Luis Guillorme has been the ultimate bargain in 2022

Thanks to Steve Cohen, the New York Mets never have to feel like they are shopping from the bargain bin again. A quick look at their payroll, and the mega contracts handed to the likes of Francisco Lindor and Max Scherzer are great indicators of the new spending habit the Mets will have. This is a great sign for the team, as it will allow them to compete with the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees of the world. Despite their newfound open wallet, the Mets can still lay claim to having the best bargain contract in all of baseball on their roster. He’s got the best beard in baseball, the best hands on the Mets, and an uncanny ability to catch flying bats.

Luis Guillorme, once only really memorable for those smooth hands that caught a flying bat during a spring training game, has developed himself into one of the finest reserve infielders in the MLB. Defensively, the writing has always been on the wall for Guillorme, who has been donned with the nickname “Los Manos” or “The Hands”. It was the ability to hit consistently in the big leagues that avoided him. Even this season he went hitless in his first seven games, and he shaved his trademark beard in attempt to reverse his luck at the plate. Little did anyone know that shaving would be the spark for his breakout season with the big league roster.

Currently, Guillorme is posting a 1.7 WAR thanks to his consistent hitting at the plate, and Gold-Glove level defense. This mark has outpaced even his highest season projection from ZIPS, which pegged him to have a 1.0 WAR before this season began. Keep those numbers in mind when you realize that he is earning $875,000 this season, which is only $175,000 more than the minimum salary for an MLB player. It is difficult to put a value on a WAR point, but FanGraphs does a great job trying to nail down the average players were paid this offseason per WAR point according to their WAR projection.

According to their numbers, players projected to earn a 0-2 WAR were paid an average of $6.5 million per WAR point. For context, players projected to have a 2+ WAR were paid an average of $8.5 per WAR point. Getting back to our bearded-bargain, it is pretty evident that the Mets are not only receiving production above the level that many expected out of him, but paying much less than average to receive that production. Based on the above math Guillorme’s season to date based on his WAR has been worth $11,050,000, $10.2 million more than what he’s currently being paid.

Do what you will with those numbers, but Guillorme has been worth more than his current contract based on eye tests alone. Outside of his opening season slump and a recent stretch where he was battling a cut on his hand, Guillorme has been one of the unheralded reasons that this team has taken on the identity of a scrappy bunch that wins in the big moments. He stepped up this past week in Atlanta when Jeff McNeil was away from the team on paternity leave. In a series where the Mets could have lost their division lead to the Braves, Guillorme performed valiantly, slashing a .400 with three RBIs and a home run. Despite how hard I tried in the last paragraph, it is hard to put a dollar value on a player that can step up and help win you a series when its unexpected.

Most World Series-caliber teams are built from a collection of a few star players mixed in with solid contributors. The Mets have their stars, be it Scherzer, Lindor, or Pete Alonso. They added contributors this offseason as well. What no one expected however was the rise of Guillorme as a player, especially at the clip he has produced at. Guillorme has gone from being the man known for having a big beard and great hand-eye coordination to a solid contributor who can hit and field at a high level, and just happens to have a great beard. There’s no telling where this season will go, but if the Mets make a deep run to the postseason Guillorme will have left his mark on this team. One thing is for certain, if Guillorme performs in the second half the way he did in the first, he will be making more in 2023 than his 2022 salary of $850,000.

Guillorme is making $850,000 this season
So far, his WAR is at 1.7
Guillorme has outpaced his highest pre-season projection of 1.0.