According to reports, the Mets have reached agreement with OF Kevin Pillar.
Pillar's defensive metrics in center field have slid a bit in recent seasons, but he's a historically strong defender coming off his best season at the plate -- .288/.336/.462 with six home runs in 54 games. Believe @JonHeyman was first to mention the Mets were close on Pillar.
— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) February 16, 2021
STATS:#Mets would have 11 pos players with major league contracts with Pillar plus Nido/Guillorme. So unless trade a major league contract or begin yr with Guillorme in minors, the significant additions to the position group appear over.
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) February 16, 2021
Nice job on Pillar.
ReplyDeleteGus is pleased. The signing I recommended in December as the best overall use of resources without losing a draft pick in this upcoming deep draft, but someone at the time pointed out that Pillar may not be accepting a reserve role. Good to see he came around to the Mets’ thinking.
ReplyDeleteMy question is "Why"?
ReplyDeleteI could sort of see this before Almora, but they are duplicates. They don't need to accumulate defense first (and diminishing skill level) centerfielders when they still have an opening in the pitching rotation.
If the DH actually does come into play, this is not the guy they want with a career OBP less than .300 and career OPS less than .700. The guy is not a starting centerfielder at this point in his career.
A Wilpon feeling move, to me.
Remember 1969, they didn't want JBJ for what he was asking, which could be a harbinger of Conforto/Boras.
ReplyDeleteI am OK with the Almora/Pillar tandem if there is a DH. I still think the offense will be top tier, and they have $$ left for pitching. I would not be surprised to see Trevor Rosenthal and/or Taj Walker still getting signed.
If so, that won't be Wilpons at all.
They need to keep some cap room for mid-season salary dumps. Pillar helps that.
I like this signing. He's a good ballplayer.
ReplyDeleteJimmy