Reese Kaplan -- A Speedy Enhancement to the Mets Offense

While there has been a great deal of attention paid to the Mets' inability to lure any of the top ten free agents to become players in orange and blue (or variations thereof), questions have continued to be raised about what has and has not been accomplished.

A great many people feel that the need to protect Pete Alonso and Francisco Lindor in the lineup screamed out loud for the addition of another middle of the order bat who would represent a solid offensive addition and make opposing pitchers reluctant to pitch around the team's dynamic duo.  

Others feel that the team has some potentially good offensive power in the forms of current Baby Mets Francisco Alvarez, Mark Vientos and Brett Baty.  With Ronny Mauricio's untimely injury keeping him off the field for much of if not the entirety of 2024, it is a unique opportunity to the front office and rookie manager Carlos Mendoza to ascertain just what they have in-house.  To perceive of Alvarez as a 30 HR hitter is not a major stretch given his 25 HR deput in under 400 ABs last season.  The potential lumber Baty and Vientos bring long term is still unknown.

Many have written about the improved defense with Harrison Bader prepared to patrol the outfield either in a late inning replacement role or as part of a platoon with someone as yet unidentified.  Bader's Gold Glove caliber defensive work is widely respected.  His ability to stay on the field and off the IL, however, is far less a certainty.

The selection of pitchers has been to contrast styles and make it somewhat more difficult for opposing hitters.  Having a staff who simply delivers fastballs, curves and sliders without thought to arm angle, velocity, spin rate and the periphery of the box does not accomplish this challenge.  Many of the incoming pitchers do not have the traditional metrics that jump off the page but do seem to fit the pitching lab mindset.

One aspect of the Mets offensive attack that has not gotten nearly as much attention is base running speed.  Obviously folks know what to expect from Francisco Lindor in a given season just as they will acknowledge what a fully recovered Starling Marte can provide in this regard.  

Brandon Nimmo has good wheels but never really put them into the stolen base column.  Jeff McNeil, Pete Alonso, Brett Baty, Mark Vientos and Francisco Alvarez are not going to make opposing catchers weak in the knees when it comes to preventing them from advancing on slow deliveries from the pitcher.  

Two under-the-radar moves could prove somewhat beneficial in this regard.  When healthy, the aforementioned Harrison Bader has 20+ stolen base capability.  The Mets have not had the luxury of pinch running much with the roster in the past and Bader adds to his resume with this ability.  

The other one is the little known Joey Wendle brought on board to replace Luis Guillorme.  While no one disputed what Guillorme could do with his glove, he was at best an average hitter and a well below average baserunner.  For his career, Guillorme was a .261 hitter with 5 HRs and 4 SBs over the course of 721 ABs.  Wendle is a similar .263 hitter, but then the comparisons stop.  He's hit 32 HRs and stolen 61 bases over the course of 2106 ABs.  Triple Guillorme's numbers and you don't even come close.  

The success of the New York Mets during 2024 depends as heavily on the recovery of Starling Marte, the development of the trio of Baby Mets and the revisions made to the starting rotation and bullpen.  Lost somewhere in this mix is the increase of speed and enhancement of defense.  A week from now we'll start seeing whether or not how effective these changes really are.