With all of the talk about upgrading the shortstop position
precious little has been written about improving left field. Thus far this year we’ve seen Andrew Brown,
Chris Young, Eric Young, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Bobby Abreu, Eric Campbell and
probably a game or so from Matt den Dekker, too. None has staked a claim to the position,
though at .330 a case could be made for giving Campbell an extended look. His strength, however, appears to be
positional versatility, replacing Justin Turner in that role on the roster.
Moving forward, however, it wouldn’t appear that any of
these players are long term solutions.
As we all know, Chris Young is mercifully on a one year deal, Eric Young
has demonstrated the Peter Principle at work, Bobby Abreu’s fountain of youth
is running dry, and Kirk Nieuwenhuis continues to strike out at a prodigious
rate and has shown flashes in the past only to succumb to the almighty K.
Unfortunately there isn’t much help down on the farm
either. Cesar Puello has improved
somewhat since his awful start, but he’s not making enough noise to deserve a
promotion. Matt den Dekker hasn’t had
the chance to adjust to the next level, but he’s already 27 years old and still
not playing in the big leagues. Andrew
Brown was on fire in AAA until he rode the pines for Terry Collins, but he’s
not recaptured his stroke after returning to Las Vegas. Brandon Allen is another AAAA type of
player. It would seem that until Brandon
Nimmo is ready, the outfield cupboards are pretty bare.
I’m not naïve enough to think that a Carlos Gonzalez or
Giancarlo Stanton are realistic possibilities, but the Mets really should be
targeting folks like Joc Pederson of the Dodgers who could likely provide a
solution for the position for the foreseeable future. The Mets should be dangling some of their
available players – starting pitchers, pitching prospects, 2nd
basemen – to see what they could do to gain a cost-controlled player who can
man the position as they continue their quest for a winning record. Yes, giving up a prospect like a Rafael
Montero would hurt if he went onto a solid major league career, but the fact is
that the team’s offense is its Achilles heel and they need to make strides to contend. Solving the LF and SS dilemmas will go a
long way in that regard.
15 comments:
I don't think that LF has been ignored, but I agree that it needs to be addressed and Joc P would be a nice pick up, but I think LA is going to want more than Montero and may not even be incline to move him. they have 5 OF including JP and I think they envision keeping Puig, JP and one of Kemp, Eithier or Crawford. Cargo I don't think is the bridge to Nimmo/Comforto and Stanton in unattainable. Puello has come off the heap recently, but he gets iced in Vegas like Flores get iced in Queens, so he may not even be provided with an opportunity
LF is different than SS in that there is an internal candidate at AA - Nimmo is looking like he will be a solid ML player and offer plus defense in LF - he will be ready by the second half of next year - so we really don't have to have a long term solution
Peterson will be a very good player, but will he be so much better than Nimmo that he is worth what he would cost in a trade?
Also, you know Sandy wants his 1st 1st round pick to succeed in blue and orange
Nimmo may not be ready until 2017. He is hitting poorly so far in AA. Maybe Conforto even beats him to the bigs. Peterson looks like a clearer impact guy than nimmo may be, so get Joc and sort it out in the years to come.
Anon, I am still puzzled why Puello does not play almost daily. His progress is just retarded by doing that. At the same time, he is abysmal this year vs. righties, so who knows if/when he'll make majors, and if he does, just as a hitter vs lefties? Play him a lot and find out.
Reese, everyone is overlooking the obvious LF solution...move Tejada there!! Like it or not, Ruben will be with the Mets longer than Jeter with the Yanks! I figured that would make your day.
We need to see what other OF prospects there are that could be available besides Peterson.
One that stands out to me is Stephen Piscotty from STL. They have a OF logjam right now. Piscotty (#78 overall) is their #2 prospect behind superprospect Oscar Tavares. Piscotty is hitting .300 in AAA with 6 HRs and an OPS of .789. STL also has OF James Ramsey (AA) with 13 HRs in only 60 games and OF Randal Grichuk who was doing well in AAA but hasn't found success yet since being called up to the show (a la Wilmer Flores). STL is known to be looking for pitching so maybe Colon and Dice-K for Piscotty with the Mets picking up some of the Colon contract could work. But I think STL could probably get Ian Kennedy for Piscotty so maybe we'd have to settle for Grichuk.
What other minor league OFs are out there?
I'm writing tomorrow about the Mets, the Rockies, and Cargo. There might be some action here.
some other guys to look at:
Gabby Guerrero - SEA (A+)
Austin Wilson - SEA (A)
Domingo Santana - HOU (AAA)
Teoscar Hernandez - HOU (A+)
Preston Tucker - HOU (AAA)
Pretty Much any OF in the Rangers organization
Jorge Bonifacio - KC (AA)
Aaron Judge - NYY (A+)
Michael Taylor - WAS (AA)
Raimel Tapia - COL (A)
Seems like Houston, Texas and Seattle have some OF depth in their systems. Montero for one of the Houston OFs might work. Seattle is on the verge of contending so I don't think they want to move a nice piece like Wilson or Guerrero for Colon but maybe for deGrom or Gee but I don't see that kind of trade appealing to us since both guys are quite a bit away.
We could easily match up with Texas offering an established young SP (Gee), young controllable starter (Montero or deGrom) or bullpen arm (pick of the litter) for one of their OF prospects.
Maybe Colon for Judge, or one of their under performing AA OFs, if the Yanks refuse to give up.
It is a little disheartening to see Chase Headley arrive across town (not that he's necessarily a difference maker), but the team acquiring him obviously is trying to move forward. Maintaining the status quo seems to be Alderson's modus operandi.
Headley is going to have a monster half for them in that bandbox.
I don't think Cargo is the answer. His numbers won't play in our park.
Look at nimmo OBP , He is coming along fine.
Zozo -
lol... sometimes you guys say the funniest things...
"we don't have any outfielders"...
"our outfielders suck"....
(mention an all-star)
"he won't play in our park"....
amazing
Nimmo is just fine - good OBP same K and BB rate and even more power - he is in the big playing LF by July next year
Plus, as I said, Sandy wants him to succeed
Sorry Mack but his numbers outside Coors Field just don't WOW me. To me he isn't a cleanup hitter, so I wouldn't want to give up too many prospects for him. I would rather go after Alex Rios and bat him 2nd cause he has the speed, defense and wouldn't cost us an arm and a leg as far as prospects and $$$$.
Hopefully Colon keeps pitching this way, so by end of the game we can trade him for a top 20 prospect? Lol. LGM
There's a guy in Philly with 19HRs this year who can handle Citi and is signed through next season. Perfect for that Nimmo bridge.
They're looking to trade him, too.
Good call on that Byrd would be a great add - no way Philly trades with us though - and no way we trade any thing good to them
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