On New Year's Day many of us are already regretting breaking the carefully vowed resolutions we made for things that would be done differently in 2022. Whether it was about daily exercise, cutting back on tasty but unhealthy foods or getting control over one's spending, it's not really surprising when people start making, "Oh, that doesn't start today...today is a holiday!"
In that vein of reasoning, many of us were discussing this week about what the Mets would make their New Year's resolution for 2022. It's a little tough to settle on one particular issue when the players and owners are embroiled in a lockout over the need for the particulars to be negotiated in a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), a need which has not yet been addressed in meetings between the two sides.
After arguing back and forth quite a bit over the merits of various resolutions, it seemed to break down into three specific directions for the Mets to take if and when the contract is signed and baseball once again resumes. Let's take a look at the three prospective resolutions and see how the readers here tend to side with one of these options (or offer up a better one of their own).
This particular notion was not argued by anyone too strongly because everyone is aware of how badly injuries affected the pitching for the Mets in 2021 (and prior years). If the season started today the Mets have a recovering Jacob deGrom, a spent in the postseason Max Scherzer, a never trained sufficiently to get into a groove Carlos Carrasco and an All Star first half by Taijuan Walker who appeared to be doing his Carlos Carrasco imitation in the second half.
Beyond that, the Mets have a large number of prospective fifth starters like David Peterson, Tylor Megill and Trevor Williams. If healthy, Jordan Yamamoto would be a contender as well, though a distant one.
In the bullpen the Mets are no better off than they are in the starting rotation. After closer Edwin Diaz they have setup folks like Seth Lugo and Trevor May ready to help out. In addition, you have carry overs like Miguel Castro, Drew Smith, Sean Reid-Foley and Jake Reed. Yennsy Diaz is knocking on the bullpen door as well. The conspicuous absence of Aaron Loup has not yet been addressed.
So this resolution in full would be that the Mets would address their myriad of pitching needs once they are able to sign free agents and initiate trades. There is no argument that they need a starter to replace the innings provided by Marcus Stroman to slot between the top two and the bottom two. Similarly, there is the need for a southpaw in the bullpen who can provide the innings needed to help win games.
Thinking back to the Cincinnati Reds of the Sparky Anderson era it was apparent that it's entirely possible to win ballgames by outscoring your opponents even if your starting pitching is marginal. Towards that end, some of the folks in this camp were hot and heavy for the Mets to add another solid thumper to the middle of the batting order so that they will not strand runners regularly as they did in 2021.
The first candidate drawing a huge amount of attention is the versatile Kris Bryant formerly of the Cubs and most recently of the Giants. Bryant has an MVP on his mantle as a result of his second season in the majors back in 2016. The first year resulted in a Rookie of the Year award. In total Bryant has made 4 All Star appearances during his 7 year major league career.
The thinking is that he will cash in on his ability to play both 3B and the outfield. Consequently bringing him on board will mean an average annual salary in the $20-$25 million per season range and at age 29 Bryant will likely be looking for a 5-year or more contract.
Other sluggers who would cost less include the questionable defensive player Kyle Schwarber. Bryant's former teammate has moved from catcher to outfielder, though many feel his best position is as a DH. He's a true slugger and the big lefty is capable of providing upper 30s in the number of home runs per season while thus far never earning more than $7 million in a season.
He could theoretically double that rate, but it would fall far below what Bryant would command due both to his track record and his poor defensive skills. A lefty basher like Schwarber could help replace Michael Conforto and move Mark Canha to the role of 4th outfielder.
Another poor fielder with a strong bat is Nick Castellanos. He moved from 3B to the outfield but he's another man born to be a DH. The big right handed hitter put together his finest season in 2021 for the Cincinnati Reds. He hit .309 with 34 HRs and 100 RBIs while earning $16 million. He opted out of a longer term contract that would pay him $16 million per season for 2022 and 2023 with a $20 million option for 2024. The now 29 year old Castellanos is likely looking to nudge that $20 million number as a base point for all subsequent seasons and is likely looking for 5 or more years.
There are some DH options who would be attractive on the Mets if the NL approves the use of a Designated Hitter. The front runner mentioned in a previous article would be former Met minor leaguer Nelson Cruz. At age 41 you could likely take him on a single year contract with an option for a second, but he's not going to be a bargain rate either. He earned $13 million from the Twins last year and likely would be signed at or about that same range again.
The Mets Resolve to Improve Defense and Speed
While the team has made some good moves in this direction by adding Francisco Lindor last season and Sterling Marte this year, the fact is that the Mets had some defensive gaps and most definitely did not use speed to try to add scoring challenges to the opposition. Marte definitely will help and everyone hopes Lindor rebounds to his Cleveland numbers.
Where you would put a stellar fielder or speedy base thief is anyone's guess. There are a lot of slow players on the Mets like Pete Alonso, James McCann, Mark Canha, Robinson Cano and Eduardo Escobar. Unless you're actively planning to bench some of these players there's not a lot of room in the lineup for guys whose best tools are glove, arm or legs. Many fans remember teams like the St. Louis Cardinals who earned their way into contention regularly by exploiting these attributes, but the launch angle gospel has overtaken most teams' focus.
So if you were writing the New Year's Resolution for the Mets, what would you want as their top 2022 priority?
5 comments:
I sort of gave up on Mets resolutions a few years ago after so many years of disappointment.
Then last year with a huge division lead
Now COVID and the strike.
I will be happy if we just.play ball this yeat.
My resolution is to let Billy Eppler do his job and build us the rest of this team so we are World Series bound. Whatever he has to do to get us there - in 2022 - works for me.
All in - get it done.
My resolution is to just play ball. Hopefully both sides can get out of their own way before they destroy the sport.
Along these lines, I had three basic resolutions for 2022 that were made in October.
One has already been broken (and then somewhat resurrected)
Another is a work in progress
A third has a promising start, but is still TBD.
My first resolution was to sign Javier Baez as the everyday second baseman. This went into the more global resolution to get the team more athletic with more speed and better defense. Lindor and Baez at the keystone would go a long way toward that. So without Baez, they went and signed Marte. That is a consolation prize.
The second one is to shore up the pitching. Schertzer helps. One more solid starter and a Loup replacement are still needed.
The third one is to get a manager and staff to keep the clubhouse together and prevent the collapse we saw in 2021. I just found an article I wrote on July 7, 2021 which started "I have become convinced that the New York Mets are a very good baseball team". That coincided with deGrom's last start, but I think there was much more to the second half disappearance than just injuries. Obviously key injuries can be a killer, but it just seems like they lost interest in winning games.
To go along with the management and coaching, I just read an interesting stat about the Mets ineptitude at the plate in the first three innings of games in 2021. They need to learn how to score early and often.
I hope Eppler and Showalter are the right guys to lead this team to a better ending.
Stay safe and happy, and realize that as of today, we are in a flat-footed tie for first place.
Beats where we were at on Sept 30.
Happy New Year.
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