Mike's Mets - How Much Is Enough?

 

By Mike Steffanos

The Mets did so much to improve this off-season. Is it terribly greedy to wish they had done just a little more?

We're just over two weeks away from the New York Mets' season opener in Washington on April 7. With only 3 exhibition games under their belts, the Mets really don't have much time to prepare for games that count. The offense hasn't looked very good in the early going, beyond a flurry of home runs in the first game.

I watched the Cardinals game on Sunday, and the Mets hitters just looked overmatched against the likes of Miles Mikolas, Drew VerHagen, and Nick Wittgren. I kept telling myself, "relax, it's early, and the pitchers are always ahead of the hitter," but it still made me uneasy to watch Mets hitters dominated by a bunch of palookas. I know that's a bit silly, but the offense was so bad last season that it felt like the worst sort of déjà-vu. Then the next day, the B-team manages two whole hits against the Marlins. Welcome to the Mets, Max Scherzer.

So yeah, I know I'm overreacting, but I have to admit that I'm not wholly sold on the 2022 Mets offense. I like the additions of Starling Marte, Mark Canha, and Eduardo Escobar, but the lineup still feels a bit short to me. It looks like the Mets are counting on good seasons from Jeff McNeil, Dominic Smith, J.D. Davis, and Robinson Cano — at least most of them. If it works, the Mets have a pretty deep, versatile lineup. If it doesn't, we could see a replay of last year.

Now I really don't see it going that badly, but I worry about the outfield depth for the reasons I stated in my post "A Very Early Look at Mets Position Players." I love Brandon Nimmo, but he's missed a ton of games due to injury in his MLB career. Going by their track records, Starling Marte and Mark Canha will likely play in about 120 games each this season. Dom Smith, J.D. Davis, and Jeff McNeil can all fill in, but only McNeil can offer decent defense. And really, they're all backups for left field. None of those guys is really a fit for the challenging right field at Citi Field.

There will inevitably be some injuries. I worry that we will see a guy like Travis Jankowski get too much playing time in the outfield. Jankowski is a great athlete. He can flash the leather and steal bases, but with a bat in his hand, he's a 90-pound weakling. His lifetime slash line is .239/.322/.318 over 7 MLB seasons, good for an OPS+ of 77. Weak-hitting Albert Almora has a higher lifetime OPS+ (81).

The Mets honestly don't need to re-sign Michael Conforto. Neither side seems interested in a reunion. But I still would like them to find a fourth outfielder who can hit and play RF. I could see a solid player get 200-300 ABs as a backup, maybe more.

What seems more likely as things currently stand is that Dom Smith and even J. D. Davis see some time in the outfield in 2022. Maybe you can justify that if they both produce offensively. If they don't, it doesn't make any sense. I'm rooting for both players. I like them personally. But if they don't produce above-average offense, they don't belong on a team trying to win in a tough division.

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