Useless Drama: Asdrubal Returns

The Mets took care of some housekeeping today as they have picked up the club option on Asdrubal Cabrera for $8.5 million.

Now if you remember, Cabrera made some noise about wanting to be traded last season after being pushed to second base upon his return from the disabled list because the Mets have no idea how to plan for the future. But I guess bygones will be bygones. Here’s what Sandy Alderson had to say in a statement:

“Asdrúbal can help us all around the infield,” Mets general manager Sandy Alderson said in a statement. “The season didn’t end the way we wanted but that didn’t stop him from playing hard right to the very last out of the season. Asdrúbal is a great tutor to our younger players and a leader in the clubhouse. We’re happy to have him back.”

So I guess we’re all supposed to forget how Alderson made a public snit about there being no market for Cabrera, and let’s also forget about how the Mets didn’t bring up Amed Rosario because they didn’t want to poison him with Cabrera’s issues. Because now, “Asdrubal is a great tutor to our younger players”. Well guess what. All that drama about Cabrera wanting his option to be picked up for shifting positions, and all of Alderson’s public snipes at Cabrera in addition to the digs from the ever popular “one person familiar with management’s thinking”? All useless. Cabrera got his extension because the Mets need a third baseman. And heaven forbid they trade for Josh Donaldson. So welcome back, Asdrubal. Let’s hope you’re not the big offseason prize.

Oh, and Jerry Blevins’ option was picked up as well. His 2017 season brought him back to the realm of “lefty specialist” rather than that crossover guy that he was in 2016. But as long as Daniel Murphy keeps hitting .111 off of him, there’s always a reason to keep Jerry Blevins on the Mets … especially if Kevin Long’s arrival in Washington as their hitting coach somehow unlocks something in Murphy that wasn’t already unlocked in him when he put on a Nationals uniform. (Spoiler alert: It’ll actually be Long that hits .340 with the Nationals.)