Another offseason is blowing by us quickly. The Super Bowl is less than a month away, Valentine’s Day is the following weekend, and then it’s time for pitchers and catchers. Yes, it’s going quickly and not a moment too soon.
The Mets still haven’t gotten themselves a shortstop. Did I write this last year, too?
In any case, as the days pass, it’s becoming more and more evident that, while the addition of Michael Cuddyer is nice, it isn’t the piece that’s going to put this team over the top, despite lofty predictions from [EDIT: newly minted Hall-Of-Famer] John Smoltz on the MLB Network. There is still a dearth of punch – moving in fences and praying for bounce-back years from David Wright and Curtis Granderson notwithstanding. The shortstop position in particular is where there is the most room for improvement. There were a number of candidates skating around the Mets’ perimeter in November and December, but nobody landed in Queens. A closer look at the shortstops in whom the Mets are rumored to interested, however, showed that it just might be a wiser move to stick with Wilmer Flores, and have Ruben Tejada back him up.
Troy Tulowitzky – The most accomplished player on the list, Tulowitzky would send a jolt through Mets’ nation like no one since Mike Piazza. He can hit anywhere – and seems to enjoy the environs of Citi Field the way Chipper Jones loved Shea. However, he hasn’t been able to stay on the field for more than 140 games since 2011. All his skills will do the Mets no good if he spends most of his time on the DL. And this isn’t even mentioning what he would cost in terms of prospects surrendered and money owed. Let’s face it: $129 million over the next seven years would make even the pre-Madoff Wilpons think twice.
Stephen Drew – As desirable as Drew was last offseason, he’s become that repugnant this year. A .536 OPS for the year will do that, coupled with the fact that he’s asking for a $9 or $10 million dollar contract – more than twice what his play warrants.
Everth Cabrera – The last thing the Mets need right now is a guy with a PED taint and a questionable clubhouse persona.
Brad Miller/Chris Taylor – either of these guys would slot into the Mets quite nicely. One of them will become surplus in the Great Northwest, but the Seattle front office keeps pulling the old Eddie Murphy ice cream cone/PSYCH! move with them. Apparently, the Mariners will not deal either, at least not for what the Mets might be offering.
Takashi Toritani – a Japanese client of Scott Boras doesn’t project to hit enough in the major leagues to hold down a starting spot. The Mets will not pay Boras-bucks to a benchwarmer.
Yoan Moncada – The most intriguing “man” on the list – a pup of 19-years-old – shows all the raw tools you like. The Cuban youngster has yet to be cleared to enter the US, though, and there is no timetable for him to sign with a major league team. The Mets can’t afford to wait him out.
Wilmer Flores has been raking in the Winter Leagues. He has a handful of games under his belt. His fielding in ’14 was far better than advertised. He can hit major league pitching. More to the point, there isn’t anyone better out there.
The job is his to lose. For our sake, let’s hope he runs with it.
This weekend is the second annual Queens Baseball Convention, “QBC” for short. I’ll be back with a full report and recap next Tuesday.
Follow me on Twitter @CharlieHangley.
Nice writeup. For many of us the thought of Wilmer at SS all season brings up two emotions–excitement (about his offense) and dread (about his defense). One fact is that the Mets have a lot of flyball pitchers, so the potential impact of Flores’ poor defense is somewhat mitigated. The simple fact is that he will need to hit, drive in runs, and get on base at a clip that makes his fielding deficiencies something of an afterthought.
The biggest challenge is Terry Collins. Terry loves Ruben Tejada, likely because Ruben is what Terry once was…a light hitting journeyman infielder. The real crime in this whole thing is that Flores wasn’t given 70-80 games at SS last year. It would have helped his trade value, given him more experience, and helped with his hitting as he’d have seen a bunch more big league pitching.
But…Terry….
So here we are going to battle with the expectation of a playoff berth and one of the premium defensive positions is being staffed by someone who did not inspire enough confidence to vanquish a limping Ruben Tejada, and with the hopes his magical bat will out-hit the 50 errors and lack of range we will get on defense. Its a damn good thing every other position is a lock with a superstar in place and that we otherwise have very few “ifs” on the club.
(note the sideways smirk)
Frankly,I’m not even sure Flores will hit well.
Drew back to Yankees at 1/5 with incentives to 6-7. That’s exactly the contract i would have liked the Mets to sign him at. My guess is that if the Mets also offered the same contract he would have preferred the Yankees and the hitter friendly stadium.
I wonder how much it would have taken to lure him here instead. I think i’d would have been OK with going up to 6 mil with incentives up to 10.
That was a fair contract and it is frustrating that the Mets didn’t compete for his services at that price.
I have a feeling neither of you will think it was such a good signing come summer time. Drew has had one decent season in the last four years. If you thought Chris Young went down bad…
$5 million plus incentives for Drew — and a one-year commitment — is a great contract. It’s chump change.
The problem with Dumpster diving, which is where the Mets live, is that nobody is going to show up without warts and blemishes. You are not going to find the perfect guy.
Signing Chris Young was a good move, in theory, except for two problems: 1) Sandy overpaid wildly; 2) Sandy promised him regular playing time.
Alderson imagined that CY was the next CF, actually, and was all set to shift Lagares to the pine (SA was/is obsessed with “pop”). Fortunately, Juan started hot and CY got injured early. It got to the point where they eventually had to resign themselves to playing Lagares, after a lot of misguided dithering. Collin Cowgill? Rick Ankiel?
Still, for the right price, it’s not a bad idea to take a flier on a veteran with good production in the past. Add Drew & dump Tejada and it costs you $3 million dollars. Could Drew be a total bust? I guess so, yes. But he could also be a guy who gives you 120 games at SS with a reliable glove. An incentivized vet, playing for his career. And he hits a little bit. In the meantime, Flores gets 350 ABs (or more, or less, depending on how he does) and the team gets a true read on the player.
I never lobbied for Drew myself, but we are staring at the 5th year of Ruben Tejada. Can nothing be done?
Yeah, Jimmie. But it’s only Chump-Change, if you’ve got Chump Change to spare. I really wanted Mets to get Drew, keep Flores, and peddle Tejada for what they could get, Would have given them a professional shortstop, a legit prospect, who could fill in at multiple positions- yada… yada…