Tom Brennan - METS TOO LEFTY-HITTER-HEAVY?

I read that Brodie Van Wagenen said that the Mets are perhaps one lefty bat too heavy.  

Hence, that might be justification in his mind for making Brandon Nimmo available in a J.T. Realmuto catcher acquisition trade.

To which I have some thoughts:

Mantle and Maris in 1961 were both lefties, but that did not make the Yankees lefty-hitter-heavy.  It did, however, make the Yanks win-heavy and homer-heavy.  (Mantle, as one reader reminded me, was a switch hitter, but the majority of his at bats and homers - amazingly, 43 of his 54 dingers - came as a lefty that year, in just 343 official at bats, too).

Secondly, pitching staffs throughout baseball are righty-pitcher-heavy, so a heavily lefty hitting line up would correspondingly see a preponderance of righty pitching, which seems advantageous.

Lefties have a shorter distance to first base out of the batters box, which could help leg out some hits, too.

In 2018, the Mets had 2,591 lefty at bats and 2,877 righty at bats. The lefties hit .240/.326/.406.  The righties hit .230/.300/.373.  Draw your own conclusions.

So why not take Yasmani Grandal instead, and keep, say, a lefty hitting Brandon Nimmo?  

Yasmani Mucho Moolah.  He will cost much more salary-wise than non-free agent Realmuto.

Sure, we'd also lose a valuable 2nd round pick signing Grandal, but losing the highly currently productive Nimmo is most likely far worse than losing that 2nd round pick, which could sizzle or fizzle as drafting is a bit of a crap shoot.

Realmuto is not a free agent until 2021, and is younger than Grandal, where both play a position where aging accelerates.

Trading for Realmuto and acquiring A.J. Pollack would result in higher payroll than a Grandal/Nimmo scenario, but it would give the line up high quality young catching and quality lefty-righty line up balance.

Under the Grandal scenario, the Mets would lose a potentially valuable second round pick, which could cost the Mets the next 2nd round Peter Alonso.

But what about the Marlins?  They'd want more than Nimmo for a best-in-class controlled catcher. The Mets have competitors for Realmuto.  

So, if the Mets gave up more, what would that be?  David Peterson?  If so, would the Mets do it?

Would you do it?

Or pursue Grandal and stay lefty-hitter-heavy (at least until (if) Yoenis Cespedes returns)?

Don't just sit there...you're the darned GM.  Decide!

P.S. Department:

I listened to part of the Mike Fransesca interview with  Brodie VW, Mickey Callaway, and Wilpon. Very encouraging - but Wilpon seemed less than fully familiar with individual talents in the minors...they talked about improving the Mets' drafting...my first step in that regard follows:

Look at what picks have failed in the top 5-10 rounds over the past 10 years.  Most have been guys with mediocre skill sets - like my favorite pinata Branden Kaupe.  See where other teams succeeded, overachieved, in the draft.  Mostly, I'll bet, because they consistently drafted more big, toolsy guys than the Mets.  

My advice: Draft power hitters and power arms.

This just in: 

The Mets are changing the team name from the Mets to the Brodie Bunch.