A good bench is essential to any team’s success over a long season. Aside from providing pinch hitting and running, late-inning defensive replacements and needed days off, bench players are often thrust into every day duty following an injury to a starter. For the latter purposes, the Mets will rely on their bench more than most teams in 2016.
While any Major League player can get hurt at any time, exactly half of the Mets’ starting position players have a better than average chance of winding up on the disabled list in 2016. At best, David Wright’s spinal stenosis will call for him to get some extra days off throughout the season. At worst, he will spend some time on the DL receiving medical treatments. Juan Lagares’ balky elbow presents a similar situation. Hopefully, the centerfielder’s elbow holds up and a little offseason rest was all he needed, but with a partial ligament tear, an extended DL stint is always a possibility. Travis d’Arnaud, while young and devoid of any particular ailment, seems to be made of ceramic, which is especially problematic while playing the most physically demanding position on the field. Lastly, veteran right fielder Curtis Granderson will start the season at age 35. While a broken knuckle as a Yankee in 2013 was the cause of his only extended DL stint, there is certainly precedent for injured outfielders in their mid 30s.
With regard to Wright and d’Arnaud, we have a pretty solid backup plan with Wilmer Flores and Kevin Plawecki capable of stepping in. While the latter may not be the hitter d’Arnaud is, he can hold his own at the plate and has room for improvement, while providing superior defense behind the plate. Flores may never be as good as Wright was in his prime, but at this stage of Wright’s career, even when healthy, he no longer possesses the homerun power, foot speed or throwing arm of his younger self. If needed, Flores can provide a serviceable glove at the hot corner, with a strong enough arm to make the cross diamond throws. He probably possesses more power than Wright now, though the notable drop off in OBP would be the biggest let down.
In the event Flores gets thrust into full-time duty, either at third or second, should anything happen to our new switch hitter at the keystone, Neil Walker, Ruben Tejada would become the primary infield backup. While primarily a shortstop, Tejada has seen enough time at second and third to fill in as needed. If by some chance Wright, Walker, shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera and first baseman Lucas Duda all avoid the DL in 2016, Tejada would see very little playing time, but that’s not likely.
As of now, the Mets primary outfield reserve is Alejandro de Aza, a veteran lefty who can play all three outfield positions. While de Aza has played some centerfield, he grades much better as a corner outfielder. He possesses neither power or speed worth discussing, but his splits vs. right handed pitchers make him a viable platoon partner for Lagares (albeit a cheaper one than Denard Span, Dexter Fowler or Gerardo Parra). de Aza, is, at best, a replacement level player. If an injury were to thrust him into everyday duty, we’d suddenly have a pretty big hole in the lineup.
An even more glaring problem is that we clearly need another outfielder – preferably a right handed bat who can provide a little pop off the bench and/or speed on the bases. Bonus points if they can also provide backup to our streaky first baseman, though there’s been discussion about Flores taking on that responsibility as well. Free agent names like Steve Pearce and Ryan Raburn have been mentioned in rumors, though many New York beat writers have opined that the Mets won’t be willing to pay the $3 million or more it may require for their services.
Here’s a crazy idea. Since Cincinnati seems to be selling off everything but their stadium, how about inquiring about the speedy, young centerfielder Billy Hamilton? He’s still on a rookie contract and could give this team a weapon we’ve been sorely missing since Jose Reyes and Angel Pagan left Queens. Granted the kid’s not a world beater at the plate and his OBP does not make him an ideal leadoff hitter, but having a rabbit on the bench for late inning pinch running, especially in the playoffs, is a great option for a manager to have. He’s also a switch hitter and a pretty good defensive outfielder.
This is just one option among many. The one that makes the least sense is to do nothing and go with an internal option to fill out the last spot on our bench. These options include Eric Campbell, who might well be our 2015 LVP, Brandon Nimmo, who by all accounts is not ready for the show, and Darrel Cecilliani, who was pretty unspectacular in his brief call up. Let’s hope the Mets’ front office has at least one more off-season move in the works.
How about not trading for Billy Hamilton, who is going to be clean out of the League in a couple of seasons?
Unless you meant the 19th Century Billy Hamilton. But it would take him too long to work himself into shape.
The bench is certainly a concern, but my thought is, take advantage of what the market offers. In this case, Cincinnati is breaking up and starting over; why not propose a trade that would be an upgrade for the Mets, and provide a lot of financial relief for the Reds? Namely, Joey Votto for Lucas Duda?
They are not equal players, clearly, but it would give the Mets a chance at capitalizing on their window with this starting rotation, and a Championship — a greater likelihood with Votto — should enable the Mets to vault back into Big Market status, rendering Vottos odious contract more palatable. While the Reds could still field a good first baseman, while getting (slightly) younger and saving over $100 million.
Then, you worry about the 24th and 25th men on the active roster.
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DED, Votto is a terrific player but that contract is bananas.
Votto for Duda? I like it,though Scrooge and Jack Benny there in the FO would never go for it. A little tug on the purse strings, y’know–
Flores, Plawecki, d’Aza, Tejada—that’s pretty good assortment of guys who can start on gioven days and provide MLB level play and production….. and they are representative PH Bats.
On days when guys are spelled, the likes of DW and Walker and Cabrera will be available as PH.
I disagree with your premise almost entirely.
My biggest issue is that the front office seems to always undervalue the importance of a good 4th OF. A really good CF signing would have made Lagares our 4th. To me de Az is an overpaid 5th.
“To me de Az is an overpaid 5th.”
That’s is a laughably bad opinion right there.
Out of 105 Outfielders who had 300+ PA last year, de Aza was 55th in wRC. If you take the last 2 years and 600+ PA, he’s 68/103. 3 years and 900+ PA, he’s 66/102
He is at worst an average defensive corner outfielder, probably closer to slightly above average. CF is mixed, but i think he can play be passable there.
If there are 30 teams, and 3 OF jobs available, that’s at least 90 starting OF jobs, not counting any injuries. Even accounting for prospects and injured players who don’t make the PA cutoff lists, de Aza is a top 100 outfielder, which makes him a starting-caliber OF.
Interesting assessment but those types of rankings dont take upward/downward trends into account. I’m sure there are a number of prospects and rookies – Conforto types – who don’t rank in the top 90. DeAza has been trending downward and hasnt played CF in two years. He’s a replacement level player who can play adequate defense in the corners and get on base at a a reasonable clip but he possesses little in the way of power or speed.
De Aza’s lowest wRC in the last 3 years has been 96. Are there 40+ prospects/rookies who could do that in a likely manner next year? I don’t think so.
The fact that he hasn’t played CF is more due to the team’s situation rather than his ability. In the 2013 offseason, the White Sox traded for a top prospect in Adam Eaton. When he was shipped to the O’s, Adam Jones was entrenched there. On the Red Sox, they already had Betts and Bradley Jr. The Giants had a sucky season from Pagan and could have played de aza in CF, but Pagan is still under contract for a few more years while they were unlikely to resign him and so they stuck with Pagan.
Replacement level? That’s just more bullshit there. An average hitter with an average fielding skills is not replacement level. While he didn’t steal many bases last year, which probably had to due with him changing teams twice, he had 17 sb in 2014, which is 1/3 of the total the entire Mets team had this year.
Despite all the negativity bandied around here, at worst, De Aza is a borderline starting-cablier OF.
I mostly agree with Eraff, although I’m not ready to put Plawecki into that group. KP has a .710 OPS in Triple-A and a .576 OPS in the majors. While neither of these are very large samples, I’m confused why it’s okay to carry this guy in the majors. Where are the “needs more seasoning” cries here?
Johnny Monell is nothing special but at least he had an OPS 148 points higher in Vegas.
A back up catcher needs to be defense first guy that the pitchers are down with throwing to. KP knows the staff well, receives well, and is clearly liked. Monell is a total afterthought that serves no purpose on the big club.
The only reason I mentioned Monell is because he accepted an assignment and is still with the org.
KP has half of a year in the majors and while he seems like a fine defensive guy, I wouldn’t say his knowledge of the pitchers is anything that any competent backup couldn’t get up to speed with during the course of Spring Training.
There’s value in bringing in a competent backup catcher and allowing KP the chance to play every day in Las Vegas and prove he can hit at that level.
KP was a very good hitter in the lower minors but because of the TDA injury he was rushed to the majors. I agree with Brian that he needs consistant at bats to complete his developement. He should start at AAA and hit himself back to the major league roster. I think he would be back by the All Star break and be a much more complete player. KP is not as good as TDA but with more developement he should become an above average offensively and defenseively major league catcher.
Potential aside, Plawecki hasn’t given us anything more than Recker. I really hope he takes a big step forward this season. If not for a spring training home run binge, I’m not sure Monell would still be in baseball
De Aza can hit RHP, but if he can’t play CF — and he can’t — then he is a very poor fit for the Mets who have left-handed bats at 1b, LF, and RF. To give any of those three a break, you must have a RH bat who hits LHP. The opposite of de Aza, who is brutally bad vs. LHP.
A stunningly poor signing, IMO.
Put me in James’ camp. The article, a good one, refers to De Aza as one of the team’s reserves. The Wilpons don’t dole out $5+ million to reserves. The intention is for this player to be the long half of the CF platoon. He might surprise us but I think we will be seeing such poor play in CF that the manager will be forced to play Lagares against righties just to be able to get acceptable defensive play in center.
No more Eric Campbell. Just, no.
The core group of Flores, Plawecki, De Aza, and Tejada is not terrible by any means. But don’t mistake it for good.
Why the Mets weren’t willing to spend money on Span and settled for Alejandro De Aza is still beyond my comprehension.
In any event, the departures of Uribe, Johnson, Nieuwenhuis, and Cuddyer will hurt the “name-recognition” that the Mets had on the bench at the end of 2015. The only way to try and re-gain respectability is to add another outfield/utility guy- Raburn or Pearce were great suggestions.
Unfortunately, what will likely happen is that the Mets stay mute the rest of the offseason. What will follow is an injury to the infield as Flores takes over and is serviceable while the bench is once again left in shambles (i.e. Muno, Campbell, Ceciliani, Monell). The only good news is that the Mets still have Dilson Herrera and Brandon Nimmo waiting in the wings.
The Mets are lacking a right handed hitting bench player that can play the corner outfield positions and fill in at first base. Eric Campbell, with his career .656 OPS vs LHP is filling that role currently. This is unacceptable.
The logical choice is Steve Pearce who has played 172 games at 1B, 115 in LF and 91 in RF with average defense and a carrer split vs LHP of 343/481/824. I am not sure the Mets can afford him if he wants $3.7m+ but I think it would be money well spent.
Tejada is the player that no longer seems to fit on the roster. Flores should get many right hand at bats at second base and also be in the lineup when Wright is rested. That leaves maybe a dozen starts for Tejada at SS and quite frankly Flores could also cover those starts instead. Kelly Johnson would be a better, more versatile, bench player than Tejada.
Happy New Year folks.
1. I wouldn’t think that Plawecki would open in New York because once TDA came back from injury last year, Plawecki went down to play everyday. I would expect that to continue.
2. Tejada will be released in the spring and Reynolds will be brought up. Reynolds may or may not have an upside, but he is cheaper sitting on the bench than Tejada and his lack of upside.
3. My problem with de Aza is he was released last year and the Red Sox got him on a waiver deal. How can that guy have enough demand to warrant a $5.5MM deal, but now Pierce and Raburn are too expensive? Similar to giving Colon $7.5MM, when you have other youngsters that are MLB ready?
Did this team go the World Series because of their management or in spite of their management? Before anyone reminds me that they went out and got Cespedes, see my point in the article about Raburn and Pierce concerning the Beltran/Wheeler and Cespades/Fulmer deals. This is the perfect MLB team: good enough to compete but never breaking the bank. The most imagination they have shown me was getting Walker to take Niese spot, and possibly getting an extra pick if Walker deserves and declines a QO. That pick alone is worth two years of Niese.
Would like to see the Mets make a move for Cargo now. Montero, D Aza, Tejada, and a couple of minor league prospects go to the Rockies. Rockies replace their CF, backup at SS and some pitching help. It also frees $30 Million plus from their payroll.
Yes…as soon as The Rockies want a Sack of Crap for Cargo, the Mets will get him
NYM6986- If you sub Nimmo for De Aza and your minor league prospects are not throwaways, Colorado would make that deal. But I don’t think I would. I am very wary of the Rock stars. CarGo’s away splits are bad, to say the least, and his lefty/righty splits are worse. He hasn’t played CF since 2011, but he could probably handle it. I guess if SA and the Mets brain trust concluded he was a worthwhile acquisition, I’d go with the deal, but with trepidation.
Duda for Votto? Ha ha ha ha ha ha!
I believe KP is your backup catcher, and I like it. He will get plenty of ABs, spelling Travis, PHing, and I think you will see Td’A playing some 1B vs. lefties.
Regarding the meat of this article, the off-season is far from over, so it is premature to condemn the bench. That said, I don’t think a bench of Lagares/De Aza, Flores, Plawecki, Tejada, and a 5th OF like Pearce or Raburn, is scrawny at all. Moreover, I am hoping that Tejada is included in a trade before ST, and another utility IF like Kelly Johnson, is signed in his stead.
Lastly, I wish you guys would stop bad mouthing De Aza. He profiles as well as Span or Fowler as a platoon partner for Lagares. And overall, his career numbers are a tad better than Parra’s and a shade below Span’s although he has more pop than Span. And the 1 year deal, which so far doesn’t look possible with either Span or Parra (Although that could change for Span, since many teams are wary of his health. But he would still command a much higher salary than De Aza.) is ideal for the Mets. I think they still believe in Lagares, and want to use this season as a test, to see if he is capable of winning the full time CF job back. If not, they have next winter, or the July deadline, to address that issue.
Herb G – I love your positive outlook. I’m rooting hard for Lagares. I really hope he plays as good or better than he did in 2014 when we were all excited about him as a possible core player. I think my biggest issue is that there is still one big hole on the bench that there’s been little discussion of filling. You could argue that we could fill out our bullpen internally, but I don’t believe we have a good internal option to fill out that last bench spot. I’m glad we have depth and flexibility in the infield, but the outfield concerns me until we go and get a Raburn or Pearce or someone of at least that caliber.