By Brian Joura and Chris Flanders October 18, 2020
There’s a whole generation of fans who never experienced the late, great “2 Guys Talking Mets Baseball.” For those who missed out, it was two pals – Michael Geus and Jimmy Preller – who had a blog with daily articles where they would have a conversation about the Mets. It was like a podcast except in print rather than a voice format. It was ahead of its time. Well, let’s do a cheap imitation here. Please welcome Chris Flanders to the scene.
Chris: It’s too bad you ran Jimmy off – he made great comments here! I’m looking forward to picking this up. It should be fun. Anyway, how about we talk about defense and the Mets building teams where it is ok playing guys out of position. Do you think that works in general, and if so, is there a point where there’s diminishing or even negative returns?
Brian: I didn’t run Jimmy off. We’re Facebook friends and I would love it if he would come back. But he’s very busy with publishing and promoting his books for young adults. As for defense, it seems pretty clear you place a higher value on it than me. But that doesn’t mean it’s worthless in my eyes.
My big thing is that your fielders have to make the routine play. Can your bat that you’re forcing in make those plays? Dominic Smith plays LF to get his .993 OPS bat in the lineup. And this year he had a 0 DRS and a (-0.4) UZR in left. He was essentially league average in this small sample. How do you put a Gold Glove guy out there (who the Mets don’t have) with a .700 OPS (which is probably overstating the offensive ability of the defensive player that the Mets do have) and come anywhere close to matching Smith’s overall production? As for diminishing returns, the only way that happens is with a below-average SS and 2B, the two players who have to work together on a regular basis. Or a 1B who was just awful scooping throws. Neither applies to the Mets.
The goal should be to start acquiring the players who can contribute both offensively and defensively. But those guys are expensive. You’ve got to start drafting and signing those guys. And not trading five-tool talents you do have for a 36-year-old 2B owed $100 million combined over the next five seasons.
Chris: To me, there’s definitely a big plus in fielding a team that is solid in the field. It seems that solid fielding correlates well with both high baseball IQ and athleticism, which to me gets to quality baseball. I also equate runs saved to runs scored. How about the platoon between Amed Rosario and Andres Gimenez? To me watching a guy go both glove and arm side comfortably and throw accurately really was a big improvement, and a huge plus to pitchers. Perhaps watching the Braves enough makes me appreciate solid defense, especially up the spine, pairing with solid offense.
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