There’s a chance that Yankees infielder Neil Walker’s roster spot could soon be in jeopardy, George A. King III of the New York Post suggests. With third baseman Brandon Drury nearing a return from the disabled list and first baseman Greg Bird scheduled to come off the DL sometime next month, the Yankees could have an infield logjam which pushes someone out. That may prove to be Walker, even though he signed a $4MM deal with the Yankees in March. While Walker, 32, was previously a solid producer with the Pirates, Mets and Brewers, he has batted just .181/.231/.208 (16 wRC+) in his first 78 plate appearances as a Yankee. The fact that Walker didn’t have much of a spring training after going without a contract for several months has perhaps contributed to his sluggish start. Either way, he may need a significant uptick in production to stick on the roster if fellow infielders Drury, Bird, Didi Gregorius, Miguel Andujar, Gleyber Torres, Ronald Torreyes and Tyler Austin are all healthy in the near future. Of course, there’s recent precedent for the Yankees quickly cutting bait on a free-agent signing. It happened last June when the team designated slugger Chris Carter for assignment just a few months after guaranteeing him $3.5MM.
Now for the latest on the Yanks’ crosstown rivals…
- With Mets catchers Jose Lobaton and Tomas Nido having combined for six hits in 54 plate appearances, the club is at least considering outside options, general manager Sandy Alderson said Saturday (via Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News). “We continue to monitor the market, see what is available to us. At the same time we monitor Plawecki and his progress,” said Alderson, referring to starting catcher Kevin Plawecki, who went on the disabled list April 13 with a hairline fracture in his left hand. At approximately the same time, the Mets lost fellow backstop Travis d’Arnaud to a season-ending elbow injury, leaving them with Lobaton and Nido behind the plate. Alderson is content with the tandem’s defensive work, but it’s clear they’ve been a drag on the team’s offense. While potential trade candidates Wilson Ramos, Blake Swihart and Max Stassi have recently come up as possible targets for the Mets, Ackert hasn’t heard anything about specific backstops the team may be considering (Twitter link).
- The Mets have also gotten poor offensive production at first base, thanks largely to the struggles of low-cost free-agent pickup Adrian Gonzalez. The 35-year-old concluded his Dodgers tenure in 2017 with a nightmarish, injury-shortened showing, and he has been similarly woeful this season (.200/.296/.317 in 71 PAs). But Alderson doesn’t seem displeased with the signing, as Ackert relays in the same piece. “I think it’s played out reasonably well. If you look at some of the metrics we monitor, they are similar to his very productive years,” Alderson said. “So right now, we’re reasonably happy. I am sure he’d like to have a higher batting average and so would we. He’s had some big hits for us. What goes somewhat unrecognized, is on defense the confidence he gives the rest of the infielders over there. We’ll continue to see where this goes.” Despite Alderson’s public vote of confidence in Gonzalez, outfielder Jay Bruce could take over for him at first if his subpar production continues. Shifting Bruce to first would open up a spot in the outfield for the promising Brandon Nimmo, and it’s hard to argue the Mets are better with this version of Gonzalez in their lineup than him.
Walker is gone. Would’ve been nice if he was playing decent enough to be a trade asset but there really is no need for him at all if Austin keeps raking and Bird comes back
Giants could take a chance on Walker if he gets released. Panik injury and he’s probably better than Tomlinson.
They need to get rid of A-Gon. An outfield of Conforto, Cespedes, and Nimmo is too good to not utilize.
A gon is a first baseman and they’re only paying him 500k instead of like 17 mil
Moving Bruce to first makes that outfield their everyday one
Mets are built on pitching, right now the back of their rotation looks weak. The problem for them is that if the Nats, Phillies, and Braves are close at the deadline they will add players this year. These teams have better positions players moving forward.
Walker can even go to the orioles
If the Yankees release Walker, he’ll probably resign with the Mets since they’ll only have to pay him thr prorated minimum.
Why would they want him? They don’t need another infielder. If they did, they have Evans in AAA.
Why would the Mets want N.Walker???
“While Walker, 32, was previously a solid producer with the Pirates, Mets and Brewers, he has batted just .181/.231/.208 (16 wRC+) in his first 78 plate appearances as a Yankee. The fact that Walker didn’t have much of a spring training after going without a contract for several months has perhaps contributed to his sluggish start.”
I’ll repeat the same thing I said in your other article, Connor.
Walker was terrible in April of last season (.195 /.273 / .310) with a full spring.., I suspect better days are coming, problem is, he might not have enough time.
Thanks for your take!
Just ignore him Sheev. He feels compelled to comment on everything and particularly on topics of which he knows little.
Can someone please tell me where in that post I said anything that warranted such personal attacks.
It was probably the tone… But honestly it doesn’t help that the point is a stupid one. A bad start to the season is in no way a precursor of future success, even if a player has done it before.
DFA Adrian, please
The Yanks are on an 8 game winning streakwith the youngsters so Drury replaces a pitcher or Walker. It will be interesting to see what happens when Bird and Ellsbury get healthy.
First off, yes, I am a Red Sox fan.
I don’t understand the deal with Greg Bird and how he’s held the top spot on the Yankee’s first base depth chart for the better part of 3 seasons now! He’s 25 years old, has all 3 of his minor league options, and hasn’t put together a season with more than 400 PA’s since 2015. I’m not stating he doesn’t have a bright future, his home run numbers are incredible. What I am saying is that it may be wiser to option him as to not decrease the infield depth further (by presumably releasing Walker) and pause his service time as an added bonus. The Yankees could gain a year of service by opting to keep Bird at AAA for a few months (service time as of January 2.053).
Bird is MLB ready but the only thing that is holding him back is the injuries. Thats the main reason why they dont put him in AAA. Besides, Adam Lind is in AAA so if the worst were to happen (cutting Walker just for Bird to get injured) then they could just bring Lind up and one could possibly expect more production out of him than out of Walker.
Then again, I called the Walker signing unnecessary when he was first signed since he is just another old guy who doesnt produce more than the rookies he blocks so I might be a bit biased against him.
I know, and I was saying thanks!
So much for the “genius” signing in Walker everybody was clamoring about. Cant wait for Bird to arrive and they can cut Walker. Surprised he isnt in the 9 hole every night.
Bloody hell..if the Mets internal metrics are saying that A-Gon is playing similar ball to his productive years…no wonder the Mets continually suck.
You’re saying this after he had 5 RBIs today and they sit at 2nd in the entire NL…? I’m thinking they may know more than you.
Well said
Also saying this after the team signed Cuddyer and De Aza and let them pretend to be baseball players all year. Let’s not act like the Mets don’t have a history of clinging to bad players.
After todays offensive explosion, his season line sits at. 227/.312/.394.
And please don’t lean on RBIs heavily – Albert Pujols had 101 of them last year despite being arguably the worst position player in the league.
The game is leaving the Mets front office behind in a big way – looks like their fan base too.
Jose Bautista says hello.
Did you really expect the GM to publicly rip a well respected veteran like A-Gon? What’s he supposed to say?
I’d love to move Conforto to RF, and leave him there, with Nimmo/Laguras in CF.. Bruce, in that case, needs to play 1B. But until they give up on Gonzales and (for at least this season) Smith, hard to make the move. The bigger issue is C, where we never had anything and it’s gotten even worse.
I still think, should’ve signed Lucroy. Catcher was always a black hole on NYM. I suggested Lucroy to Mets earlier this off-season, but think got no response (crickets) cuz I think Mets’ fans are grateful Wilpons spent more than usual this off-season. So, I guess they felt spoiled, or was blasphemous, to ask Wilpons to sign another “high price” FA in Lucroy, who signed 1-year $6.5M
Anyway, good luck. You’re 1 of realest Met fans here, never fooled if Wilpons try put lipstick on a pig, and expect the best. respect that,