Reese Kaplan -- A Lineup for Offense or Defense?

When the news broke that the NY Jets decided to buck convention and go after an offensive-oriented coach after many failed years of defensive leaders, there was quite a bit of debate as to whether or not that was a good thing.  The Mets are at a similar crossroads, but having come about it from another direction, first hiring pitching guru Mickey Callaway to lead their team and now facing similar questions about which is of greater importance, offense or defense.

Take, for example, the flirtation with the Detroit Tigers over left fielder Nick Castellanos.  While in an ideal world the Mets would find a true centerfielder with a potent bat, choosing someone like Castellanos would be the polar opposite direction.  A Wilmer-Flores like player who was shuffled around the diamond in the hopes of hiding his glove, Castellanos put together a 2.9 WAR season with a .298 batting average, 23 HRs and 89 RBIs.  So the question is where is the tipping point where someone’s offense outweighs their defensive shortcomings?

During the Mike Piazza era many were so focused on the slugger’s inability to throw out baserunners that they tried unsuccessfully to move him to 1^st base in order to keep his bat in the lineup but to minimize the damage he would do while wearing a glove.  While no one would argue his offensive skill level – after all the man is in the Hall of Fame – but again the question arises about how much offense can overcome questionable defense?

The Mets are now in that same situation again through the acquisition of a number of players whose bats are their primary calling card – Robinson Cano, Jed Lowrie, Wilson Ramos – and others who return with offense being their raison d’etre – Michael Conforto and Brandon Nimmo come to mind.

Some players like Todd Frazier and Amed Rosario show flashes of enough defense that they are a more balanced package. 

Then there are the guys whose gloves are their reason for being in the big leagues – Juan Lagares and Keon Broxton.

So what is the best approach for the Mets to take?  Do you go all offense and hope that the likes of Peter Alonso at 1B, Robinson Cano at 2B, Amed Rosario at SS and Jed Lowrie at 3B will produce enough runs to overcome the lack of range and defensive miscues?  What about the outfield?  Do you go all offense and play some combination of Michael Conforto, Brandon Nimmo and Jeff McNeil?

Now the defensive voters would look at the game very differently.  They’d like to see Dominic Smith at 1B, both Broxton and Lagares in the OF and a tough call explaining to Mssrs. Cano and Lowrie why Todd Frazier has to pay.  Or you could go even more radical and insert the likes of Luis Guillorme at one of the infield positions. 

Now if you polled the pitchers, would they prefer defense or run support?  I think if you started off with Jacob deGrom the answer would be most definitely in the run scoring column.  Yet there are others who would probably prefer to know that balls hit on the ground or up the gap in the outfield will be handled with aplomb.

So how do you strike a balance between scoring and saving runs?  Should you?  Conventional wisdom says you need defensive strength up the middle.  Right now with Wilson Ramos, Amed Rosario and Robinson Cano you are 75% of the way there.  The question is can the Mets afford to play the questionable bats of Lagares or Broxton in order to achieve this objective?

Personally, I think neither Michael Conforto nor Brandon Nimmo are going to resemble Todd Hundley in the outfield and you could withstand one of them getting the number 8 assignment on a regular basis if it meant getting another solid bat in the outfield.  I’m all for the Lowrie/Alonso corners with Todd Frazier either off the bench or helping try to recapture what he once had on another roster.  How nice would it be for the pitchers to know they have at least a 3-run margin of error and not think that a 1-0 lead might be insurmountable.

What do you think?