Logo Orange & BlueWe’re just about two weeks away from the Mets’ season opener in Kansas City, and the excitement is ramping up. There’s excitement that comes with the start of any new baseball season, regardless of your team’s prospects. This year is a rare one for Mets fans, though. It’s the start of a season coming off of a National League pennant, but a heartbreaking loss in the World Series. Fans are hoping for just that little bit more this season, hoping for that little extra push that will vault them from second place finishers to champions.

It’s what fans of the Royals were hoping for last season and got to witness at the expense of the Mets, in fact. Yes, the anticipation is bubbling up, but there’s also some apprehension there. It’s an apprehension about the team’s construction that wasn’t quite at the forefront just a few weeks ago but may be coming into focus as Spring Training nears its end. The infield has a chance to be a disaster this season.

To be fair, “disaster” is probably more than a little hyperbolic. Still, and although there was always that element of slight concern heading into Spring Training, recent events lead one to feel less than warm and fuzzy about the infield situation as we approach Opening Day. At the very least there are more questions about the state of the infield than there have been previously.

The Mets tendered Ruben Tejada a contract this off-season in a move that made sense at the time. Daniel Murphy was a free agent that would not be returning, which meant that Wilmer Flores may have slid over as the starting second baseman since it seemed as though the team didn’t feel Dilson Herrera was quite ready to take the mantle. The team has never seemed all that enamored with Matt Reynolds (and he’s not a starter), and their top shortstop prospect Gavin Cecchini still needs time at AAA.

Within the span of the next two weeks, however, the team acquired Neil Walker in a trade and signed Asdrubal Cabrera to a two-year contract and suddenly Tejada’s $3 million salary seemed an unnecessary expenditure. The infield alignment of Lucas Duda, Walker, Cabrera, and David Wright seemed set, with Flores and potentially Eric Campbell or Matt Reynolds filling in the final slot off the bench. It was already a shaky arrangement without a true backup first baseman, but the team seemed comfortable enough with it that they felt they could cut costs by releasing Tejada despite an early injury to Cabrera.

That injury to Cabrera seems to be minor enough that the team projects him to be ready for Opening Day, but we need to look at the bigger picture here. An injury to Cabrera without Tejada on the roster probably pushes Flores to the starting shortstop role. That role exposed Flores so much last season that Tejada essentially won it back from him at the end of last year and into the postseason. The team could probably live with that for a while, but we need to consider the elephant in the room that nobody but Mets360 commenters seem to be discussing with any seriousness. What if Wright plays less, much less, than everyone seems to expect? He certainly doesn’t appear to be anywhere near game-ready at this point.

Without Tejada on the roster, prolonged absences of any of a combination of Cabrera, Wright, and Walker would mean that the team would have Flores and one of Campbell, Reynolds, and probably Herrera out there trying to win games. Do you feel comfortable with Flores and Campbell or Flores and Reynolds in the same starting lineup on a daily basis? The team feels as though Campbell is better than his awful 2015, and he was much better in 2014, but he would be exposed in a prolonged starting role.

We haven’t even touched on a scenario in which Travis d’Arnaud misses significant time yet again. This has little to do with the positioning of the middle and left side of the infield, but a lot to do with the quality of the overall lineup if Wright, Cabrera, and/or Walker aren’t in it. This all makes the release of Tejada a little bit of a head-scratcher.

The team is banking on the health of Wright and d’Arnaud, much as they did in 2015. It appears as though they are comfortable going to war with Flores, Campbell, Reynolds, Herrera, and possibly Cecchini if things go completely awry as they did to start 2015. It’s certainly possible that this group of players can hold the fort for a while if needed. It’s also possible, if another prolonged Wright absence is accompanied by a lengthy Walker or Cabrera injury, that the offense could completely crater again as well.

It may be that we should trust that the team has done their due diligence and if they’re comfortable then we should be comfortable as well. They obviously know more about their players than anyone. They seem to be banking an awful lot on Wright playing more than he may end up actually playing, though. There’s nothing left to do but wait and watch, and maybe cross your fingers.

15 comments on “Why aren’t we more worried about the Mets’ infield?

  • Brian Joura

    I’m still more concerned about the bullpen.

    The lineup has Cespedes, Conforto, d’Arnaud, Duda, Granderson and Walker — that’s going to score some runs, regardless of who fills in the other two spots.

  • Eric

    Since the infield has the greatest depth in the org. I’m not worried.

  • TexasGusCC

    The infield will only be a problem if Wright plays without being able to. With respect to our captain and beloved Met, those throws from third late last year left much to be desired. Hoping he can rebound.

    While everyone is skeptical about Campbell, Flores played third base from 2012 until 2014, so he has the experience of handling it in Wright’s stead. Otherwise, Cabrera can’t be worse than the Tejada/Flores combo, Walker is better than Murphy and Duda is equal to Duda.

    Don’t see where the concerns stem from.

    • Chris F

      Gus, Flores is not an MLB 3B. The poor arm and incredible speed of the ball far greater than his skills set. Hes inadequate on the left side. Campbell will see plenty of 3B this year.

  • Metsense

    Flores is a slighty below average offensive player. He has been relegated to the bench as the primary backup infielder. Having a strong bench player like Flores is a strength on this team.
    During the past three years, Walker has averaged 140 games with a high of 151 games played. Cabrera has averaged 142 with a high of 146 and Duda has averaged 130 with a high of 153. If the three play to their average then Flores will have a potential of 72 games starting. Wright is the real concern having played in 112 games, 134 games and 38 games over the past three years. Wright has not been durable. Flores will be getting maximum exposure even if Wright plays to 134 games and over exposure if it is more like 112 games he played 3 years ago. Campbell at first or third will steal some of Flores starts but he has been below average over the past two seasons and his value is only in his versality. The less Campbell plays the better. I was surprised that Walker didn’t get any reps at third this spring because Herrera should be the next call up if Wright can’t stay off the DL. In a perfect world I would want a veteran LHB third baseman to take Campbell’s spot and a veteran RHB 1B-Of to take DeAza’s spot. Until then the roster is strong enough.

  • Blaiseda

    What if mothra attacks opening day and eats Jacob degrom? Grander son could get rickets I mean he’s about to collect social security and familia could not have toll money for the Whitestone bridge. Jeez the season is a disaster. Sandy Alderson needs to spend more money make more trades and promote some minor leaguers. The sky is falling!

    Mets fans. we’re so used to things going wrong we convince ourselves they will before they do. Every team has some flaws and every team would be in trouble if there are injuries to a few key players. Let’s at least start the season and play a few games before we raise our blood pressure to a slow boil.

    • DED

      As one who actually saw “Mothra,” I think that would be pretty cool, putting my personal feelings for Jacob DeGrom aside. The scene with the forty man Chinese martial arts brigade rushing to the rescue on mo-peds: unforgettable.

  • TexasGusCC

    I must be losing my memory. I was under the impression that Flores did pretty decent overall last year, for a first year player. However, go to Mets360.com and you will read how much he sucks. Go to Fangraphs, and you will read:

    “What represents a point of strength for the Mets right now — specifically, middle-infield depth — is of considerably less benefit to Wilmer Flores and his prospects for major league playing time in 2016. In addition to provisional starters Asdrubal Cabrera (at shortstop) and Neil Walker (at second base), the club also features in Gavin Cecchini and Dilson Herrera and Ruben Tejada — and even Danny Muno and Matt Reynolds — a surfeit of players who are all capable of adding wins at short or second or both. It’s not that Flores is behind all those players on the depth chart; it’s just that, for a club that seems less than committed to Flores, that depth removes the chance that the Mets will rely on him in the near future. So whatever Flores possesses in terms of personal ability, he lacks in terms of opportunity at the moment. As for that personal ability, Flores certainly has promise. He just recorded two wins in his age-23 season, parlaying a contact-heavy approach and average power into a nearly league average batting line, while also recording the majority of his starts at shortstop. (Carson Cistulli)

    The Quick Opinion: A 23-year-old who records a two-win season is generally regarded as a foundational piece for an organization. For Flores, it mostly got him demoted to a bench role.”

    Go to Flores dWAR for last year, i t i s p o s i t i v e!! It’s 4.3 overall, but that’s because 2B is 8.6. However, for shortstops he was 21st in MLB, although no one thinks he will last there, just that he is still serviceable at the position. Also, shockingly, Flores best attribute as voted is his arm strength. Amazing!

    Isn’t it time all of you left him the heck alone? Go pick on Duda!

    • TexasGusCC

      The 21st ranking for dWAR at SS was for shortstops with at least 500 innings. Cabrera was 23rd, BTW.

      Just saying…

    • Name

      “Go to Flores dWAR for last year, i t i s p o s i t i v e!!”

      What you’re talking about is not dWAR. dWAR refers to the defensive metric for baseball ref.
      Fangraph’s “Def” is just a raw number that frankly has very little interpretive value. More importantly, it’s positive in this case because of positional adjustment.

      Look at UZR or Rdrs if you actually want to look at a player’s defensive ability.

      • TexasGusCC

        Name, I mentioned that his 2B rating made it positive. But my point was that he still fared better than Cabrera, but most importantly, he was his first full year. He was horrible in the first half, but was much better defensively in the second half.

        Many players have jitters their first year, especially considering the position and circumstances and the NY media.

        • Name

          Well, yes and no.

          Most defensive metrics arbitrarily inflate value for positions that are harder to play. SS is one of those positions.

          Even though Flores had a -3.5 UZR, he gets a positive Def rating at SS of 1.8. Scooter Gennett playing a similar number of innings at 2b and a UZR of -3.2 UZR, only gets a Def rating of -1.8.

          But really, there’s no reason to look at that Def metric when there are better metrics to look at. It’s some internal value that is used to determine overall WAR, and in my opinion, should have been kept internal and not released to the public

  • NYM6896

    Nice info for debate but are we actually expecting to field an allstar at evey position and expect no potential weak links? Are we going to sit two weeks before the season and play the who will be injured this year again? Let’s let the season get underway and see that we are stronger up the middle than last year and Cespedes, with his talents, will learn to play CF better. TDA had some freak but not chronic injuries that should not repeat. The Captain only played 30 some odd games so it seems we turned the corner without him and while he lacked the past zip on his throws to first he still got the ball there with good regularity.
    I am with Brian on this one – we will get 6-7 from our starters most of the time but getting the ball to Familia might still be our biggest hurdle. LGM!!!

  • Matty Mets

    How much experience does Walker have at third? I love Flores as a super sub, but wouldn’t want to see him or Campbell playing third regularly if Wright has a long DL stretch. In that scenario, Walker at third and Hererra at second with Flores remaining the super sub might be our best option.

    • James Preller

      Walker to 3B would represent a radical move that will only happen, IMO, under the Mets are presented by some unique situations.

      Top of my head:

      1) Wright is on DL for an extended period of time.

      2) Mets are struggling, 2nd place.

      3) It is at least June, and Herrera is enjoying a great season at AAA (nothing left to prove).

      They are not going to bounce Walker around. I’d say it’s equally likely that we see Cabrera at 3B.

      “Eric Campbell” is not an answer to any important question.

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