Reese Kaplan -- Unfinished Work Finding a Righty DH Partner

While folks are still applauding over the Steve Cohen gravy train making players and agents very wealthy, there has been some recent inactivity that has gotten under some folks' skins. 

First came the leak about the Mets' interest in bringing on Carlos Correa which would likely render Jeff McNeil into a left fielder or DH (assuming Correa would play second base). 

Then the announcement was made that the Los Angeles Dodgers were taking a relatively bargain-priced chance on a DH when they brought J.D. Martinez on board for a single year at the rather modest sum of $10 million.

It is that very role that is perhaps causing the most angst among Mets fans right now. No one can sugarcoat the way in which Tyler Naquin, JD Davis, Dom Smith and Darin Ruf failed miserably at the endeavor. Do you need a painful reminder? Naquin as a Met hit .203 with 4 HRs and 13 RBIs over 123 ABs. That's a full season output of 16 HRs and 52 RBIs. JD Davis had issues due to injury that sapped his power. His 2022 batting average as a Met was .238 with 4 HRs and 21 RBIs over the course of 181 ABs. 

That's a pace for 12 HRs and 63 RBIs on a full season. Smith was worse still at .194 with no home runs and just 17 RBIs over 134 ABs. 

I won't even extrapolate that output which is why they decided his time had come and gone. 

Finally there is the great overpay to bring in marginal player Darin Ruf. As a Met his highlight was from the pitching mound which is not why they chose to bring him to Queens. In his two innings pitched he had a perfect 0.00 ERA. 

As a hitter, however, he was perhaps the worst of them all. He finished his drive to October by hitting .152 with no home runs and 7 RBIs. That's a pace to finish with 56 RBIs with no power and a lot of time sitting on the bench after easy outs.

By contrast, big Daniel Vogelbach was a positive All Star in comparison to this coterie of wannabes and once-weres. He hit a relatively successful .255 with 6 HRs and 25 RBIs. Now his numbers strung out over a full season would result in 24 HRs and 100 RBIs. 

That output explains why the Mets picked up his very inexpensive $1.5 million option for 2023. He was well liked and if you haven't had the chance to see him with kids getting Mets Christmas presents, make yourself smile and enjoy it.

So in the quest for a DH, where does that leave the Mets for the upcoming season? Well, Dom Smith and JD Davis are both gone from the roster. Naquin is a free agent in search of a job after having at one point been a solid if unspectacular player for the then Cleveland Indians and the Cincinnati Reds. 

Darin Ruf is still somehow on the Mets 40-man roster. For his age 36 season he's set to earn $3.5 million. In the Cohenverse, that's pocket change to swallow if a solution was available that could improve on the .154 average and no home run power.

We've all heard from Billy Eppler that the team is looking at in-house options for the right side of the DH platoon assuming Vogelbach is returning to get the majority of the ABs from the left side. You have Brett Baty, Mark Vientos and Francisco Alvarez all looking to crack the big league lineup. 

If lefty hitting Baty gets third base, Eduardo Escobar is a person whose job could be in something of a limbo status. No one is sure yet where Alvarez fits into the catching crowd and no one has figured out what to do with Mark Vientos despite his solid offensive numbers in the minors. Mark Canha did get on base a lot last season but at a reduction in his normal power output. 

They have no spare outfielders and frankly the only spare infielder is Luis Guillorme who doesn't hit with any power either.

Now many people are advocating the Mets do whatever they can to peddle relatively pricey ballplayers elsewhere both to open up the roster to the youngsters and to create room for a veteran DH to come on board. That approach does make some sense, but you have to consider the long term deals on board right now for both Brandon Nimmo and Francisco Lindor. 

The goal to achieve balance between expensive veterans and productive but inexpensive rookies is a businessman's dream, but the risk involved is getting them the time in front of major league pitching while accepting some long stretches without a lot of output while not losing patience during this transition to the top 600 baseball players in the country.

It seems wherever you turn now there are options being tossed around as possible DH acquisitions for the Mets. Many are in the Jose Abreu/J.D. Martinez mold in which they're coming off a reduced level of productivity as they enter the tail end of their careers. Some would like to see the Mets embrace a young player who could establish a home for himself for 4-6 years of strong hitting. Others advocate looking for another lightning-in-a-bottle solution like Ruf was supposed to be.

One name that's come up a number of times is former bench player for the Mets in 2021, Brandon Drury. He was finally given a full time amount of at bats in 2022 between the Reds and the Padres. In total he hit 28 HRs, drove in 82 runs and hit .262 while batting from the right side. Last year he earned a modest $700,000 and will be expecting a big bump as he enters his age 30 season. 

He's a classic example of buying low and sewing up that DH role while giving the youngsters time to develop. I don't imagine he would get more than about $7 million given his rather thin stat sheet save for last year. That ten-fold increase in pay would still make him underpaid by output -- a 2.6 WAR for the year that just ended.

For now, we can all sit around planning the holidays, drinking adult beverages with our Mets fan friends and pondering what might happen or what should happen. However, nobody knows for sure. Not even Billy Eppler.