Reese Kaplan -- The Mental Exercise of Who Plays Where

Sometimes a news item emerges which allows your brain to do various twists, turns and other amazing permutations when it really doesn’t necessarily mean as much as you would have thought upon hearing it. 

In this case, the concept in question is how best to adapt recovering outfielder Brandon Nimmo into a more easily productive player while simultaneously allowing him sufficient time to get his affected foot to heal properly from his bout with plantar fasciitis.  The actual start to this overthinking began when Carlos Mendoza suggested that perhaps Nimmo could be inserted as DH rather than in his customary position in the outfield to reduce the amount of time he spends on his feet and the running he must do on a routine basis.

Wait, that actually makes sense.  When did making sense ever cross paths with the operation of the Mets?  Oh, that’s right...the Wilpons are no longer here.

OK, so let’s have a look at this hypothetical position switch.  The obvious benefit to Brandon Nimmo is there, but it leaves the already Juan Soto and who outfield even emptier.  How best to handle that issue?

Well, the simplest one would be to flip flop the planned DH team of Jesse Winker and Starling Marte to take over a platoon in left field while Nimmo takes over for them at DH.  While neither would provide Nimmo’s defense, it would essentially provide the exact same offense everyone has already envisioned for 2025.

The next relatively easy change would be to migrate Jeff McNeil to play left field as he has done often in the recent past.  If he returns to his career norms then power would be down but batting average would be up while also offering a reduced gap in defensive sacrifice which would have happened when DHs were forced to play defense.

The second part of the McNeil solution is who would take over at second base?  The most obvious answer would be Luisangel Acuna whose superior defense and stellar base running abilities would help offset other gaps in the lineup.  He is not necessarily a sure thing to replicate what he did in the Winter League nor in his brief trial in September.

The more bizarre option would be to take former third baseman Brett Baty and move him over to second base while Mark Vientos continues where he established himself at the hot corner last season.  What makes this option interesting is that they have a ballplayer with much more MLB experience though he has not flourished.  He also provides 30 HR power based upon the extrapolation of what he did in Syracuse for a full season’s worth of plate appearances.  If he could deliver say a modest .250 average with 25 home run power he would have converted himself into a tradeable asset. 

Finally, there would be an option at second base for newcomer Nick Madrigal who can hit for average but not show very much power nor speed.  He’s got nearly 900 major league ABs on his resume totaling only 4 HRs and 17 SBs to accompany his .274 batting average.  As a substitute player those numbers are not bad but they seem a little light for a playing regular.

We’ll leave Ronny Mauricio and Jett Williams out of this exercise given the injury recoveries both need to complete by themselves without forcing them into the volume of day-to-day action before they’re necessarily ready to do so.

Finally, if the feeling is that the Nimmo-as-DH move is a long term need then could it spell a short term second base solution fulfilled by a career .288 hitter who sparked the club into October baseball in 2024?  OMG!