I went into the week with one shortstop that plays with a broken leg (Ruben Tejada) and another that just broke his ankle (Wilmer Flores) while fucking around in winter ball playing at second base.
I'm then told we're going to sign some real old guy (Ben Zobrist) for 4-years, but thankfully, the Cubs come out of the woodwork and save us from that embarrassment by signing him to their own deal.
Turns out the Mets had a plan two here and traded off SP Jon Niese for an all-star NL second baseman, Neil Walker, who not only had better defensive stats than Daniel Murphy, but also led the NL in a bad 2015 (for him) in producing HRs.
And then, just before I'm taking my ambien and turning in for the night, the troika comes up with another infielder that sort of hits well and sort of plays meh defensive... and has only played 12 games on third... Asdrubal Cabrera.
It's a 2-year deal with a 3rd year team option for the 28-year Cabrera and you have to assume this is part of a complete overall of the Mets infield.
Switch hitting Cabrera at SS, switch hitting Walker at 2B, Walker backs up Wright at 3B, Dilson Herrera backs up Walker at 2B when he's playing third, and both either Flores and Tejada could be off this team by the end of the Nashville festivities.
On the whole, Mets middle infield didn’t get better defensively. But they did offensively.
11 comments:
If this was Plan B by the Mets.
I really wonder how/why they believed Zobrist was a better plan A.
Clearly the front office does not have faith in Flores, Tejada, and Herrera as the day to day middle infielders going into next season.
Makes me wonder why not have skipped the whole Zobrist pursuit.
Just go with the Walker & Cabrerra combination to begin with and non-tender Tejada in order to open up that extra 40 man roster spot.
Bob -
I understand what you are saying.
Check this out:
Neil Walker - 543-AB, 16-HR, 71-RBI, .269/.328/.427/755
Jason Heyward - 547-AB, 13-HR, 60-RBI, .293/.359/.439/798
Good points, Bob and Mack. I LIKE my new infield. Almost like when we did not trade Gomez for Wheeler and went with much better Plan B then. Mets ought to come up with scenarios and keep picking plan B, I guess.
Yanks got Luis Cessa.
Fine with Walker over Zo, especially the one year part as Dilson will displace him as FT 2B before the year is out, And a minor point, he has caught in the MinL, allowing the use of Paw/TdA as a PH.
Cabrera? Don't get what he offers over Wilmer for the differential bucks. Prediction: Wilmer-Dilson will be the MInf combo during the stretch drive, with 2 sw-hitting PH's on the bench.
Trade Grandy, sign Cespedes.
you summed it up Mack. I just think - or hope - that the full plan is yet to be revealed. Some masterful trade bringing in our elusive #3 & 4 bats. which allows us to settle for a decent middle infield while we wait for our prospects to mature.
Less prospects in the OF so that's where we need to lock up someone great!
Matt Bowman grabbed by Cards in Rule 5
They are saying Heyward to cubs 8 for 194. Opt out after 4. :(
OK so this really means we would get an extra pick in June for Murph giving us 2 top 50 picks then get an extra pick from Walker in 17' as well as the haul from a Harvey trade which would be exciting when you think what the Braves got for Miller....am I correct on this?
Sounds correct to me, Gary
Walker would have to be tendered a contract remember....
Gary,
Yup, those two pick are important given the deals they made last year, and the front office accurately identified that fact and acted accordingly.
I too like Walker for Niese better than Zo for 4 years and $60 mil. Cabrera is a ho hum move, but while he looks a lot like Wilmer statistically, the depth he adds it the big point, and I like it. Mark Simon on ESPN had a great article pointing out how bad the Met middle IF was last year defensively (Worst in baseball). The current group will still be below avg. but much closer to average, which will be a big bosst to the pitchers (Just ask Jon Niese lol).
Yes, more moves are necessary, but I can't remember the last time I really liked virtually everything the FO is doing. The Mets are definitely a now team, but we all want sustained winning, which means consistently delivering cost controlled players from the system.
The Cubs can have Heyward for 8 years and $200 million.
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