The Mets are known to be interested in adding a left-handed bat that can at the very least serve as a platoon partner for right-handed-hitting Juan Lagares, and ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick reports that they’re interested in Denard Span, Will Venable and Alejandro De Aza to fill that void. Span has been connected to the Mets multiple times in the past, and the reportedly plans to meet with his camp in January. Venable and De Aza, however, have not been connected to the Mets beyond speculation, to this point. (De Aza, in fact, has scarcely been mentioned on the rumor circuit in connection to any club this winter.)
Crasnick hears that Span is the “preferred choice,” but questions about his health and agent Scott Boras’ stated desire to land a multi-year deal for his client are complicating that picture right now. Newsday’s Marc Carig did report fairly recently that the Mets aren’t closed off to the idea of giving Span multiple years, though I’d imagine they’ll need to see him prove his health in next month’s showcase for that scenario to play out. Span missed much of the season with lingering issues from sports hernia/core muscle surgery last offseason and ended up having hip surgery this offseason as well.
When healthy, Span has proven to be a quality player on both sides of the ball. Over the past four seasons (one in Minnesota and three in D.C.), Span has batted a combined .290/.344/.402, averaging six homers and 27 steals per 162 games played. Of course, a concussion back in 2012 and this past season’s injuries have limited him to an average of 122 games per season in that time. Defensive metrics have traditionally been bullish on Span, though his UZR and DRS grades this season dipped significantly as he battled through injuries over the course of the season. It strikes me as unlikely that Span would be on board with a straight platoon; though his numbers are better against right-handed pitching, he’s still posted a respectable .274/.351/.364 batting line against lefties in his career (though he’s struggled against them a bit more in 2013 and 2015).
Venable and De Aza, on the other hand, are more familiar with platoon work. Venable is a career .256/.324/.422 hitter against righties and has had his bottom-line numbers suppressed, somewhat, by calling Petco Park his home stadium for nearly all of his career. (Of course, New York’s Citi Field isn’t exactly a hitters’ paradise in its own right.) Venable has drawn positive marks in center over the course of his career, though he’ll play next season at age 33 and isn’t a premium defender in the first place, so something like league-average or even slightly below-average defensive work is probably a more realistic expectation than plus glovework.
De Aza, 32 in April, is a somewhat similar tale. His lifetime .274/.338/.418 line against righties is solid, if unspectacular, and his recent work in center field hasn’t been viewed favorably through the lens of DRS and UZR. (He also hasn’t played center with any sort of regularity since 2013, when he posted a -18 DRS mark.) De Aza, though, was more productive at the plate in 2015 than Venable, hitting .278/.351/.448 against right-handed pitching. I’d imagine that either Venable or De Aza could be had on a one-year deal or perhaps a two-year deal with a lower annual value — something like $10-13MM in total, as we’ve seen from Rajai Davis, Nate McLouth, David Murphy and, most recently, Chris B. Young.
It’s also worth noting that Crasnick gets the sense (Twitter link) that the Mets aren’t particularly enamored with Gerardo Parra. New York may believe that Parra’s defense has slipped in recent years, per Crasnick, and he’s also seeking a multi-year deal worth more than the Mets are comfortable paying. Parra, reportedly, has received three-year offers and is hoping a club will push to a fourth guaranteed season on a deal. If that’s the case, it does seem more likely that it’d come from a club that planned on utilizing him in an outfield corner as opposed to in center field.
De Aza and Veneble are not getting anywhere near 13M. They should offer both of them a one year 5M contract and take the one that responds first.
Aoki barely got 5m (5.5m) and he’s 2x the player of either De Aza, or Venable. de Aza put up all of his numbers over a 1 month period last year, July and part of August after getting DFA’d by the O’s and Venable was terrible last year.
Those names mentioned but not one mention of cespedes. Wonder what his market is looking like these days
Love the names the mets go after. Mean while there are gold glovers and all stars and mvp candidates out there for the taking. I know that comes with more money. But we all saw how the first half of last year went, are we really dumb enough to go through that again with no big outfield bat. Give me cespedes. Have him man center for two years then slide him over when grandy is done. Makes to much sense. We won’t be able to afford our starters when it’s time for them to be free agents, so u might as well go all in now.
The lineup pre July also included Mayberry, Campbell, Muno, and Tejada getting regular PA. The current roster is much improved from that.
They already made one of the best OF additions they possibly could when they brought up Conforto and now will give him a full year. They don’t really have a corner opening, and there aren’t any superstar CF on the market. Span and Fowler are as good as it gets, and Fowler may not be a CF anymore.
Yes, I definitely have to agree with you, and also let us not forget that they will have Travis d’Arnaud, who should be healthy to start the season.
When their line-up was really slumping, I believe, d’Arnaud was out of the line-up along with David Wright…Add back in those two, along with Conforto, Asdrubal Cabrera, and Neil Walker and you should have a much better line-up than they had during their Offensive drought last season.
Projected Lineup:
Curtis Granderson
Michael Conforto
David Wright
Lucas Duda
Neil Walker
Travis d’Arnaud
Asdrubal Cabrera
Denard Span
Some valuable projected Bench Pieces/ guys who should receive some regular at-bats.
Back-Up Catcher: Kevin Plawecki
Back-Up CF/OF: Juan Lagares
Then they have a plethora of capable bench pieces to backup the infield, along with versatile guys already in the line-up…
Asdrubal Cabrera can play 2B, SS, or 3B
David Wright can play 3B or 1B
Travis d’Arnaud can play C or 1B
Span, Conforto, and Grandy can play all OF spots in a pinch
Neil Walker can play just about everywhere
Also Lagares can play all OF spots
Then they have some versatile young to fairly young infielders like:
Matt Reynolds
Wilmer Flores
Ruben Tejada
Dilson Herrera
And a fairly young, 25 year old, CF/OF in Darrell Ceciliani, who struggled, in only 68 at-bats, when he got his first taste of the majors, but he did sustain quite a bit of success last season in AAA hitting to the tune of .345/.398/.581…So, there is still some promise in his bat, and he did have a combined 6 OF assists last season, for what that is worth to you.
So, the point of this comment is the Mets line-up from the top to the bottom is full of guys who can get hits, steal some bags, drive in runs, take walks, and there are several guys who play smart baseball and who typically make quality-situational outs, when the time and opportunity comes.
This line-up might not be full of 20-30 HR capable hitters, but you do have 5-6 guys that are capable of hitting around 15-20 HR’s, and driving in around 60-70 guys in.
Yes, the departure of Murphy will ultimately hurt, but I believe, if this line-up can stay healthy, that in itself will pay major dividends. Also, do not discount having Conforto for a full-season, nor the additions of Asdrubal Cabrera and Neil Walker.
I believe Neil Walker will come to New York rejuvinated, and looking to have a career year. Ultimately, I think he will put up a triple slash of something around: .275-.280/.340-.345/.435-.445
If, he can put up that stat line, or something similar, then I really do not think that Daniel Murphy’s bat will be missed all that much, if at all…Except, maybe in the post-season, but I don’t even think Daniel Murphy thinks he could repeat that again, even if you gave him the next three seasons to try…I doubt, COMBINED, he would even hit 7 HR’s again, much less sustain a .338 average against the best pitching the NL has to offer.
All in all, with this line-up, and especially their starting 5, Harvey, Syndergaard, DeGrom, Matz, and Colon, and maybe even starting 6 when Wheeler gets healthy, I do not see any reason the Mets should not make it back to, at the VERY LEAST, the NLCS.
The only challenges, they may possibly face, standing in their way of another NLCS/World Series appearance will be staying healthy and their bullpen, or unless they face a really tough team in the NLDS like the Cubs, and they cannot repeat their pitching dominance again…which I doubt honestly..
But their bullpen will once again be highlighted by closer, Jeurys Familia, shutting the door in the 9th. The set-up spots are what kind of makes me hesitate for a moment. These spots should belong to Addison Reed and Jerry Blevins. Make absolutely no mistakes, Reed was lights out, during the regular season, after joining the Mets last year, but will he be able to sustain that level of success or will he revert back to how he was pitching with the D-Backs before the trade??
Then you also have Jerry Blevins, who comes with his own question marks. If he can prove to be healthy, then he should be an excellent left-handed compliment to Reed before the ball gets turned over to Familia in the 9th.
Before Blevins and Reed, really all I see are possibly two possible bright spots, and they are both lefties in Sean Gilmartin and Josh Edgin….Gilmartin proved effective as a lefty out of the New York bullpen, but he could also be a possible candidate for long relief, as he was a starter for most of his minor league career in Atlanta.
Josh Edgin’s health should be the only question mark holding him back, from what should be a reliable left-handed option out of the bullpen, again IF HEALTHY!!
Other then those five pitchers mentioned, which two have health concerns, and one has some concerns over consistency, then all I am seeing is maybe starter turned pen man in Logan Verrett and possibly Rafael Montero, should the Mets choose to use him even as a pen option.
Verrett, had an unsuccessful brief stint as a bullpen option for the Rangers, at the beginning of 2015, but once he came over to the Mets, he became fairly dependable and became a fairly solid option as a 7th inning guy.
Montero, is viewed predominantly as a starter, but with 5 starters already in the mix, and Wheeler eventually coming back healthy, it remains plausible that Montero could get the start as another option for either long bullpen appearances and spot starts, or as a 7th inning option. So far, albeit in a very small sample size, Montero has shown mixed results in the majors, but there is no questioning the 25 year old’s talent, because it is there, and his 9.1 K’s per 9 average, in the big leagues, proves he has the talent to get guys out.
So, like I said, the pen is still a question mark for me, but the lineup, on the other hand is not as concerning. Also, if I missed anyone, you all please be sure to let me know….After all, I am a Braves fan, so that remains very likely I did overlook or forget someone competing for the Mets pen.
For a Braves fan, you certainly seem to have a very good grasp on things. You seem to have a better handle on it than the average Met fan. The only thing I would add/modify here is a little in regards to the IF.
David Wright doesn’t have any experience at 1b to speak of, but there has been talk of moving him over there since the diagnosis. It’s affected his throwing motion, so they have talked about moving him so there are no more throws. The position is full at the moment so barring an injury, I doubt it happens this year.
Once Cuddyer retired and it was clear that Murphy was not coming back, the 40 man roster was left without anyone who was really able to handle 1b. The plan is to play Flores at 1b against the tough lefties, so Flores should be seeing quite a bit of time at 1b this year if all goes well.
Otherwise, that is a rather superb analysis, and the fact that it’s coming from a non-Mets fan is even more impressive. I would have added a few different details here and there to emphasize some things differently, but the meat of the analysis will get no argument from me.
The Mets will live or die this year on their young pitching, they have too many one way players.
What “one-way” players do they have? I’m not even sure what that means.
Good offense, poor defense, or vice versa, teams like the Cubs, Pirates, and Cards have positon players that are good all around players.
Other than Lagares, whom do you have in mind? Doesn’t strike me the Mets have any of that kind of player.
You’re so right. Fowler, Soler and Schwarber were such great defenders last year in that outfield. I mean, just look at how many huge plays they made in the NLCS. Without their defense, they probably would’ve gotten swept in that series. Don’t forget Russell’s incredible two-way play. We all know about his sparkling defense but no one realizes just how brilliant he was offensively last year. Same with Castro!
Let’s not forget the Cards and their two-way stalwarts. Matt Adams, Matt Holliday, Stephen Piscotty, Brandon Moss, Yadi. All great players on both sides of the ball. And that Jason Heyward cat, he’s a pretty good Card too.
I mean, stats would clearly prove you wrong but stats are st00pid and you clearly have an opinion.
Zack Wheeler for Brett Gardener.
That’s a good trade for both teams, but it would never happen, any move by the Mets won’t happen until the deadline.
If they wanted a 3-4 WAR LF that could play a below average CF for stretches, making 13+ mil, why wouldn’t they just sign Cespedes and keep Wheeler and use him either in the rotation or to acquire something that isn’t presently available for nothing more than cash?
Of the three, I’ll take DeAza. Just think it’s a better fit.
As a White Sox fan…lemme just say:
De Aza is awful.
De aza sucks
They should sign Parra and maybe pick up another right handed outfield bat for depth to maybe have a platoon, they clearly aren’t going to do anything big in the FA market so a platoon seems more likely, seems to me they are going to depend on their young pitching because the only decent bat they have in my eyes is Conforto because Duda and granderson are streaky, wright can’t stay healthy, darnaud is hit or miss and they lost Murphy that doesn’t leave them with much
Do not forget they added Neil Walker…He has been a consistently, sneaky good, under the radar player for the Pirates the past several seasons…
Also, they did add Asdrubal Cabrera as well, but, truthfully, I’m not expecting too much from him, aside from maybe providing some quality at-bats, and some timely hits here and there.
I completely forgot About walker lol but yeah Cabrera isn’t going to hit for a high average, I’m thinking a parra/Raburn platoon would make some sense if they go that way, if the decide to sign someone bigger then I say get Cespedes or gordon
Deal with the loss of the pick and sign Dexter Fowler. Among other issues the Mets don’t really have a high OBP leadoff type. Fowler, though far from a perfect player, can do that. And they can put Lagares in for D if they want, late in games.
The team is building around defense and trying to improve that. Fowler takes that several steps backwards, inserts him into a much larger outfield in the process, and requires a draft pick to do so The Mets are looking for a platoon partner for their CF. Why would you give up your first round draft pick to sign a platoon player?
Mets have long pockets and short arms. Same ole crap
Ugh. The Wilponzis should just move the team to Nebraska.
The mets should get Ryan Raburn and then either Denard Span or Gerrardo Parra .
Or they should try and trade for Nick Markakis
None of these scrubs will do nothing noticeable for the mets. Pathetic…just go with lagares if your not going to make the right move in signing Cespedes. So stupid to waste these young pitchers without giving them supporting bats
Span is perfect for what they are planning. Venable ill pass. And de aza shouldnt even have been discussed.
Span, rayburn and a reliever.
Span would be a better choice. However, looks like they’re going for De Aza.
Wilpons don’t care about putting a winning team on the field….as long as they steal our money to line their pockets they are happy