Reese Kaplan -- As Abbott & Costello Say, "What's on 2nd?"

With all of the media furor over the need to supplement the starting rotation that’s currently down three members, fixing the bullpen down even more, addressing Pete Alonso and negotiating for the top hitters available for Steve Cohen’s money, one position that is just as interesting but not nearly as headline grabbing is the story of second base. 

Over the years the Mets have played some great people there like Edgardo Alfonzo, Jeff Kent (he was better than the Mets believed), Wally Backman in his pre-ex managerial days, as well as others.  

Right now the incumbent is long term Met Jeff McNeil who already has a National League batting title on his resume, but whose most recent two seasons have been valued more for his positional versatility than what he does with the stick.

After his second All Star Game appearance in 2022 McNeil went on to finish the season with a stellar .326 batting average to win that title while also generating 5.7 WAR which was the best of his career.  That output helped convince Steve Cohen to make a long term investment in McNeil who followed it up in 2023 by hitting 56 points lower and seeing that WAR metric drop down to just 2.4.  That’s still pretty good considering his first year of the new deal just paid him $6.25 million.  Folks were a bit let down but they weren’t prepared for 2024.

With the terrible April and May the Mets were sinking fast.  McNeil didn’t help much with a frigid bat in the first few months which took a season ending .279 extended streak to raise his season mark to a paltry .238.  The home runs were slightly up while RBIs went down, though to be fair he was up 161 fewer times this season than last.  His WAR dropped again to 1.6 and he was paid $10.25 million for his efforts.  People were much happier seeing utility man Jose Iglesias play 2B and come to the plate than they were about McNeil given his second straight year of offensive decline.

That brings us to the upcoming season and what to do with McNeil.  He is on tap for the next two years to earn $15.75 million each year and then again for a third year or get paid a $2 million buyout.  In grand total at minimum $33.5 million which at an aggregated two-year rate it would amount to $16.75 million for 2025, 2026 and the buyout.  It would take a minimum of 2.2 WAR to justify that level of pay.

Now a great many people became quickly enamored of September call up Luisangel Acuna.  Sometimes it’s only a matter of what they’ve seen recently, but Acuna had a terrific AA campaign in 2023 followed by a bit of a tough time in AAA in 2024.  Combined between the Rangers and the Mets Acuna in 2023 hit .294 with 9 HRs, 63 RBIs and 57 SBs.  Wow!

Unfortunately as he faced a higher caliber of pitching in Syracuse those numbers dipped.  He finished his AAA season hitting .258 which is a big drop, but still he provided a little punch with 7 HRs and 50 RBIs while pilfering 40 bases.  Consequently the brief September trial during which he hit .308 with 3 HRs and 6 RBIs in just 39 ABs had people thinking this guy could be a great asset to watch in the future. 

Forgotten between the run to the playoffs, the bad year by McNeil and the brief flash of Acuna was someone who when facing AAA pitching for an entire year put together the best season of his young career.  Ronny Mauricio hit .292 with 23 HRs, 71 RBIs and 24 stolen bases.  His 108 game trial over 26 games in the majors that year leaves his still with rookie eligibility and after two operations for ACL and scar tissue removal, it’s possible his base running might be a bit tentative until he’s sure he’s fully capable.  Still, the home run power and batting average shouldn’t be impacted and he very much belongs in the conversation for a switch from SS to 2B if they decide McNeil is an outfielder or trade bait. 

Right now I’d like to see the Mets front office look at a swap of questionable contracts to help their needs in the starting rotation, the bullpen and the outfield.  McNeil’s obligation could go to offset whatever paycheck(s) they pick up. 

In the interim, do what you can to sign Jose Iglesias as an excellent fall back position should one of the two top infield youngsters struggle in the early going.  I kind of like that approach better for 2025 than I do expecting another batting title from McNeil.