The New York Mets first acquisition of 2024 was another one to add depth. They signed outfielder Harrison Bader to a one-year, $10.5 million contract.
Bader will provide more depth in the outfield and can play center field. His strengths are his defense and speed. Bader has played most of his games at center field and has won a Gold Glove back in 2017 with the St. Louis Cardinals. Last year, Bader stole 20 bases in 23 attempts, and so he will provide speed on the basepaths.
On the other hand, Bader won’t be expected to have much of an impact at the plate. In 98 games last season with the New York Yankees and the Cincinnati Reds, Bader hit .232 with seven home runs and 40 RBIs. Although he did come up big in his playoff run with the Yankees in 2022, hitting five home runs and slugging .833 in nine games.
Bader may not have a major impact, but he will help in various ways, especially with his defense. He will provide much needed outfield defense and it allows Brandon Nimmo to play more in the corner outfields, where he’s more suited at. With his defense and speed, Bader can be useful late in games, coming in as a defensive replacement in the outfield or as a pinch runner on the basepaths.
Bader is also a native New Yorker, having grown up in Bronxville, and has experience playing in New York, having played for the Yankees in 2022 and 2023. So he has enough familiarity with NY and the pressures of playing there.
Finally, if the Mets reach the postseason in 2024, Bader has shown that he’s a proven playoff contributor with what he showed in 2022.
$10 million for a guy that has been hurt and borderline replacement level the past two seasons. I certainly am in the wrong line of work.
My hope was that they were going to sign Michael Taylor for this role but if Bader commanded $10.5 million, Taylor was likely going to be an AAV of $15 million or more. I would have preferred the Mets to have spent the money for Taylor.
I get the emphasis on defense. But it would be nice to get a guy who you felt confident would be above the Galvis Line.
This signing should bring the 40-man roster count to 39.
I don’t know that he plays every day. His offensive numbers against lefties is actually very good. And we don’t know how much his health affected his hitting these past two seasons. Last but not least, let’s remember that the Mets’ new manager knows this player and might have some good ideas of his own on how to best use Bader.
Before the 2014 season, I did a 10-year study of games started by Mets outfielders. Here are the numbers:
OF#1 – 135 game
OF#2 – 98 games
OF#3 – 80 games
OF#4 – 59 games
OF#5 – 39 games
Here’s how it worked for the 2023 Mets:
145 – Nimmo
82 – Marte
57 – McNeil
52 – Canha
52 – Pham
Pham had 50 starts after the trade. If he had gotten those with the Mets, their #2 OF would have had 102 starts, right in line with that 10-year average. The idea that the 2024 Mets (or just about any team) are going to have 3 OF who make 140 or more starts is just not realistic.
I understand what you’re saying, and I applaud the work you put into that. That wasn’t my point, however. I was addressing your concern about Bader not hitting above the Galvis line: I believe Bader will platoon, not start every day. Bader’s OPS against lefties was .936 last year and .824 for his career. Stewart could get the starts on other days, with Bader as the late inning PR or defensive replacement. That mixing-and-matching could provide an offensive output that is at least adequate, or even good. A straight platoon between Stewart and Bader creates a defensively short-coming in too many games, IMO. So using Taylor as a regular part of that rotation ought to be part of the equation, too.
Personally, I’m not sold on Stewart’s late season surge last year, and question whether he can sustain it. If not, he is little more than a 5th OF or quad-A player. But he did perform well against RHers, so we should at least give him the opportunity to prove it one way or the other.
Just to spell out what I thought was obvious – I never considered Bader a full-time player and as far as being a great platoon option, it’s a small sample issue where he’s had as many seasons with less-than-great results versus LHP as he’s had good ones. A .640 OPS in 2019, a .765 in 2021, a .562 in 2022.
Last year was the first time he had good success versus lefties without running a super-high BABIP. And will he be able to match last year’s XBH production (.276 ISO vs LHP) while playing half his games in Citi Field? Lifetime, Bader has a .250/.280/.375 line in 50 PA at Citi, not exactly a ringing endorsement for his power with a .125 ISO.
At the end of the day, everything is a small sample and this signing certainly could work out from an offensive POV. Clearly Stearns is prioritizing defense and with Houser, Lucchesi, Megill and Quintana all with sub-8.0 K/9 rates and potentially combining for 90 starts, defense is going to be important.
Didn’t realize just how good a defender Bader was. At least by OAA he was the #1 OF by a fair amount. Run prevention is a good thing and on a 1 yr contract he doesn’t block Gilbert or Jett Williams. If he can stay healthy that is. He’s also good for 30 stolen bases if he can get on base. If Marte has a bounce back year, and you squint, you can start to see an OF with some power, speed, and elite defense in all 3 spots. Nimmo is almost a power bat now if you move him to LF which I imagine they will do quite a lot.
Boom, Bader has stolen 77 bases in 635 big league games, is extremely injury prone, had a lifetime OBP of .310, is barely above the Galvis line, and will be 30 in the 2024 season. I dig the optimism, and I’m rooting for him, but this is about as Wilponish as it gets.
It’s not an exciting signing but it isn’t long term and it perceivably makes the team better so I’ll say it was a “good” one. Now that the outfield is tied down, the Mets really should get at least one more solid starter for their rotation and a player who more legitimately fits a setup role for the bullpen before they do anything else.
I don’t know where I sit on the Justin Turner and JD Martinez issue because the Met’s current DH remains some amalgamation of Mark Vientos, DJ, Stewart and Tyrone Taylor (not ideal) but looking at their age and the Mets history of having productive players fade into obscurity I don’t like it.
Its pretty clear by now that the Mets aren’t really diving into the deep end year, They’re just dipping their toes in, or maybe wading in slowly as the start of a two- or three-year plan. With that being the case, I’m OK with a Vientos/Stewart DH platoon if they decide to start Bader every day. Or maybe its time to let Vientos hit every day and platoon Stewart/Bader in the OF.
And yes, a starter and solid set-up man are needed if they want to avoid having a miserable season.
Tyrone Taylor , carreer 102 OPS+, is a better than average leftfielder but he hasn’t gotten the opportunity to play much. Bader has a career .667 OPS vs RHP. Taylor has a .742 OPS vs RHP even though he is a right-handed batter. Taylor has a .752 vs LHP. Obviously he can it both ways. Bader’s $10m contract will unjustly influence both player’s playing time.
I was merely addressing Dave’s concern about getting the kids enough at bats. But OK: I’m aware of Taylor’s numbers and agree that he ought to get more of a chance this season. And I still think he will. Bader and Marte both have health issues. Bader does not hit right-handers at all. Stewart does not hit lefties, and is sub-par defensively. When Stewart does play the field, he will be replaced in the late innings. Ultimately, I see more of a 4-way rotation between the two OF spots, with extra ABs being picked up at DH, late innings, and of course, injuries.
Bader’s splits last season were insane, like .500 OPS vs. RHP. Crushed LHP.
Great glove, good speed.
Used correctly, a decent depth piece.
Unfortunately, I think they gave him $10 million (!) because he’s the new CFer/Placeholder.
The good news is he’s injury-prone.
They really are hoping for Williams & Gilbert to come fast.
The splits are a significant factor that everyone else seems to be overlooking. Bader can now platoon with Stewart, who doesn’t hit lefties at all, with Nimmo flip-flopping between LF and CF.
Sort of like Ruf and Vogelbach?
Ouch!
Harrison Bader is an elite defensive centerfielder. He can hit LHP very well. He is the offense hole in the lineup when he faces RHP (about 70% of the time). For that reason I wouldn’t have sign him a $10m. There were better options.
Hate it. Overpay for a defense-first platoon against LHP when they have Nimmo in CF and need a power bat. If they spent that on Bader, I’d rather see Teoscar Hernandez for more dollars/years.
Soler,Hernández,Martinez, Hoskins might be the power bat at DH.
Let’s call him a better level bench player who can bring more to the table. We could use his D and stolen bases. $10 million isn’t considered so much anymore. We need starting pitching. It’s plain and simple. They need to fix that.
Did not like the signing but didn’t hate it either. I get Bader’s positives and certainly understand his negatives. It did occur to me that Mendoza knows him and had to feel he was worth it. Again, showing 2024 to be a transition year that even MLBTR has noted it. With the Mets making so many one year signings, they are either disenchanted with the market or just plugging holes for one year. David Stearns seems to be “saving his pennies for someday”, to use a line from Billy Joel. At this point, getting under the cap isn’t happening, so let’s see what plan B is.
I hope that Bader can surprise us in a good way. If he gets to play a full season, which he never has, maybe he can put up a .245 15 home run, 70 RBI 30 stolen base season. I could live with that.
Yup, I think he can do that—and with great fielding in CF!
I’m sure he’s a great guy and it was a fun few weeks last summer, but I would be very surprised if DJ Stewart is still on the Mets roster come ST. To have any chance at all this year, they will need to add a legit threat at DH, most likely either Soler or JDM.
Adding one of those guys to the roster means they will need to clear the space. I suppose the other option would be to move on from Vientos, but unless they can get a solid younger SP type in return, I think that is less likely than parting with a 30-year old former top prospect that never lived up to the hype.
I just wanted to thank you all for the analysis. It’s been very insightful to me. This is clearly the best Mets site and I appreciate y’all.