With the ongoing payroll purge underway many people are
hypothesizing about how to spend the money.
Wouldn’t a Mike Moustakas look good at 3B? How about a Jonathon Lucroy behind the
dish? What about Yu Darvish on the hill?
Today what I’d like to examine is the big question about
centerfield. Since 2014 that position
has belonged in part or in full to the soon to be departed (well, from the
Mets, anyway) Curtis Granderson. In the
words of J. Peterman on the old Seinfeld episode, “Thank you for a
job…done.” Yes, he showed power and the
ability to draw a walk, but the 40 home run days were never seen and the stolen
base was pretty much a thing of the past as well. He averaged 23 HRs, 60 RBIs and a .239
batting average over his Mets tenure.
While those numbers are not too bad for someone batting leadoff as he’s
done for much of his time here, the thought behind the $60 million investment
was a middle-of-the-order hitter which he has not provided. Others might argue if you assign a value of
$7 million or so per WAR then his 2.6 WAR average as a Met has him fulfilling
the cost of his contract. Regardless of
which side you’re on, he is likely not going to be here next year, so it raises
the question about who will.
Many people remember fondly the 2014 season during which
Juan Lagares was a .281 hitter and Gold Glove winner who flashed occasional
power and a little bit of speed. It was
growth on those attributes that led the Mets to extend his contract for several
more years, escalating dramatically in price each year as they ensured
themselves a post-season berth every year for the foreseeable future.
Well, like the injuries that derailed Lagares’ career, the
Mets’ collective plans to be competitive into October have gone up in
smoke. Lagares continues to get more
expensive and each year since the World Series appearance in 2015 the Mets have
taken steps and then sprints backwards.
2017 was no better for Lagares than 2016 in terms of his
health. His latest has been a fractured
thumb which only this past weekend allowed him to return to the major
leagues. He is having a disappointing
year to say the least. He’s not even yet
had 100 ABs, with 2 HRs, 8 RBIs, 2 SBs and a .266 AVG. After his arm betrayed him earlier in his
career, that part of his game returned, but then so too did Michael Conforto
and as a result playing time has been as hard to find as a well-rested pitcher
in a Collins bullpen.
A lot of people are clamoring for a strong defensive
presence in centerfield with both Yoenis Cespedes and Michael Conforto showing
the offensive abilities to handle the corner roles. Many folks say, “Hey, go with Lagares. He’s here, he’s under contract and he’s
already won a Gold Glove!”
To that I would say you’d be buying into the fallacy of a
sunk cost. Juan Lagares will cost $6.5
million in 2018, $9 million in 2019 and then require either a $9.5 million
option in 2020 or you let him leave as a free agent.
What do you get for the $15.5 million remaining on the two
years of his contract? IF, and that’s a
huge pre-qualifier, he can stay healthy, then he averages per year .259/6/44
with 10 SBs. I know baseball payrolls
sometimes seem like they are paid with Monopoly money, but jeesh, for $7.75
million per year I’d expect a lot more. The
challenge to whomever is making the personnel decisions is to bundle Juan
Lagares with perhaps one or more of the “valuable” relievers Sandy Alderson
just acquired and get another team to bite before you’re on the hook for the
rest of that ridiculous contract.
Well, what about Brandon Nimmo? You remember him (even if Terry Collins
doesn’t). He’s had only about 100 ABs
over two partial years in the big leagues and hasn’t exactly set the house afire. His greatest attribute is
apparently his ability to take a walk.
That could be parlayed into something wonderful if he could run like an
in-his-prime Jose Reyes, but he’s not that swift afoot. He has not demonstrated much power at
all. He’s a decent corner outfielder and
a work-in-progress in centerfield. By
Mets standards, his greatest attribute is his price which at around major
league minimum means he’s the holy grail of baseball entities – controlled
cost. Whether or not the team once again
places cost above winning is yet to be seen.
His minor league numbers show about 10 HRs, 60 RBIs and 9 SBs with a
.280 batting average per 500 ABs. Like
Lagares, it’s not awful, but it’s far from great.
So what about going outside the organization? There are surely free agents worth
considering, right?
The key word here is “worth” as the selling price for
ballplayers (assuming they would want to come to a team in total disarray) can
be steep. Occasionally you’ll see a
bargain slip through like Nelson Cruz once settling for a pay cut to $8 million
for the 2014 Baltimore Orioles and delivering 40 HRs and 108 RBIs. However, the more frequent development is
paying a slugger something on the order of $138 million on an 8 year contract
extension and in the first year getting rewarded with just 18 HRs and 58
RBIs.
One name you’ll hear floated around is Jarrod Dyson who got
to spend some time on a national stage with the Royals run to the World
Championship. He’s earning a modest $2.8
million and could provide some strong base running speed (30+ steals) but he has
no power and is just a career .260 hitter.
The man the Mets let get away and then almost landed for a
teary Wilmer Flores is set to be a free agent.
Carlos Gomez is probably somewhat overpaid at $11.5 million as he’s been
trending downward for a few years now in terms of his speed. He’s got 11 SBs this year in about half a
season’s worth of ABs which is not terrible but he’d once been a 40 SB threat
and that’s about a 50% reduction in swiping bases. Although he’s hitting a modest .251 (close to
his career .256 average), he has hit 14 HRs with 42 RBIs in just 303 ABs. There’s something there and he used to have
the reputation for being a plus fielder. However, opinions have changed on that as
well. What would it take to land him? I’m
thinking he’d be looking at 3 years and $42 million as an absolute starting
point but that package is probably overly optimistic for the acquiring team. After all, an inferior player in Dexter
Fowler got a 1 year deal from the Cubs in 2016 for $13 million and then landed
a 5 year deal for $82.5 million ($16.5 million per year). I don’t see it as a good investment for a 32
year old already slowing down. Fowler’s
numbers are eerily similar this year to what Gomez is doing with even less
speed. I can’t see him expecting
anything less. Please pass.
Lorenzo Cain is also well known to the Mets from his 2015 World
Series appearance. Having spent virtually
his entire career with the Kansas City Royals, he was an All Star and finished
third in the MVP voting while helping lead the Royals to humiliating Terry
Collins’ Mets while establishing his career highs in HRs, RBIs, AVG and tying
for SBs. Unlike his rival from the
Rangers, his numbers have continued to be strong with a 17 HR, 76 RBI, 30 SB
average over 162 games during the past three years. He achieved this productivity while hitting a
robust .296. Having only once in his
career having fanned over 100 times, he’s the kind of plus defender and contact
hitter the team has been lacking for quite some time. Unfortunately, this $11 million man is going
to be cashing in as one of the huge prizes of the free agent lottery with a
contract demand likely in the 5 year, $100 million range for a guy whose game
is heavily dependent on his legs. He’ll
turn 32 during 2018 and you’d be on the hook through age 37. I would be interested if you could construct
an average annual value at a higher rate but a term of no more than three years
– say 3/$66 million. Would he bite? Probably not.
Finally, my dark horse candidate to replace Juan Lagares is
the recovering-from-injury Ben Revere.
While playing for the Phillies he was a lock for six straight seasons to
hit .300 and steal more than 35 bases.
He was hurt last year in Washington and lost CF to rookie SS Trea Turner
playing out of position. He was picked
up on a low cost $4 million deal for the Giants and improved but not to his
previous levels. He’s hitting in the
.250s but in 230 Abs he has 17 SBs, well on a pace to approach 40 for the
season. (As a sad reminder, the Mets
team leader in steals is 35 year old Jose Reyes with 14 in an extra 150 Abs. I’m thinking a similar $4 million deal could
land Revere again and at age 29 his legs probably have 3-5 more good years in
them. Just as importantly, the Washington
Nationals GM said he’s one of the strongest defensive outfielders in the
league.
My recommendation would be to jettison Juan Lagares and
perhaps Brandon Nimmo, sign Ben Revere with an eye towards a 4th
outfielder role and still make a play for Lorenzo Cain. With Revere you get superior speed and
equivalent defense to Lagares, and Cain provides you with another high contact
hitter to go along with Dom Smith as you transition away from the
all-or-nothing formula that’s failed. If Cain balks, there's always his teammate Moustakas who might want to grab the Wilpons' Benjamins.The Mets have some candidates for 2B and 3B in Flores, Rivera, Asdrubal Cabrera and Gavin Cecchini (plus Jose Reyes as a utility player). I would argue CF is a greater position of need than 3B.
What say you?
7 comments:
Good analysis - perhaps Revere and Cain at 4 yr/$85M might be the way to go. This is Lagares' chance to shine.
Granderson has had a stretch since the beginning of May of a .380+ OBP with pop - why some contending team would not want that is beyond me. Move Grandy along ASAP and give diving Lagares and WBC-injury-messed-up-my-career Nimmo plenty of chances to play down the stretch.
Revere is 29 this year and was an integral leadoff type of hitter for the Phillies for many years before being derailed by injuries. He's a buy-low candidate if ever there was one and you know how the Wilpons cherish bargains.
Cain is going to have a LOT of suitors, many of whom can promise post season possibilities more confidently than can the Terry Collins Crew. It's going to be a bit of a tough sell. I point to the ridiculous Dexter Fowler contract as a starting point for negotiations. Cain has more power, more speed and is a better defensive player. Revere might be had for one or two years as he's not in a strong negotiating position. Furthermore, if you're going after both, get Revere first as he might think he's being handed the starting gig.
One Ben Revere stigma is his poor hitting against lefties - 18 for 100 the past 2 seasons - so since Cain will be SO expensive, maybe the Mets sign Revere and then just keep Lagares and do a 50-50 platoon. The 2 would give you great defense, speed and collectively decent offense...with Nimmo as 5th outfielder.
Yet when Jose Reyes or Curtis Granderson go through long slumps like that they keep playing...gotta love having veteran status on this club!
Revere is fast but his on base skills make Jose Reyes look like Rickey Henderson. His defense is fine but he is bench player in my opinion. Apparently a good guy which is a positive but not a good player. Agree on Cain....second generation contracts to speed guys don't work- see Ellsbury, Reyes, etc...
I would be fine with Lagares and Nimmo platooning as long as we upgrade catcher and third. Can live with Reyes/Rivera /Flores at 2nd
In any event if we don't get better starting pitching this convo is mute anyway
Yeah I wish they could trade Granderson already, to give Nimmo and Lagares a chance to see what they have for us next year.
Revere is an interesting candidate and could serve a pretty good cheap alternative.
I would prefer to go Cain or Gomez in Centerfield instead. I like offense and keep Lagares to fill in in the late innings for defensive purposes.
Tom, I hope you're not buying into the small sample size fallacy. For his career Revere has hit .289 vs. lefties and .280 vs. righties. For a left handed hitter it's both surprising and pretty balanced.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.fcgi?id=reverbe01&year=Career&t=b
Post a Comment