The Mets are fresh off a National League pennant, you may have heard. Their remarkable play down the stretch to win the NL East fueled a surge in attendance, which will have a concomitant up-tick overall for 2016. They outpitched the Dodgers – crowned by most in the MSM as having the best starters in the League — in the first round of the playoffs and blew the Cubs away in the Championship round. That they ran into a determined buzz-saw and lost to the Royals in five games in the World Series is nothing to be ashamed of. So, one would think that the fans would look toward the 2016 with an air of excitement and anticipation. One would be only partly correct.
In December the Mets signed Neil Walker to replace the departed and beloved Daniel Murphy. Walker is a very nice player, a consistent hitter and a far better fielding second baseman than Murphy ever was. And – since this is the Mets after all – will earn roughly the same salary as Murphy’s 2015. They then added Asdrubal Cabrera to pair with Walker around second. This move could signal the end of Ruben Tejada’s brief folk-hero status, as well as the realization that Wilmer Flores is not a shortstop. Cabrera will be steady. They also added veteran outfielder Alejandro De Aza to platoon with the may-or-may-not-be-injured Juan Lagares. De Aza will be useful, if unspectacular. Last night, the Mets improved the left-handed portion of their bullpen slightly, adding Antonio Bastardo to the recovering Josh Edgin and Jerry Blevins. The move was applauded in most circles – though not all – adding depth to an area of weakness.
You’ll notice that the adjectives used above – “nice,” “steady,” “useful,” “unspectacular” – don’t exactly get the blood racing with anticipation of derring-do on the field. No, they smack more of the moves that were made in mid-July, 2015, when GM Sandy Alderson brought Kelly Johnson and Juan Uribe on board: welcome additions, to be sure, but not something that would set the back pages aflame. That would come when they traded for Yoenis Cespedes.
Oh, yeah. Him. Cespedes is still available, though supposedly on the verge of signing somewhere. A large swath of Met fandom hopes for a return to Queens for him – including your intrepid columnist. As it stands right now, without Cespedes in the fold, the lineup is missing that central piece, that feared thumper. And with big-hitting outfielders coming off the market rapidly of late, it would seem that the Mets have nowhere else to turn for help – barring a trade of one of their coveted young pitchers, that is. So the logical move would be to bring Cespedes back, but the terms would be the sticking point.
So, as to the question posed in the title, the answer would be “Not yet.” They certainly have enough pitching to carry them the bulk of the year and the lineup will be…serviceable.
Here’s hoping we can upgrade that description sometime between now and April.
Follow me on Twitter @CharlieHangley.
Love the Bastardo move. It seems to be flying under the radar due to the Cespedes frenzy.
I like the Bartardo move, too.
Still need a RH bat on the bench in the Cuddyer role, to play 1B and spell the LH hitters in the outfield corners. Still a couple of guys out there, should not be too expensive.
I don’t think Cespedes is happening. It would shock me, frankly.
Depth is nice. Plugging holes with replacement level players is nice. A guy who can transform a lineup could win you a ring.
Let the nats give him 120 million. He wont be able to touch our pitching. (Colon excepted)
Stick a fork in the Mets for 2016 because they are done. You don’t lose your #3 and #4 hitters then expect to repeat. They absolutely have the best pitching staff in the ML but they are only 6 and 7 inning starters. Bottom line, the Mets have regressed in the off season with the loss of Murphy, Cuddy, and Cepesdes.
Wow, that’s extreme. The effectively replaced Murphy. Losing Cuddyer was a gain. And the lost of Cespedes will hurt the offense, it’s true.
They also gained a full year of Matz and Conforto. They’ve moved Flores to the super-sub role for which he’s best suited. They improved the bullpen by bringing in Reed, Bastardo, and Blevins.
Added De Aza and Cabrera who should, or could, provide good offense.
We can quibble over various moves, most certainly — each can be picked apart — but I don’t believe the entire off-season depended on signing Cespedes.
Again, I don’t think they particularly like the guy. It was telling that Buck of the O’s didn’t want Cespedes and the Tigers — who just had him — preferred to give the money to Upton. There’s something in him that gives teams pause. And we are talking about a lot of money.
The Mets decided to go another way.
My biggest worry is David Wright, but I don’t know what they could have reasonably done to deal with it, beyond putting a couple of backup plans in place, which they’ve done. Herrera in the wings adds to flexibility, too.
I still wish they went after Frazier to play 3B and let DW cover 3B occasionally and platoon with Duda at 1B. Expecting more than 100 games from him is unreasonable in my eyes. Our plans for his continued drop in offense and defense (at what point will he actually be underhanding the ball across the diamond?) play seem very thin. I think it would have been worth offering Uribe a 1 year deal. He was the best 3B we had last year. If you didnt like Flores at SS, you’ll like him a lot less at 3B where his painful slowness and weak arm will make you scream. I think Campbell would even be better at 3B, and they made me just feel a little queasy saying that.
Chris, I just don’t feel is was — I want to say “ethically,” but that’s not exactly the work — right for the Mets to turn Wright into a bench player during the off-season.
He deserves a fair shot.
Meanwhile, we don’t know how it will turn out with David. It’s possible he surprises with a solid season.
I think that he’s meant too much, for too long, to be moved to the bench prematurely.
I didn’t even mention David Wright more than likely on the decline with now limited range at 3B along with throwing issues. Also, I’m very concerned about his frequency of strikeouts especially with runners on base. All that said can he stay healthy in 2016 after so many productive all star years?
The short answer is no. The long answer is, maaaaaybe? But they don’t have the pieces to deal at the trade deadline again, so I’ll go with “no” squared.
No…but it’s January. I hope they’ll do more, and I believe they can do more during the season as well.
I’ll be curious to read what Pearce gets paid for his one-year deal with Rays.
A lot turns on the Cespedes deal, I guess. If the Mets get him back, then the little things won’t matter as much. But my take on their approach has been that it’s exclusively about the little things.
I think they still realize they need a replacement for Cuddyer.
Charlie,
Your article says: “In December the Mets signed Neil Walker to replace the departed and beloved Daniel Murphy. Walker is a very nice player, a consistent hitter and a far better fielding second baseman than Murphy ever was.”
This implies that Walker was a free agent acquisition which, of course, he wasn’t. It cost the team Jon Niese to acquire Walker who was arbitration eligible. And while I think that was a fair and reasonable move it triggered some other stuff that personally I am not crazy about.
Let’s say they do not make that trade and intend to give the 2B job to Dilson Herrera, Matt Reynolds, or Wilmer Flores (whoever plays best in spring training) then they needn’t sign Colon and Niese gets the gig as 5th starter until Wheeler returns.
The monetary savings might be enough to allow the Mets to sign Parra or Span rather than toss $5.5 to $7 million at DeAza who IMHO is unfit to play CF.
And while I agree that Walker figures to play a better 2B than Murphy I don’t think the difference will be as large as you imply.
I cant guarantee that the Cabrera Walker infield will work out at a professional championship level. However, I am in the camp of belief that the Flores Murph infield was definitively non-championship level.
I like that series of moves—it made the infield and the bench rotation much stronger.
If this is a money utility dedcision, I would have preferred a Cespee signing with a waitful watch on the bullpen during the season—and a recycled Harang/Gee Type for the 1st half 5th starter.
If the Cespee decision is non-money, i would then need to concede that decision to Aldersona and his guys.
Gee, they made the World Series with that double play combo. And I thought the two main reasons they didn’t win is because six of their top eight hitters posted an OPS below .582 and their pitchers grooved too many fastballs
on the other hand
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/daniel-murphy-and-the-costliest-errors-in-world-series-history/
That play was definitely not good. But you give me a lineup with more than two guys hitting and my team will easily survive that play.
Just one of many. Im not the least bit sad to see him go.
That’s a good point Brian, but I don’t think we can merely re-litigate last season’s team. For instance, 90 wins was also made it to the world series. It’s a togh assumption to think that the same level of play, much less wins, will again have a chance to advance.
The evaluation is about what makes the team better…. and allows it it chance to improve now and through the season.
Ces agrees to 3yr deal, first year opt out, 3/75, full no trade — if he opts out, yr 1 salary 27.5M$
good news?????????
Great news, fabulous terms. Yes!
When does he start hearing the boo-birds? I’m thinking late June to early July.
There goes the clubhouse chemistry.
Comparing this contract to Upton, i’d rather have Upton’s. Far higher upside with him entering his prime years, compared to Cespedes who will be entering the decline years with a much more proven and consistent bat.
Decline years? Cespedes is coming off his best season and the next three years should be his prime years. Power Hitters usually peak in their early 30’s and this guy has only been in the Majors for 4 years. Motivation won’t be a factor since he has the buy-out option after this year. I expect big things from him. He is arguably the most talented player to ever wear a Mets uniform!