Mike's Mets - Decisions, Decisions: Position Players

 

By Mike Steffanos

We complete our three-part series on the player decisions the Mets will face after the 2022 season, focusing on position players.

In parts one and two of this series, we looked at New York Mets starters and relievers that would be free agents following this season. Today we wrap up with a look at the position players. Unlike the pitching staff, where the Mets front office will be forced to make several important decisions, there is only one significant position player reaching free agency: CF Brandon Nimmo. But Nimmo is an important player, indeed. Brandon is one of the offensive catalysts for this club and, as a bonus, turned himself into an excellent center fielder.

Nimmo is still a bit of a polarizing figure among Mets fans. While most acknowledge Brandon's skills as a ballplayer, his limited home run power and unwillingness to utilize his speed as a base stealer are checkmarks in the "against" column. But the biggest argument against signing Nimmo to a deal is his yearly struggles to stay off the Injured List. Brandon played 140 games in 2018 but hasn't topped 100 games in any season since.

Nimmo dealt with a bulging disk in his neck in 2019, ultimately appearing in only 69 games that year. He played in 55 of the 60 games in 2020, then the injury bug struck again in 2021. Finger and hamstring woes limited Brandon to 92 games.

So far in 2022, Nimmo has been relatively healthy, although he did struggle a bit with a wrist injury early in the year. Still, Brandon has appeared in 75 of the Mets' 83 games so far. If he can avoid missing a big chunk of time over the rest of the season, it will undoubtedly enhance Nimmo's asking price in free agency. Still, it won't erase concerns about Nimmo becoming this generation's Jacoby Ellsbury.

Ellsbury was a talented CF with the Red Sox who was signed to a 7-year, $153 million contract by the Yankees before the 2014 season. Injuries limited Jacoby to playing in only 520 of 972 possible games. He didn't play at all for the last three years of the contract. Even when he did play, Jacoby Ellsbury was relatively ineffective, slashing .264/.330/.386 for the Yankees in contrast to the .297/.350/.439 line he put up in 7 years with the Red Sox. Ellsbury's injury problems didn't begin with the Yankees, but he averaged over 100 games per season in Boston, which is better than what Nimmo has managed with the Mets so far.

So, the dilemma for Billy Eppler and the rest of the Mets' brain trust will be to decide what value to place on Brandon Nimmo's undeniable skills and how to mitigate the risk of Nimmo's proclivity for injury. Brandon will play next season at age 30. It would be nice to assume that Nimmo has turned the corner on injuries if he avoids them this season. However, it is a rare ballplayer who deals with fewer injuries in his 30s than he did in his 20s.

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