The Mets are a terrible defensive team. The execrable bullpen is a more overt culprit in explaining how a team with expectations could begin the holiday weekend with a better record than only one other NL club.
The bad glove work, though, has contributed to undermining the pitching. Statistically, the Mets were fourth worst in the majors in turning balls put into play into outs. Tacitly, there may be a cascading negativity. One member of the team told me he thought pitchers were impacted in pitch selection and how they attacked hitters because they were concerned in letting the ball be put in play.
Fangraphs has the Mets as the majors’ worst overall defensive team. The stats corroborate the eyeball test when it comes to this team and fielding.
And this is the problem that just might keep on giving. With their current group of players and contract commitments, the Mets will have a short-term difficult job transforming to even an average defense.
Just think about up the middle:
Wilson Ramos, one of the majors’ worst defensive catchers, is signed through next season, and already the team’s elite starters have indicated they want to pitch to the more sound backup, Tomas Nido.
Second baseman Robinson Cano is signed through 2023, and it is not just his offensive game that has dipped. A scout: “Cano is now one step either way. His range is really down. He is still sure-handed with a strong arm. But the range is just not there any longer.” And it is not like he could move to first, because Pete Alonso is there. And Cano’s presence has forced Jeff McNeil to the outfield, making two positions worse. And Cano turns 37 in October, so this is not getting better.
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Amed Rosario is the new Ruben Tejada — every season the Mets will say this is the key one to prove what kind of player he will be, and this exercise will go on for years. Rosario is still just 23. But the growth on both sides of the ball is coming begrudgingly, if at all. He is young enough and athletic enough to improve. But how long do the Mets wait for what might never come?
Was there a trade to be made with the Marlins with Rosario as a centerpiece to land J.T. Realmuto, which would have upgraded catcher? The Mets then could have signed a defensive-first, one-year stopgap such as Freddy Galvis or Jose Iglesias.
Or they could have tried Rosario in center, something with which they have toyed. I admit I am the last one off Juan Lagares island. I always thought — if healthy — he would hit enough to keep his great defense on the field. This season he has been healthy. But his defense has been down a grade and his offense has been unplayable. Among players with at least 150 plate appearances Lagares had the majors’ third worst OPS (.504). Keon Broxton — who the Mets brought in hoping he would defend and hit homers before they saw he was just a strikeout machine, prompting a trade to the Orioles — was second worst (.486).
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Solving center will not be easy. Teams such as the Cubs (Albert Almora), Padres (Manny Margot) and Cardinals (Harrison Bader) are having Mets-like troubles playing their defensively strong center fielders because the offense is so bad. All could be looking for upgrades this offseason, with no above-average center fielders projected to be free agents. Perhaps the most likely to be traded are Pittsburgh’s Starling Marte — who, like Cano, has a suspension for failing a PED test in his background — or Atlanta’s Ender Inciarte, whose offense had deteriorated this year before he went on the injured list with a bad back.
Plus, can the Mets even use major assets on a center fielder when they will be trying to find at-bats for corner outfielders McNeil, Yoenis Cespedes, Michael Conforto, Brandon Nimmo and Dom Smith. That assumes Cespedes returns. If he does, remember that he was an indifferent defender who made up for that to some degree with athleticism. That was three devastating ankle/heel surgeries ago. Can Nimmo return from his neck ailment?
If everyone is healthy, the Mets will be again shoehorning a non-center fielder such as Conforto or Nimmo into the spot, guaranteeing sub-par defensive results at a vital defensive position.
Part of this overall problem is the lingering impact of former general manager Sandy Alderson’s philosophy of prioritizing bats over gloves. But new GM Brodie Van Wagenen made bad worse. In free agency, he went a long way to try to land Yasmani Grandal, but not far enough, and Grandal and Realmuto have been among the majors’ best two-way catchers. Cano keeps a superior hitter/fielder in McNeil from playing his more natural position.
The Mets also might be losing their best current defender, Todd Frazier, in a trade this month or after the season in free agency. This should give the club impetus to experiment. J.D. Davis probably doesn’t have the defensive chops to play regularly at third, but the Mets should play him every day there to find out.
Rosario should be moved to center, just to see what it looks like. The Mets could always turn to someone such as Galvis as a shortstop stopgap for next year as they wait (and hope) for top prospect Andres Gimenez, who comes with a strong defensive reputation. And they simply can’t live with a catcher to whom their best starters do not want to pitch.
Would a rebuilding AL team take Ramos (owed $10.75 million after this season) as a catcher/DH for 2020 to get out of a larger contract — think Detroit’s Jordan Zimmermann (one year, $25 million) or Baltimore’s Alex Cobb (two years, $29 million) — either of whom, if healthy, could serve as the Mets’ fifth starter? Among other options, the Mets can try again with Grandal, who probably will opt out after this season.
Whomever the targets moving forward, the Mets simply can no longer punt on defense. They need to rewrite a better Glove Story.
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