The Mets face the potential departure of a big portion of their MLB position players after the season, as Joel Sherman of the New York Post writes. But the organization still hopes to fill many holes without going outside the organization. “I don’t think we will have to sign five free agents,” says assistant GM John Ricco. “Some of the answers will come from within, and I think between now and July we will get a better idea of what we have and what we need.” It’s certainly possible to imagine veteran Jose Reyes playing any number of roles this year and beyond; per Ricco, the team is confident that it would be able to work out a new deal to keep him if there’s a sensible role available.
Here’s more from the NL East:
- Phillies righty Aaron Nola showed well in his spring debut, representing a notable step in his recovery from an elbow injury, as Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com reports. Nola, 23, showed good velocity and looked sharp, though perhaps that was to be expected. The big question for Nola and the Phils is whether his arm can stay healthy for the full season to come.
- Speaking of the Nola clan, older brother Austin Nola is attempting to convert into a catcher with the Marlins, as Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald reports. Nola, 27, has never really hit much in the minors and struggled to a .261/.308/.376 batting line last year over 407 Triple-A plate appearances. Nevertheless, he was given a 40-man roster spot as he makes the transition to a new position.
- Star Nationals hurler Stephen Strasburg will make his own spring debut tomorrow, as Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com reports on Twitter. He says he’s feeling healthy after missing the end of the 2016 season with a forearm strain. As ever, Strasburg’s health will be a key factor for the Nats in 2017.
- It seems the Braves are leaning toward carrying eight relievers to open the year, as Mark Bowman of MLB.com reports. Roster considerations could be at least a partial consideration, as Atlanta has several out-of-options relievers to consider. Going with a four-man bench would likely leave Kurt Suzuki, Jace Peterson, and Chase d’Arnaud on the roster with Emilio Bonifacio battling with Micah Johnson for the final spot, Bowman writes.
I hate reading Joel Sherman on the Mets – he’s such a hater.
Rosario and Smith are top 100 prospects who finished 2016 at AA. They should both start 2018 in MLB. Combine them with Flores and Cabrera, both controllable, and you have an IF. Reyes as supersub means that any of them can rest and be well replaced.
Cespedes and Conforto in the corners, with Lagares and Nimmo platooning in CF. Not bad, huh?
Yes, d’Arnaud is a question. But most teams don’t have Yadi or Posey, and still get by. Rivera would stay if he gets a fair deal, multi-year.
Yes, we’ll need a veteran 8th inning guy, like Blanton. Or maybe a Greg Holland or Neftali Felix type. Or Rodney or Tomo or Joe Smith. But there are never guys like that available, right, Joel Sherman??
Why hate on him for being realistic? Conforto(unproven),Lagares(please),and another unproven Nimmo. First Base,Third and Catcher???
Sorry- it how is Conforto unproven? Had a very solid rookie season, but two home runs in a WS game, had a fantastic start last year and then slumped (sophomore slump).
.270/.335/.506 in his rookie year (56 games) and .220/310./.414 (109 games) is what makes him unproven. Even in 2015 he only had 1 hot month in August where he hit .317/.405/.604. That is what makes him unproven. He might be a guy who hits 25 HR and bats .280 or he might be a 4th OF
bigkempin some will drone on about a short time in 2015 all year.
And some will drone on about the bad things instead of the positives- all the time.
You’re probably one of the guys who says Schwarber is totally proven on the other hand.
he said he’s unproven, because he is. That’s not droning on about negatives, it’s being realistic. You should really give it a shot.
Non sequitur on Schwarber.
I don’t even fault Conforto for his so-called sophomore slump. That’s on the Mets who planted the seeds of that themselves by deciding to use him in strict platoon since calling him up in 2015. Despite the fact that he never had any issues with LHPs in college or minors. Worst developmental organization in the game when it comes to position players – no clear 2nd over the past 25 years.
During his sophomore slump year he had an OPS in April that was over 1100. Even while being jerked around by coming out for pinch hitters (against most lefties out of the pen) or defense before he got more than 3 ABs.. Then the Mets decided they’d finally let him face a starting LHP (and they picked Bumgarner to break him in, 0-5, like most of his righty hitting teammates). That was followed by a period of half a month where they faced an unusual number of LHP, and he sat and sat and never recovered really. Every AB against LHP was against specialists, often after coming in as a pitch hitter to face a righty. He lost his familiarity and confidence against LHPs (thanks to his own team). Then they send him down he hits against everyone, but when they call him back up he doesn’t play at all. Nimmo got more action.
Now they’re about to send him back down to the minors (you can “undevelop” a player by keeping him the minors too long as easily as not enough – the Mets do both – I’m sure
Lagares (please) put up a 5+ WAR two seasons ago. If he’s healthy he’s a very valuable player.
Conforto has slightly less than one full major league season under his belt, 478 AB.
He has posted an OPS of .767, and OPS+ of 105, and compiled a 2.5 WAR.
He just turned 24 yesterday, he’s still a baby. Dude can play, the chances of him being a very good starting corner OF are far greater than him flaming out and becoming a bench player.
They have a lot of really solid position prospects on the way, they’re going to be fine. Their AAA infield, (Dominic Smith, Gavin Cecchini, Amed Rosario) is going to have 3 legit young prospects who are more than ready to make the jump.
They have become a tremendous organization in terms of player development.
Is that a joke? They haven’t developed a high end position player (or even medium end) in well over a decade. Not one. Conforto was a can’t miss, and they’re in the process of “un-developing” him into a potential miss. 24 is not young for any position prospect, particularly one picked 10th in the draft, In fact it’s a little long in the tooth for any “prospect” other than a mediocre one. By 25 you’re well into what is usually a player’s 4-5 years. If they screw him up again this year, he’ll just be getting a chance at that age.
While I agree with you that Conforto is unproven he has at least a solid yet small track record of success vs RHP in his major league career, He posted a 117WRC+ vs RHP last year for example which is good but not great. I think he deserves major league playing time and it’s unfortunate the Mets really can’t give him that this year with all their OF options.
While that lineup you are describing is really not good, I think the take away is that they have that in place without making a single move, and most of those guys are real cheap. So it would be easy enough to add another bat (probably in the IF) and still have enough to start locking down the pitching.
That proposed Braves’ bench squad sure looks mediocre. Doesn’t befit any team that hopes to contend.
Yep. the stupid 8-man bullpen strikes again.
Braves and their few fans will be very disappointed this year and years to come.
No we won’t. Probably finish higher than the Middling Mets
lol if you think the Braves will finish ahead of the Mets this year… you better not take your paycheck to Vegas.
The Mets are going to be really good in the coming years.
The Braves will be too, although they might need one more year.
Braves won’t be as good as they think in the coming years.
LOL – Love the Mets/Braves rivalry. Mets are supposed to have the Super Rotation…if only they can keep them healthy. Wright wishes Howard was still playing in the NL East because he is now the worst contract in the division until Stanton goes down (again).
Hope we can find our Thor/deGrom, but NYM needs to find their offense and hope it’s in the pipeline. Rosario looks like a stud glove and Dominic Smith can provide some glimmer, but you’re going to need Conforto and Nimmo rounding out and Cespedes finding the fountain of youth to be able to compete for years.
Yeah we can be just as disappointed as Mets fans.
Eventually, you want to take a bet on the next ten years, Braves vs Mets wins, didn’t think so. You are just jealous of Amrrica’s Team
Sherman is a secret Yankee fan all you have to do is read his comments about Yankee prospects they are all future hall of fame players and all Mets prospects will be lucky to make it to the majors
Lol, and this post wins the silliest post of the day award!
Sherman a Yankee fan?
Lol
Stoppppppp
billysbballz pretty funny huh
Sherman’s right about the facts…but they have depth to replace players for injuries this year and Top 100 position players to cover other major holes.
I wonder whose fans are more delusional: The Mets’ fans about their position players, or the Braves’ fans about their pitching assets? Thoughts, anyone?
braves fans for sure
Braves fans. Do you remember how many of them were insisting that Teheran is an ace and was worth something like moncada?
Do I think he was worth Moncada? Probably not, however in this market that had an absolute dearth of available high end arms, I absolutely would have demanded Moncada in a deal for Teheran. Would I have demanded the other big pieces they sent for Sale, nope. But it would have taken atleast one huge piece.
Its supply and demand. Just look at ebay every year around Christmas and see what happens when all the stores sell out of the hottest 40 dollar kids toy. They hit ebay and sell for 200 dollars. The braves had that hot toy that was not available on the market, they listed him on an auction site for 5 times its retail value, and unfortunately no one bid. Which is fine, as the braves really had no drive or reason to really trade him unless someone got desperate.
chesterarthur is just a classic troll and knows very little about baseball in general. His opinions backed by his made up fake stats are incredibly annoying and need to stop. I’m with atlbraves2010 here. With the market as it was and the true lack of desire the braves had to trade him, it makes sense why we asked an outrageous price for him. If you’re gonna let go of something you don’t want to let go of, you better make it well worth it. That’s what the braves did.
In my opinion, I think a deal with Moncada and Teheran is very reasonable. You’re trading an all star for a guy who hasn’t proven anything yet. and might never prove anything.
Oh chesterarthur, it’s all about perspective. Do you go onto TB pages and haggle with them about their demands for getting Archer for a king’s ransom? We can argue that he’s not until we’re blue in the face with you submitting relevant FiP stats and I’ll try my best to argue it’s not an accurate gauge of performance, but we both know the price is determined by what the current team values him at more than the total player value. If Newcomb and Fried looked like studs right now, I could see them exploring a trade to maximize value, but that’s not where we’re at. We have 3 guys in our rotation over 30 and 2 over 40 with all of them gone in the next 2 years. We better hope our prospects have turned into players by then or we’re going to have to overpay for starting pitching. Even with our budget expanding, I don’t see that happening.
For the 1,900,073rd time, it’s not that Teheran is an ace, but that he’s Atlanta’s ace. To pry him from Atlanta’s rotation it would have taken a haul. It’s not that that’s what his value is, it’s just what it would have taken to get him out of Atlanta.
Until the Mets actually do something worthwhile, their fans need to sit back and be quiet while the injuries pile up.
Nobody requires a haul being the best among a collection of lousy or mediocre. Teheran being a good pitcher, who’s young and controllable on a cheap contract is what should’ve required him to get something good.
Now I agree with some that it’s not insane to hold onto Teheran when the Braves have an incredible farm system coming up, I do think Teheran’s value is probably at a peak right now and given how volatile pitchers in the Majors.
Admittedly, probably us Braves fans. But the beauty is, we have enough depth that we can be more wrong than right and still have studs turn out. We’re not relying too heavily on Sean Newcomb or Max Fried. Our future rotation will be the likes of Allard, Anderson, Wentz, Soroka, Weigel, Touissaint, etc. unless Fried/Newcomb prove otherwise. I have a lot of hope in Fried, but Newcombe is looking less likely with every start. Wouldn’t be surprised to see him as a lefty RP in another year (damage control).
I think most of what you’re saying is right. Fried, so long as he stays healthy, will be big. I’m starting to lose a little hope in Newcomb… Really hope he can tap that potential though. He’s still young and has time. As for predicting the future, I think it’s hard to say for sure if those high school arms will reach their potential. Allard, Soroka, Weigel, and Touissaint do look strong though. Unfortunately a couple more years until we really know.
“I don’t think we will have to sign five free agents,” says assistant GM John Ricco.
Translation: They’ll continue to act like a small to middle market team, Probably best. They don’t spend much on major league scouting, and are always looking for a cadillac for the price of a chevy, Bad formula in major league free agency. Usually end up with neither, just a pile of junk (e.g., Jason Bay).
Rosario and Smith are still prospects, nothing more, and should be called up when they’re ready; unless we want to “undevelop” two more young guys because ownership sees them as a cheap alternative. If Conforto goes to a good organization, he’d be going into this year as a top 25 hitter. Now, he likely won’t have a spot unless the Wilpon’s change course and agree to pay some of Bruce’s salary. There’s a reason these clowns haven’t brought a high quality position player through the system since David Wright. Murphy developed himself through years in the majors, and only as a hitter and really only when he about to walk out the door. Like almost all Met prospects, he was promoted without a position and gaps in his offensive profile.
Why is rio Ruiz not in consideration for the braves bench
because I think he will still be an everyday player down the road, and making him a bench guy may help the team right now, it would slow his growth and development significantly. So I think the question you need to ask yourself is what is more important, having a decent bench guy now, or a potential high upside everyday player down the road?