1/29/19

Tony Plate - In the News: Mets Add More Depth to Bullpen




New York Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen added more depth to the bullpen with another free agent signing. He signed lefthanded reliever Justin Wilson to a two-year ten million deal. Wilson, 31, was 4-5 with a 3.46 earned run average in 71 games for the Chicago Cubs last season. He struck out 69 in over 54 innings and had 33 walks. 

Prior to playing for the Cubs Wilson played for the Detroit Tigers and as you New York sports fans recall prior to that he played for the New York Yankees who acquired Wilson from the Pittsburgh Pirates in the Francisco Cervelli trade. The Yankees traded Wilson to the Tigers for Chad Green and former Mets prospect Luis Cessa. 

Wilson said he signed with the Mets, because he feels that the Mets are legitimate contenders in the National League East. He said that he would put the Mets starting rotation up against any other starting rotation in the National League. He is impressed with how the back end of the bullpen became stronger.  He has confidence that the offense will bounce back after having a few injuries to key position players last season. 

The Mets had to designate infielder Gavin Cecchini for assignment in order to make room for Wilson. Cecchini was a Mets 2012 first- round pick and hit .217 in 83 big-league at-bats in 2016 and 2017.

In other Mets news Van Wagenen said that the Mets have talked McNeil into learning how to play the outfield in spring training and they are going to make a commitment to developing him as an outfielder. He also said that McNeil is fine with the idea since he played some outfield in college. 

The reason for moving McNeil to the outfield was the signing of infielder Jed Lowrie. The Mets at this time are not sure if McNeil can handle all three outfield spots, however they plan on giving McNeil time in the infield during spring training too, because they want McNeil to be an all-around utility player.  A versatile player always comes in handy for any team. 

Luis Rojas who is part of the Mets 2019 coaching staff will assist in training McNeil to play the outfield. Rojas managed Double-A Binghamton and had McNeil for the first half of last season.

The Mets have showed a huge win now commitment for 2019. They have spent some money this Winter signing free agents and making trades to improve the bullpen and the bench. So, since that is the case, I think the Mets are done making deals for now.








3 comments:

Reese Kaplan said...

For his career Justin Wilson has pitched 412 games with a 3.33 ERA and 1.268 WHIP.

By contrast, the NRI Luis Avilan has pitched 399 games with a 3.09 ERA and a 1.225 WHIP.

Most people praised the astute minor league deal for Avilan. Is Wilson really worth $5 million by comparison? Hey, it's not my money.

Viper said...

I was thinking the same thing Reese. It doesn't seem like an smart signing to me given what was inhouse already.

Mike Freire said...

I like the Wilson deal.....I really wanted Britton, but Brodie didn't answer my calls. He is a power lefty for the middle to back end of the pen, which was a pretty big hole, IMO.

I also think Avilan has a role, but more of a specialist, if that makes sense? His deal will prove to be a huge value, when compared to Wilson's deal, but both will be valuable, IMO.

Another way of looking at this is Wilson AND Avilan for less then 6 million dollars combined?