The experts say the Mets are lacking at shortstop, have been since Jose Reyes took his talents to South Florida after 2011. Considering that Reyes had just won the Mets’ first batting title in 50 seasons of baseball and that his initial replacement was Ruben Tejada, the experts have not been wrong. Tejada put up some promising numbers in extremely small sample sizes during 2010 and 2011. It’s difficult to believe someone as intelligent and stat-conscious as GM Sandy Alderson would – or could – have been hoodwinked by this. Nevertheless, he assured us all that Tejada would be the best man to step in for the 2012 campaign. Whether this was a mandate from cash-strapped ownership or a case of self-delusion is unclear. What did become clear over the span of two and a half seasons was that Tejada simply wasn’t up to the rigors of being an everyday shortstop in New York – in talent, temperament or motivation.
Meanwhile, down in the bushes, a young fella named Wilmer Flores was raking. From the tender age of 16 in 2008, until his mid-year summons to the big club this past year, Flores had a pretty gaudy slash line for clubs from Kingsport to Brooklyn to St. Lucie to Binghamton to Las Vegas – with winter stops in the Venezuelan Winter League: .292/.334/.440, good for a career MiLB OPS of .774. And he won’t turn 24 until August. The only knock on his game thus far has been his limited range and mediocre arm. Most scouting reports contained the sentence, “He’ll be moved off SS” at one point or other. As the Mets are presently constituted, he won’t be – unless the team wants to try “Tejada, mark II.” So far this spring, he has confirmed his AAA manager Wally Backman’s assessment of his fielding prowess: “adequate.” He has made a couple of outstanding stops and botched a couple of routine plays. He is neither Ozzie Smith, nor is he Elio Chacon.
The question, then, is will his “adequate” defense hurt more than his bat helps? Surrounding second base at Citi Field this year will be Flores and Daniel Murphy – up the middle behind a stellar starting staff and a coming-on bullpen and in front of Gold Glove wunderkind Juan Lagares. One can only hope for a minimum of runs allowed and base runners advancing due to a double play not turned, a hitter not thrown out or a ball not reached. Your intrepid columnist was witness to Jacob deGrom’s electrifying first Major League start – versus the Yankees, no less – ruined by David Wright’s unfamiliarity with the second base pivot. Face it, every ground ball in the middle of the diamond will more than likely become an adventure and it will be incumbent on that stellar pitching staff to either miss as many bats as possible, or coax countless lazy flies to center. Imagine the death-ray scowl on Matt Harvey’s or Jon Niese’s face if a cheapie-run crosses because of an easy-looking ball up the middle. The converse of that, of course, is to have enough runs on the board so such an occurrance doesn’t hurt as badly. Flores should definitely help in that area.
Here’s hoping it will be good enough.
Follow me on Twitter @CharlieHangley.
As long as Flores makes the routine plays, I think he’ll be fine at short. He seems like a streaky hitter, so hopefully he catches fire throughout the season. Even if the defense is a big problem, it may be smart to make Tejada a defensive replacement, and do a double switch later in the game.
The irony behind all of this defensive talk is that Flores is actually not that bad at second base. Once Murphy leaves, Flores could actually be an all-around player at second base.
The more I look into Dilson Herrera, the more that I could see a potential shift to shortstop. The duo of Flores and Herrera would be pretty solid offensively and defensively.
It is anticipated by the front office, players and fans that 2015 is the year the Mets make the playoffs. Sandy has taken a huge chance that Flores is defensively adequate and offensively better than average. Shortstop is not the position I would have gambled on especially with a weak fielding second baseman. There is a lot of pressure being placed on Flores and the Mets safety net is the twice failed Tejada.
As a fan I want Flores to succeed but as an observer I curse the inactivity of Alderson this past winter.
Herrara’s arm won’t play at short.
The thing is Charlie, the odds of playing defense better far outweigh hitting better. It would make far more sense in my eyes to improve the thing where success of doing so is better. Also think of botched DPs and errant throws. Maybe he can offense-up, and let’s hope he does, but the odds are stacked against it.
Isn’t team OBP supposed to far outweigh the importance of fielding?
One thing for sure. Flores can hit. 270/12-15/75 wouldn’t be bad for a 7 or 8 hitter and will be great if he plays an adequate short.
Charlie,
Your reference to the late Elio Chacon made my day. Great memories of a bad ballclub. Thanks.
Flores actually has a strong arm, and is not his weakness on defense. He is also very strong at turning the DP, as these two attributes could go a long way in making up for his true shortcoming in the field, which is his range.
And I think it’s important to look at just what he did at Vegas with regular playing time in 2013/2014. Across those two years, he played an even 162 games. He hit .320, with 27 HR, 147 RBI’s, and 48 Doubles.
Even if he only gives us half of that production, (14 HR, 70 RBI, 24 Doubles) you are looking at one of the more potent offensive Shortstops in the game.
The biggest impediment to Flores’s production this year won’t come from Flores. Sadly, it will most likely come from Terry, who still cannot get over his love affair with Tejada.