The Mets added a veteran bat by once again turning to the Braves and acquiring Kelly Johnson, just like they did a year ago. The cost this time was Akeel Morris, a minor league reliever. Morris was on the 40-man roster, so no need to create a spot for Johnson there. But a 25-man roster move will have to be made now. It doesn’t sound like Juan Lagares is going on the DL now so most likely this means a return to the minors for Matt Reynolds.
Johnson played in 49 games for the Mets last year and had 138 PA, posting a .250/.304/.414 line. This year he’s played in 49 games for the Braves and had 132 PA. But instead of the .718 OPS he provided the Mets, Johnson has produced a .562 mark this year. Hey, it’s still an upgrade from Reynolds’ .397 mark.
If Johnson can reproduce what he did for the Mets last year, most of us would be happy. Can he do it? Well, that’s another matter entirely. Those bullish on the deal can point to his .260 BABIP and .074 ISO and expect improvement in both marks. Those bearish can point to his age – 34 – and say he might be at the end of the line and that there may be no regression in either metric. Neither side seems to have a slam dunk case.
Meanwhile, Morris has an ugly line at Double-A, with a 4.62 ERA and a 1.382 WHIP in 22 games. The exciting thing about Morris has always been his strikeout ability. This year, he has 36 Ks in 25.1 IP. The troubling thing about Morris has been his penchant for allowing walks. This year he’s given up 16 BB in 25.1 IP.
You never want to give up on a guy with a 12.8 K/9 rate in the high minors. You never want to get too attached to a player with a 5.7 BB/9 rate, regardless of the level. So, it’s probably a fair trade for both sides. The Braves roll the dice on a guy who might be worthwhile in a few years while the Mets make the same gamble but hope to come up with good fortune in 2016, instead.
It will be curious to see how the Mets utilize Johnson. Does he become the platoon third baseman, getting the lion’s share of the work while David Wright is out? If so, it’s another sign of how little the org thinks of Wilmer Flores. Or is he primarily a bench bat, getting just a handful of PA each week?
Either way, it’s unlikely this will be the last move Alderson makes to address the underachieving offense.
Immediately, it provides a possiblity of Platoon and Rest depth…. unfortunately, KJ is a LH Batter…. they can’t do a LH/RH cormer platoon, and I’m not a believer in everydayWilmer or everydayLOney
This move says more about the Mets lack of confidence in Campbell, Reynolds, Kelly and Rivera.
Of course they could have resigned Johnson in the off-season, but that would have cost them more money.
I see Kelly strictly as depth He cannot be a LH platoon with Wilmer at 3B. If Wilmer can’t cut it and Wright doesn’t return, they need a 3rd baseman.
It just has that AAAA feel to our line up now.
Cespeditis, never known as a team stand up guy, told the press he is not superman. Ugh.
I think David Wright should retire. 3-4 hours just to play? People with his condition sometimes end up in wheelchairs. It is sad, but perhaps inevitable that he retire and free up some $.
With our starting pitching staff, we must find some bats.
Brandon Nimmo is hitting regularly in AAA now, but not showing much power.
Dilson Herrera continues to progress and is young, but 2nd base is not an issue right now.
Can Brandon Nimmo play first?
I do not mind Kelly Johnson and actually like him for the bench. But really? How many prospects are we going to give Atlanta for the samr player? Maybe this upcomming offseason, he can resign with Atlanta and then we can give them another prospect next year.
The Answer seems to Be Dilson at 2b…Flo Floating..walker 3b… you need some upside to the players you’re choosing—the 3 existing bench guys have an upside of “25th Guy”—Dilson has an Upside of all star level.
If he’s sparks now, you keep him up–otherwise, it’;s trade deadline and a fairly substantial deal to bring in a Major League Platoon/Starter level player.
You cannot win a pennant with 26/27/28th players
The only thing different between this year and last is that the Nats are not being run by Williams…and do not have the same set of issues as last year. I expect them to be in on Chapman when the Crankees finally go belly up. Oh yeah, and the Cubs wont be swept.
My guess is that Kelly will be sent to Vegas since KJ plays the positions that Kelly does.
i agree, Kelly will be sent down since Kelly plays the same positions that Kelly does.
I think Reynolds goes, because he sucks more than Ty Kelly. Flores can now backup SS. Kelly can play OF in a pinch. In Vegas, Kelly hit extremely well, while Reynolds slumped miserably & never earned the call up.
The Mets obtained Kelly Johnson because he has a career .750 OPS. Surprisingly, Johnson has a higher OPS vs LHP than RHP and the split differential is minimum. This does not bode well for the current third baseman, Wilmer Flores, who has a career .666 OPS and is sporting a .597 OPS in 2016. Johnson is also having a miserable 2016 with an OPS of .562. In the next six weeks I think Johnson will be getting the majority of starts and the Mets will re- evaluate as that point. The Mets are no longer waiting for Flores to develop into a hitter and seem more content to play two veterans, Loney and Johnson, over him. The Johnson trade is more like a band aid to stop the bleeding for now. Flores Met career may be on life support. He has not consistently produced when given the opportunity.
Wilmer just never “looks the part” to me. Last year was a Major “start”….but he’d need to do that consistently as a a bench/reserve. He seemed to run into a lot of meatballs last year.
He’s only 24, but he needs to hit like a Monster to stick, much less expand his role. The Bat could grow, but the other areas of his game provide few anchor skills. He’s slow, and he’s a bad baserunner (not the same thing!). He’s a spotty fielder. He doesn’t seem to have OBP skills or bat handling skills.
I don’t think Johnson’s acquisition is attached to Flores, long term…. it’s more a comment on the Kelly-Soup-Reynolds trinity that is simply not pennant worthy. They’ve lengthened the roster to 23 active MLB worthy players.