Reese Kaplan -- Planning Instead of Settling
While no one should be pushing the panic button simply
because there have been some early Spring injuries in Port St. Lucie, the fact
remains that these minor aches and pains point out two things about the New
York Mets as they prepare for the 2018 season.
First, they are painfully thin in the outfield department right
now. Second, they are prepared to punt
the first several weeks of the season rather than address the issue.
What do I mean by that assertion? Well, when healthy, the starting trio of
Yoenis Cespedes, Michael Conforto and Jay Bruce is as offensively productive as
any outfield in the majors. Defensively,
well, they’re better than Lucas Duda or Roger Cedeno out there, but that’s not
saying much.
The problem is that with Conforto already on the shelf,
you’re behind the eight ball offensively with one of the power and RBI threats
not in the lineup. The plantar fasciitis
diagnosis for Jay Bruce points out just how fragile this outfield’s success really
is. Add to that the revelation that Yo has a sore shoulder and your outfield is Brandon Nimmo and
anyone’s guess.
There is not much help below the major league level. Don’t get me wrong. There are plenty of bodies in AAA. The question is how much of a drop off do
they represent?
Phil Evans is kind of a T.J. Rivera lite in that he’s a high
contact hitter without much power. He’s
been pushed into the outfield out of the need to demonstrate versatility that
will hopefully result in an ascent to the majors. However, after spending 7 seasons in the
minors he’s a .260 career hitter.
After that you have the oft-injured Jayce Boyd. He’s another high contact, low power hitter
but he’s fared better than Evans for his career. He’s a .290 hitter and last season playing
about half of the time, he did manage to bang 11 HRs and drive in 46. Extrapolated over a full season that looks
pretty good, but remember it was in Las Vegas where even Eric Campbell was a
force to be reckoned with. Boyd’s
turning 27 this year so it may be now or never.
Zach Borenstein is probably a left handed version of the man
he replaced in Las Vegas – Travis Taijeron.
He doesn’t whiff quite as much and last year turned in a respectable
.279/24/93 for Reno, but take the numbers with the usual PCL grain of salt. He’s also turning 27 and has yet to hit the
majors.
Wuilmer Becerra went unclaimed after being dropped from the
40-man roster, so the throw-in as part of that R.A. Dickey trade that also
netted Noah Syndergaard and Travis d’Arnaud has pretty much lived up to the low
billing. His minor league stats are OK
when it comes to batting average, but power has never materialized. He’s a .283 career hitter and at age 22 it’s
possible he still has room to improve.
He’s being jumped from A+ to AAA this year off of a .267/4/44
season. Meh.
Matt den Dekker is, like many other Mets, hoping it’s better
the second time around. His minor league
career has had its ups and downs. He’s a
.270 career hitter with his best season being 2012 when he combined between
AA/AAA to hit 17 HRs and drive in 76.
Unfortunately that appears to be something of an outlier, and his major
league career across several teams has yielded a .234/7/29 in 350 ABs. He’s not the answer either and at age 30 what
you see is likely what you get.
24 year old John Mora is slated to make the jump to AAA this
year as well. A career .265 hitter, he
has good but not outstanding speed and strikes out way too much for someone
with no power.
On my second point, the Tampa Bay Rays inexplicably DFA’d
All Star outfielder Corey Dickerson last week.
He has since been picked up by the Pirates who apparently do want to win
ballgames. Dickerson’s average season
would include .280/26/76 – not too shabby and for a team willing to absorb his
extremely reasonable $5.95 million salary. (For frame of reference, Juan Lagares will earn more than that!)
When I floated this idea by some people, many have been so
browbeaten by the Mets’ inane front office over the past several years that
they immediately said, “Where would he play when Conforto comes back?” My reply to that question was, “Isn’t that a
nice problem to have?”
Once again the Mets are doing as little as possible to
prepare for injuries (or poor performances) with no one truly knocking on the
door from AAA and bypassing the plethora of unsigned free agents who might even
be willing to come to camp on a minor league deal with no guarantees. This list would include Jose Bautista, Melky
Cabrera, Andre Ethier, Carlos Gomez, Carlos Gonzalez, John Jay, Ben Revere,
Seth Smith, Ichiro Suzuki and Jayson Werth.
There are others, but they’re more of the fringe, reserve quality ilk.
Now that Dickerson is off the table, why not
approach a Carlos Gomez, for example, and see what he’d take? Banking on the health of Juan Lagares, Yoenis
Cespedes, Brandon Nimmo and Michael Conforto is foolish considering how much time
each has missed with injuries. This year
it’s Jay Bruce added to the list. How
about planning instead of settling?
6 comments:
Dickerson would have been a valuable addition - $$ well spent had they signed him? Perhaps. Why they aren't looking at others is puzzling....maybe they are. Hopefully they are always looking, and willing to act to improve.
Carlos Gomes singed with the Astros right?
https://www.chron.com/sports/astros/article/Ex-Astro-Carlos-Gomez-signs-1-year-deal-with-Rays-12631657.php
But yes, there are pretty decent players the Mets should try to sign.
Make that the Rays
Morning guys.
Reese is right. The projected five outfielders of Cespees, Conforto, Bruce, Lagares, and Nimmo look great on paper. The problem is the paper is already starting to curl up.
There is other outfield talent in the pipeline, but... IMO... none is ready expect for Ty Kelly and Matt den Dekker. Neither will become big time starters some day but they can fill in as, well, fill-ins.
I to was surprised at the non-effort regarding Dickerson. I also would have considered Napoli but he's signed now.
Looking ahead, we keep signing pitchers (Gagnon, Purke, Griffin) when it seems we have super depth there.
Why not bring in a new quality outfielder?
Indeed, Viper... Gomez was merely an example of a quality player not yet signed at the time of writing.
Mack, agreed. And can Jose get into the outfield already?
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