Reese Kaplan -- A Glimpse to the Future With a Look at the Past

On Wednesday Mack commented after reading my article that he is sick and tired of the waiting for the front office stuff to happen and that they should simply select a non-Braves and non-Astros person right now to move forward as quickly as possible.

At the same time you have writers and fans advocating that the Mets sign Javy Baez so he can team up with Francisco Lindor to provide the club with perhaps the finest DP combo in baseball.  With the addition of Pete Alonso at 1st base and TBD at third base it could be an infield that could challenge that old one in Mets history from 1999 as their top offering ever.  

For those of you with short memories, the contender in 2022 must exceed John Olerud at 1st, Edgardo Alfonzo at 2nd, Rey Ordonez at SS and Robin Ventura at 3rd.  Now most folks judge players by their offensive output, but a lot of what the 1999 folks brought to the table was in terms of the fancy glove work.  

Rey Ordonez immediately jumps to mind as a clear example of the latter skill set.  He did win one his third straight Gold Glove that year as the best shortstop in the National League.  He hit his career high of 60 RBIs to go along with a single home run and a .258 batting average.  Considering he racked up just a 1.2 WAR total for his 9-year major league career, offense really wasn't a big part of his game.  

Edgardo Alfonzo was always a fan favorite and he shuffled around the infield to accommodate various on-the-field lineup variations during his primarily Mets career.  While he was rock solid with his defensive prowess, he didn't earn a league-wide statue for it.  However, he compensated with a .304 average, 27 HRs and 108 RBIs to go along with 9 stolen bases.  He walked 85 times while striking out an identical (and impressive) 85 times.

Third baseman Robin Ventura was a highlight reel for his defense, his offense and his rain-delay antics.  In 1999 he again won one of his six Gold Glove awards, but his contribution was just as impressive with the bat in his hand.  He hit .301 while besting 2nd baseman Alfonzo with 32 HRs and 120 RBIs.  It's been quite awhile since the Mets saw anything like that.  David Wright bested him in 2008 when he hit .302 with 33 HRs and 124 RBIs while also gaining another Gold Glove for his mantle. 
 

At first base is the man I think of as the forgotten and underrated man, John Olerud.  He was only with the Mets for three valuable years but averaged .315 with 21 HRs and 97 RBIs per season over that stretch.  By comparison, everyone's all-time first baseman, Keith Hernandez, hit .296 with 14 HRs and 83 RBIs per season over his Mets career.  Olerud won some Gold Gloves during his career but not 11 like Hernandez did.  Still, in the debate over the most valuable first baseman to play for the Mets, Olerud certainly deserves strong consideration.  

Going into 2022 it's too difficult to extrapolate and quantify what the numbers will be when we don't even know for sure who will be playing where.  Still, if you assume it is Pete Alonso at 1st, Javy Baez at 2nd, Francisco Lindor at SS and someone unidentified at 3rd base, it's entirely possible that the group in aggregate could certainly pose a challenge to that heralded 1999 infield.