Reese Kaplan - Who Do You Keep?

Where the biggest challenge occurs for the front office is deterimining who is not worth keeping around to be a part of the Mets future.  Obviously the previously run list of disappointments all could migrate to this list, though some of them like Marcus Semien are all but unmovable given the size of his remaining payroll obligation for two years and the substandard performance with the bat the past few seasons.  Others are difficult to move strictly based upon what they have done (or not done) on the diamond.

Then there are the category of other players who look like they could have value but not necessarily as a starter for the Mets now and in the future.  Let’s have a look.

Francisco Alvarez is still just 25 years old and although he’s been around quite a while already many folks have grown frustrated by his lack of consistency at the plate and lack of progress behind the dish.  He’s a career .229 hitter whose greatest attribute is power.  Given a 162-game standard schedule he’d be good for 26 HRs and 71 RBIs.  

The problem is his injury history hasn’t left him available for nearly that amount of time and many express his tendency to try to take every pitch over the fence instead of learning to make better contact overall.  

Defensively he’s uneven to say the least and pitchers have performed to a 4.11 ERA which is not outstanding.  Some feel it is time to move on from him though the uneven but intriguing Chris Suero hasn’t established consistency at the minor league level yet.

Luis Torrens by the naked eye is a far superior defensive player to Alvarez but the results with him behind the dish are not markedly better with a pitcher’s ERA of 3.96.  As a hitter he is less productive than is Alvarez and the question becomes if the club is better off with the better defender and pitch caller at the expensive of a lifetime .230 hitter who would average 12 HRs and 53 RBIs if he played every day as the starting catcher.  

He’s perfectly acceptable in a backup role but wouldn’t be contending for All Star status if he became the number one signal caller.  Already age 30, he’s not likely becoming markedly better mid-career as a hitter.  Some question whether the Mets should deal one of these two catchers away and leave the other as a backup.  Alvarez would likely bring a greater return given his HR power.

Ronny Mauricio has struggled with his health over the past few seasons and although he shows some very good intervals of both power and speed he has never had the opportunity to play regularly for an extended period of time in the majors to see if he can adjust to the higher level of pitching.

Given the age of Semien, the defensive questions about Bo Bichette (if he returns to play 3B), then shuffling off Mauricio in a trade may not make a whole lot of sense.  However, it does not appear at first glance that he has the opportunity to become a regular for the Mets.  You’d expect to see him floated in some prospective trade packages once the World Series ends.

Nick Morabito and A.J. Ewing bring back flashbacks of when the Mets had the legs of Vince Coleman and Roger Cedeno.  They pretty much earn their keep with what they can do on the basepaths to drive opposing pitchers and catchers crazy with their ability to steal bases.  Unlike Mookie Wilson and Jose Reyes who turned themselves into credible hitters who offered up more than strong legs, the question remains about what to expect from this pair of outfielders (or possibly second baseman in the case of Ewing).  

Morabito is in fact a career .281 minor league hitter with modest power who strikes out a bit more than you’d expect from a contact hitter.  Ewing is an even better .290 hitter working is way up to the majors at just age 21 and his initial trial in New York is .254.  With maturity he could improve but he’s got to steal a whole lot of bases to remain in the starting lineup with no power and a lot of strikeouts.  Either one could be moved in the right deals, but it would take a bit of hard swallowing to do so.

Christopher Morel, MJ Melendez and Christian Pache are not going to net anything much in trade and likely would be fringe 26th player types if they make the team at all.

Here comes a tough one.  He would not net a huge return individually, but as part of a package he would most certainly open the eyes of some fellow GMs.  First baseman Ryan Clifford reminds a lot of people of Dave Kingman in that he is an all-or-nothing type of slugger who struggles mightily with strikeouts.  

This past season is highly forgettable for him despite having knocked the ball over the fence 18 times in just over 400 ABs but did so while sitting well below the Mendoza line at .188.  Yes, at age 22 it’s possible he can correct his offensive approach but now with Billy Amick in house and producing significantly more power you in effect have carbon copies of the same problem.  

At this point Clifford would seem to be someone the Mets might dangle to other clubs to open up Syracuse 1B for a full season of Amick.