Reese Kaplan -- Looking at 2019 -- 1B Options

Back in the days of Keith Hernandez, John Olerud and Carlos Delgado the Mets had first basemen who hit with authority and consistency.  The sight of them in the batter’s box gave the opposing pitchers consternation, anxiety and fear.  How things have changed.

Under the current administration the club has endured the likes of now-pitcher Ike Davis, Lucas Duda, James Loney, Adrian Gonzalez and occasionally Kevin Plawecki and Jay Bruce.  Now that they have someone consistently hitting the ball in Wilmer Flores, the Mets once again see fit to relegate him to the bench where as recently as Monday blew a bubble as he once againt flexed his walk-off heroics. 

Going into 2019 the Mets have a great many decisions to make but none looms as large as how they choose to handle the first base position.  There are a great many internal options but given the club’s track record of poor decision making and even poorer player development, one can assume they will choose the least sensible route. 

Dominic Smith has had a rocky road since being drafted as the Mets number one choice.  His most impressive year was his 2017 campaign at Las Vegas where he managed to hit .330 with 16 home runs and 76 RBIs in 500 ABs.  Unfortunately, when he ascended to the big leagues he seemed nothing like what was promised.  Gone was the effective eye and gone was the potential Gold Glove defense.  Instead fans saw an overweight, clumsy guy who summoned never before seen power with 9 HRs and 26 RBIs in just 183 ABs, but he straddled the Mendoza line and struck out 49 times.  He did play pretty much every day for the final 8 weeks of the season but it was not an impressive display.

2018 got off to an even worse start.  First came the real-life Seinfeld episode in which Smith overslept and missed his starting opportunity to impress his new manager.  That was followed quickly by an injury which kept him out of the picture while they went with scrap heap pickup Adrian Gonzalez.  By the time Smith was ready to play again he was merely an afterthought, buried on Terry II’s bench.  The only way he was able to get into the lineup was as an outfielder.  He’s now among those failing to hit his weight and many have advocated demoting him all the way to AA to give him the opportunity to regain his mojo.

What can be written about Pete Alonso that is new?  He smashed his way into many scouting reports when he finally had a healthy season to show what he is capable of doing.  He recently got promoted to Las Vegas from Binghamton, but has hit something of a wall there.  In the hitter-friendly PCL his power is down from 1 HR per 14.66 ABs to 1 per 19 ABs.  He’s only hitting .171 after going .314 in AA.  All of the sudden the first baseman of the future is looking a whole lot less certain.

There are a few out-of-position candidates that could warrant consideration as well.  They have both Todd Frazier and Jay Bruce under contract for 2019 (and beyond in Bruce’s case).  With Brandon Nimmo’s breakthrough, the outfield appears crowded right now with places needed for Yoenis Cespdes and Michael Conforto as well.  Inserting Bruce at 1B would allow these three outfielders to play. Similarly, Todd Frazier could move across the diamond in the event that they deem 3B better served by the likes of Jeff McNeil or the pipe dream of David Wright. 

Finally, there’s the man without a position, Wilmer Flores, who the current regime feels is best used as super utility player, yet he keeps improving year after year.  Call me stupid, but isn’t the objective to put the best players onto the field as often as possible?  In his current month he’s flirting with .300 and is driving in runs at a pace on par with soon to be ex-Met Asdrubal Cabrera. 

The free agent pickings are mighty slim.  The best of the lot would appear to be the Nationals’ Matt Adams who is hitting .291 with 13 HRs and 36 RBIs in under 200 ABs.  He’s likely to get a huge increase over the $4 million 2018 payday. 

So, given the choices here, it would seem that even a blind man would recognize Wilmer Flores is the best choice, likely slated to earn around $4 million, still just 26 years old, and proven to be able to play in New York.  Instead, they’re talking about trying to parlay him into a middle reliever or such before the July deadline. As I said, they typically take the road less traveled by the savvy and sane.