elaborate on the contract because it had to be finalized, but said his team is just trying to play the market as best it can.
"We're trying to get the best bang for our buck. We've got a lot of holes to fill," Amaro said.
But the Byrd deal raised many eyebrows among the league's other general managers. Byrd was excellent in 117 games for the Mets and kept it up after being traded to Pittsburgh, posting career highs in home runs (24) and on-base plus slugging percentage (.847) in 2013. But he is 36 years old and comes with baggage—making the deal a puzzling one on the surface, according to one baseball executive who spoke on condition of anonymity.
"I think it's more shortsighted, in terms of just pricing his deal off of just last year. If you just look at that year, the deal makes sense. But there's a bigger picture," the executive said, going on to list Byrd's age, the 50-game suspension he served in 2012 after testing positive for a banned substance, and the fact that 2013 was a major outlier in a mostly mediocre 12-year career.
But that could be the market this winter—players with major question marks getting big money because they offer two things: power and the ability to play corner outfield spots.
That could mean a rough off-season for both the Yankees and Mets, both of whom need power and have outfield holes to fill. Suddenly, with Byrd's deal helping to set the market, the prices for outfielders on each team's radar could skyrocket. The Yankees are making a play for free agent Carlos Beltran—and if Byrd got $16 million, Beltran will command far more. Ditto Mets target Curtis Granderson, the powerful outfielder who slugged 40 homers in two of the past three seasons.
Mets GM Sandy Alderson said the Byrd deal didn't come as a shock; it just reinforced his concerns about where the market stands at this point, and how high the prices for both power hitters and outfielders are rising.
"Given what we've seen so far, I wasn't surprised," Alderson said. "Had you asked me the question three or four months ago, I might have been surprised. But not in light of what's happened since the end of the season."
A series of above-market deals since the late stages of the season is driving agents to demand top dollar for their clients, Alderson suggested, and every new signing fuels that mentality.
"Let's face it, the agents at this point expect that is the market at this point and not an aberration. We, on the other hand, hope it's an aberration. Only time will tell," Alderson said.
The Yankees and Mets both have money to spend this winter, and both have been active in meetings with teams and agents thus far. But with many teams flush with cash from new television revenue, New York dollars aren't going as far as they used to. Yankee general manager Brian Cashman acknowledged that all the money flying around could make it tough for the Yankees to land their top targets—not that that's anything new.
"Usually the players we like, a lot of other teams like, too," he said.
This winter, that could mean more big deals to mid-range players like Byrd—and skyrocketing prices on the few elite players whom the New York teams want most.
