Off Season Team Grades, Verlander, Lugo, Baty, Ruf, Nido
New York Mets
Grade: A
Trades: Acquired LHP Brooks Raley from Rays for LHP Keyshawn Askew; acquired RHP Elieser Hernandez and RHP Jeff Brigham from Marlins for RHP Franklin Sanchez and a player to be named (Jake Mangum); traded C James McCann and cash to Orioles for a player to be named
Free agents: Edwin Díaz, 5 years/$102 million; RHP Justin Verlander, 2 years/$86.66 million; LHP José Quintana, 2 years/$26 million; CF Brandon Nimmo, 8 years/$162 million; RHP David Robertson, 1 year/$10 million; RHP Kodai Senga, 5 years/$75 million; C Omar Narváez, 2 years/$15 million; RHP Adam Ottavino, 2 years/$14.5 million; INF Danny Mendick, 1 year/$1 million; OF Tommy Pham, 1 year/$7 million
Key takeaways: The Mets have the best owner in baseball: Steve Cohen. He’s not afraid to outspend the industry and provide his front office with the necessary infrastructure to win. He challenges and supports his staff, and the end result was an offseason worthy of an “A.” The Mets retained most of their key free agents, including Díaz and Nimmo. Although they lost two-time Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom in free agency, they replaced him with a three-time winner, Verlander. They also lost starters Chris Bassitt and Taijuan Walker, but adequately replaced them with Kodai Senga and José Quintana. However, the Carlos Correa what-if lingers. Correa was the player who would have put the Mets over the top and made them the division favorites, so when they nixed the deal because of concerns about his surgically repaired right ankle, that was a disappointing detour during an emphatic offseason.
Key questions: Will top prospect Francisco Álvarez develop enough in the first half of the season to be their starting catcher in the second half? Will rookie Brett Baty beat out Eduardo Escobar for the starting third-base job? Will Senga live up to his $75 million contract?
The big picture: The Mets can finish anywhere between first and third in the division and they’re good enough to win the World Series.
Mack - He gave the Braves and Marlins a B+, the Phillies an A, and the Nats a C.
Which MLB free agents who changed teams are most irreplaceable? Baseball insiders weigh in -
Justin Verlander/Astros (four votes)
You don’t have to tell us that Verlander turned 40 years old this week. You don’t have to tell us the Astros have incredible rotation depth, and have good-looking rookie Hunter Brown poised to join that band.
We got that memo. So did our voters. It’s the reason Verlander got only four votes in this survey instead of, say, 24. But now here’s the part of Verlander’s life and times that we’d guess is almost impossible to replace, now that he’s moved on to the Mets:
Much like Rodón, it’s his level of sheer domination last year.
We’re talking about a guy who went 18-4 … had a sub-2.00 ERA (1.75) … posted an incredible 220 ERA+ … led the AL with a sub-1.00 WHIP (0.83) … and had the lowest opponent OPS in his league by 65 points.
How dominating was that season? So dominating that in the Cy Young Award era (1956-present), only one pitcher has ever put up that set of numbers: Greg Maddux, in 1995. So what are the odds the Astros can find anybody to duplicate that? Just about none and none.
Mack - The Mets will be paying Verlander $43.334mil for the next two seasons. There is also an option in 2025 that the Mets can pick up for a mere 35mil.
There are people in baseball that think his reconstructed arm/shoulder will keep him dominate for around five more years.
The one-two of Justin and Max give the Mets ample time to develop the prospect pitchers in the chain that are around two years away.
Perfect timing in my book.
15. William Lugo, 3B
Age: 21 | 6-3 | 230 pounds
Bats: Right | Throws: Right
International signing in 2018
Lugo is a hitter first, making solid contact but putting it on the ground too often, something that can be addressed through swing adjustments, while the former shortstop seems to have settled in at third base. He had a reverse platoon split in a small sample last year, struggling to hit lefties as a right-handed batter.
Mack - Lugo played last year for both St. Lucie and Brooklyn. Combined, he hit .263, with 14-HR and 63-RBI.
Very quietly, he is becoming a real deal prospect; however, I just don’t see any room for him on the left side of the Mets infield.
My guess, he will open up for Brooklyn again and end the season somewhere upstate.
Law: 20 MLB prospects who should make the biggest impact in 2023 -
Brett Baty, 3B, New York Mets
Baty has a more tentative grip on an everyday job than the others in the top five, although his main competition is Eduardo Escobar, who is already 34 years old and is just a league-average hitter with below-average defense. Baty offers some upside with the stick, as he already hits the ball extremely hard — his exit velocity peaked at 113 mph in his cup of coffee in September — and just needs to get it in the air more, as he did in Double A last season. He’s the best bet after Carroll for NL Rookie of the Year.
Wow. Law is really high on Baty.
I did find his comments about Escobar’s defense a little harsh. Sure, he isn’t going to win a Gold Glove holding down the hot corner, but, in 2022, it was considered superior to what Baty had produced in the minors.
Francisco Lindor has said this spring that he is impressed with what Baty is showing defensively in camp. Because of the WBC, he will get ample innings to prove he can at least produce equal defense to Escobar.
It he does that, the job will be his to lose.
Darin Ruf remains a question at DH -
Darin Ruf is the Mets’ embattled right-handed side of their platoon at designated hitter. Acquired for four players from the Giants in the last trade deadline, Ruf’s two-month stint with the Mets last summer was — look, we don’t go in for puns that easy. He had 10 hits in 66 at-bats, and more than half of those came in his first week. He collected just four hits in his final 48 regular-season at-bats, striking out 16 times during that stretch.
31. Tomás Nido, Mets
Age: 28
B: R T: R HT: 6-0 WT: 210
WAR: 0.3
Slash line: .239/.276/.324 OPS+: 72
HR: 3 RBI: 28 SB: 0
Mets pitchers, including ace Max Scherzer, love to throw to Nido. He is expected to share the Mets’ catching job with Omar Narváez. Nido is the best defensive catcher on the Mets’ roster.
Tomas Nido, Mets catchers adjusting to new pitching staff -
The relationship between Mets’ catcher Tomas Nido and the club’s newest ace began in Jupiter last month. A bond was formed over not just baseball, but cars. However, the batterymates did not bond over the same type of cars, just their affinity for them.
“He collects Ferraris,” Nido said. “I don’t got that type of money yet.”
The relationship between pitchers and catchers is part coach, part therapist. Spring training is where those relationships strengthen but not necessarily where they start. The Mets had to revamp nearly their entire starting rotation and much of their bullpen this winter, so it’s more work than usual for the catching staff this spring.
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