No one was excited when the Mets signed Alejandro De Aza this past offseason. Oh, sure, it made a lot of sense. He was going to be in a quasi-platoon with Juan Lagares, he didn’t cost very much and he was willing to sign a one-year deal. And he hit okay versus RHP. It wasn’t a dumb signing; it just wasn’t a deal that made fans go out and buy season tickets.
And then the Mets re-signed Yoenis Cespedes, which pushed De Aza firmly to the bench. That wasn’t his fault. Yet, he went from being a guy whose addition to the team made perfect sense to a guy who essentially had no role other than pinch-hitter. For his part, De Aza seemed to take this really well, never once complaining publicly.
The fans weren’t so understanding.
De Aza didn’t help himself, as he got off to a miserable start. It became easy to compare him to other recent OF free agent signings by Sandy Alderson. While De Aza struggled, we started comparing him to John Mayberry Jr. and Chris Young. Here’s how those three guys Mets’ careers stacked up after the end of June:
ADA – .158/.216/.232 in 103 PA
JMJ – .164/.227/.318 in 119 PA
CY — .205/.283/.346 in 287 PA
It seemed inevitable that De Aza would suffer the same fate as the other two guys – by getting his release. The only question was when it would happen. After all, he had a worse mark in each of the triple slash lines and cutting him would have very little financial impact after half of the season was already gone.
Yet, De Aza had a few things going for him. One was that Michael Conforto was performing horribly, too, and the Mets could send him to the minors and not risk losing him. The other was that there was no OF on the 40-man roster who was a righty hitter. Well, that’s not exactly true. Ty Kelly is essentially an OF and he’s on the 40-man but he did not impress in his earlier stint, posting a .148 AVG before being returned to the minors the third week in June.
So, De Aza got a little more rope, as the Mets examined their trade options and whether they could stomach adding Travis Taijeron and his 99 Ks in 284 ABs in Triple-A to the MLB roster.
But then a funny thing happened. De Aza actually started to get on base. It started with a PH walk on the first of the month. Then he went 1-2 with a walk on July 2 and followed up with a successful pinch hitting appearance three days later. He got another start on the ninth and went 2-3 with a walk. July ended with another two-hit, one walk game. In 22 games – six starts – in July, De Aza posted a .375/.500/.531 slash line.
Perhaps even more amazingly was how he looked in the field. De Aza got brief playing time in center field early in the season and most fans were thrilled he didn’t have to play there very much. He looked lost in CF and the idea of him playing there on a consistent basis was almost frightening. But with Lagares on the DL and Cespedes needing to be, suddenly there was playing time available in center. With De Aza hitting, he got playing time there. And he looked much better, with Keith Hernandez going so far as saying he was good out there.
With Conforto still not resembling the guy we saw in 2015, De Aza should continue getting a lot of playing time, at least until Cespedes returns from the DL. And good for him.
Throughout all that has happened, De Aza has appeared to be a good guy. He easily could have complained to the press about how this wasn’t what he signed up for and he could have sulked when he got off to such a horrible start. Instead, he came across as a team-first guy. It’s nice to see those guys have success.
And it’s not like we didn’t see a turnaround like this happen recently. Or at least heard about it. After his awful stint with the Mets, Young was picked up by the Yankees and in 79 PA put up a .282/.354/.521 line. But Young can’t say he didn’t get a shot at playing time while he was in Queens. De Aza put up his miserable line while struggling to get any sort of consistent ABs.
The jury is still out on whether or not De Aza can salvage his season with a strong second half push. For the year he’s barely above the Mendoza Line with a .206 AVG and he checks in with a dismal .608 OPS. But the fact that in August we can see a way where he could come close to being worth his contract is something none of us saw coming.
De Aza was always a stop gap option. The idea was that he would keep the seat warm for Brandon Nimmo, or a more high-profile free agent. And De Aza was hoping to use a strong 2016 to get a long-term contract somewhere else. At the time it was a win-win deal. Now, it’s hard to imagine De Aza getting that big payday. It’s much more likely that the remainder of 2016 will be the difference for him getting an MLB deal compared to an NRI. But that’s still a big incentive to finish strong and complete this redemption story.
And, just because we can, here’s StatCast video of De Aza’s catch from the other night when he covered 69.2 feet and made a diving grab.
deAza will probably be on a MLB roster, and he’ll probably Hit his Baseball Card in 2017. He’s a decent ballplayer…seems to be a good guy dealing with a really bad personal situation with lack of ab’s/consistent play.
He’s a nice 4th or 5th OF’er…spot starter….PH…. as the 4th/5th LH OF Bat, he’s lost.
The problem was never De Aza in isolation. As a platoon partner (he can’t hit LHP at all), he’s proven himself to be a decent player. The issue was one of “fit.” The Mets had two lefty-swinging corner outfielders — a situation that begged for a righty-swinging complement.
In a different situation, he’d help a team. But not the Mets. It was a wasted roster spot that, if filled by someone else, might have assisted in helping the Mets win games.
Also: The Mets started the season w/ Eric Campbell on the roster. They tried to fill the slot on the cheap, then stopped trying altogether.
In a way, I admire your persistence in ignoring the fact that he wasn’t brought in to be a corner OF.
A month later when Cespedes re-signed, everything changed.
I have been clear and consistent: Once they signed Cespedes, he was useless, and there were still other needs.
I think Sandy failed to act. “Oh well,” seems to have been his response. As you’ve stated, you don’t feel there were any options available to him. I disagree.
A free agent can’t be traded without his consent until mid June. Has there ever been a free agent making as much as De Aza who was traded before June? I’m not saying there hasn’t been — I’m saying if it has happened, it’s extremely rare. Has a free agent making as much as De Aza been cut before the season started? I don’t know, but I’d be very, very surprised. And even if other teams have done that, it’s just not the M.O. of the Wilpons.
You act like Alderson had unlimited options and I don’t see that as being the case at all. And once the June deadline passed, De Aza had zero trade value.
Essentially, Alderson had two options — carry six outfielders or live with the fact that Cespedes and Lagares were his only 2 RH OFers.
I feared de Aza would be a disaster in CF defensively on a team that already is ridiculously bad with the leather. Instead he has been adequate out there. He’s no Lagares but he plays center about as well as Cespedes.
I was among the many who did not like the signing and he probably will not be a net plus for the one year deal but he could come close to being a break even signing.
It was unlikely that someone wouldn’t try “their own cheap fix” before trading for deAza Early on….and he had no value at the deadline. Releasing him and adding a legit RH Bat may have made sense…. or finding someone with a uniquely identitifiable RH bat is the same pinch. I can see why he was unmarketable.
It’s also likely that deAza would have jumped at the opportunity to be traded…this was DOA for him as soon as Cespee signed. He signed a decent contract with a very good shot at playing and building value… a really bad outcome for him.
DeAza was signed because Alderson did not want to commit to a multiyear contract for Span, Fowler or Parra. Span was coming off an injury so there was increased risk. Fowler would have cost a compensatory draft pick and Parra was not a consistent offensive player. Span and Fowler did not want to platoon and probably would not have signed with the Mets. Signing any of the three would effectively block Lagares and eventually Nimmo. DeAza was signed to buy time to see what kind of 2016 Lagares would have. Could Lagares bounce back to his 2014 season? It also left the 2017 door open for Nimmo. The Cespedes signing has changed that. Cespedes is a game changer, on a short term contract which if he opts out of still would leave the Mets with Lagares/Nimmo or Conforto in 2017.