Jarred Kelenic ‘Extremely Disappointed’ with Service-Time Manipulation

When the New York Mets traded Jarred Kelenic in the deal that landed them Edwin Diaz and Robinson Cano, there was always that sense of wondering when the trade would come back to haunt the Mets.

Kelenic has been widely regarded as one of the best prospects in baseball, dating back to his time with the Mets and has only improved his stock in the years since. Because he is seen as a cant-miss prospect, the 21-year-old outfielder has become the latest causality of one of baseball’s biggest problems.

Service-time manipulation.

Kevin Mather was just relieved of his duties as the Seattle Mariners team president after his disparaging comments about players were recently made public. One of the players that Mather discussed was Kelenic, as he mentioned how Seattle offered him a long-term extension that he turned down.

As confident as the Mariners were to give him a contract before his MLB debut, Kelenic was just as confident that he would outperform it. This led him to refuse the extension, and in turn, has kept him from making his MLB debut.

“It was communicated to Jarred that had he signed that contract, he would have debuted last year,” Brodie Scoffield, Kelenic’s agent, told USA Today. “It was made crystal clear to Jarred — then and now — that his decision not to call him up is based on service time.”

Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported on this story, getting Kelenic’s take on the clear manipulation of his service time.

“It wasn’t just communicated one time to me. It was told to me several times. That’s the God’s honest truth. It got old.’’ Kelenic said.

When the Chicago Cubs held back Kris Bryant in 2015 to gain an extra year of control, the concept of service-time manipulation became more apparent around baseball. Looking at Bryant’s situation, Chicago nearly non-tendered him the offseason, almost giving up that extra year of control because of how far the two sides were apart to even consider making a long-term marriage on a new deal.

Seattle is following the same path, alienating a budding young star before he even gets the chance to prove his worth. This strategy for teams still makes sense based off the rules that are currently in place (rules that are sure to be a sticking point in the next CBA), but what the Mariners tried with Kelenic takes this to another level.

It appears that they gave the young player an unfair ultimatum to either accept their contract and play under a team-friendly deal, or wait for your dreams to come true to make your MLB debut.

“I was extremely disappointed,’’ Kelenic said. “I worked extremely hard all offseason. And last year, here you have a team that is one game out of the playoffs going into the last weeks of the season. I know for a fact I could have helped that team out. Not just me, but there are other guys who could have helped that team out.”

“Not to be given that opportunity was so beyond frustrating. I feel that guys should be rewarded for their play, and have the best guys on the field, especially when you talk about a team that hasn’t gone to the playoffs in 20 years, and your best prospects are just sitting there watching.’’

If the Seattle Mariners want to clean up some of this bad PR, maybe we will see Kelenic make the Opening Day roster out of spring training. Otherwise, we are sure to see him make his debut some point very soon into the upcoming season, once Seattle secures that extra year of control.

The post Jarred Kelenic ‘Extremely Disappointed’ with Service-Time Manipulation first appeared on Metsmerized Online.