Next up in our preseason projection review series is former (and future?) Mets second baseman Neil Walker. Walker was yet another casualty of the injury epidemic that hit the team this year as he spent most of June and July sidelined with a hamstring injury. With the season down the tubes, the Mets cut their losses and Walker was included in the Great Veteran Expulsion of 2017, getting the Mets a Class A lottery ticket with a rocket for an arm from the Brewers. Our Mets360 projections are below:
PA – 535
AVG – .275
OBP – .339
SLG – .453
HR – 19
RBI – 71
FB% – 41.0
Here’s how he actually did across both the Mets and Brewers, with the best and worst individual projections among our group:
PA – 448
Best – Koehler (400)
Worst – Hangley (582)
AVG – .265
Best – Hangley (.267)
Worst – Allison (.282)
OBP – .362
Best – Allison (.350)
Worst – Hangley (.316)
SLG – .439
Best – Fox (.439)
Worst – Hangley (.512)
HR – 14
Best – Rogan (14)
Worst – O’Malley, Hangley, Allison (22)
RBI – 49
Best – Koehler (60)
Worst – Hangley (87)
FB% – 41.7
Best – Joura (42.0)
Worst – Ryan (53.8)
Our group projection wasn’t all that out of sync with the big systems and would have been a fine season for Walker to put up for the theoretically playoff-bound Mets. Unfortunately, most of us didn’t take into account how long he’d be out with injury and I’m not sure anyone toyed with the idea that he’d be traded. The Mets have already said they’d be open to a reunion now that they’re in the market for a second baseman this offseason. They could do worse, certainly, but there are potentially better options to be had on the trade market this winter.
Neil Walker is a consistent offensive player with a career 113 OPS+ and has never had a below average year in his career. The knock on him is at age 32 he has not been durable the past two seasons. There are quite a few second baseman that profile offensively like him but have not been as career consistent. As you say, they can do worse but there are potentially better options.
He is a good player. I don’t see him as a “leader,” which he is sometimes considered. I see Walker as a quiet professional, clocks in on time, etc. But not a galvanizing force.
And personally, I’ll always hold it against him that he opted for back surgery in 2016 rather than getting a shot and gutting it through to the playoff run. Maybe that’s unfair of me. Maybe he was in too much pain to continue. But I feel that a different player would have done more to stay on the field. I realize that I might be wrong on that score.
The attractive thing about the FA options is that they are $$$ only. … the Mets have so many devalued and under-defined assets that Trades are going to be very tough, and relatively “expensive”.
If they can make anything work over the first 60-100 games, it will then point to an in-season addition…a Trade or two. I believe that will be a better time to trade assets..if at all.
I’m getting more optimistic about a Cain Signing…I have not heard that the Mets are in on that, but addresses more questions and needs.