Free agent Albert Almora Jr. is among the available center fielders on the Mets’ radar. The club has “looked at” him, Andy Martino of SNY reports.
The extent of the Mets’ interest in Almora isn’t clear, but it may not be thrilling news for fans of a team who are still holding out hope for a George Springer signing. Unlike Springer, one of the best hitters in baseball, Almora hasn’t shown much on offense since debuting with the Cubs in 2016. While Almora has posted six Defensive Runs Saved in center, he owns a much less appealing lifetime .271/.309/.398 mark and wRC+ of 85 in 1,316 plate appearances, and was especially subpar during the previous two seasons.
After Almora hit .167/.265/.200 over 34 PA in 2020, the Cubs non-tendered the 26-year-old in lieu of giving him a $1.575MM projected arbitration salary for 2021. In doing so, the Cubs gave up potential control over Almora through 2022, meaning any team that signs him could keep him for at least two years. He’s now part of a free-agent class that doesn’t feature many solutions in center beyond Springer and Jackie Bradley Jr.
As a Met, Almora could vie for the role of fourth outfielder behind Michael Conforto, Brandon Nimmo and Dominic Smith, but it seems too early to speculate on how the group will look with Springer still on the open market. Nevertheless, it’s worth noting that Almora has a connection to the Mets in new general manager Jared Porter, who was part of the Cubs’ front office for the first two seasons of the outfielder’s tenure in Chicago.
What a choice… do I want George Springer…. or Albert Almora????? Decisions, decisions….
Uh… coming from a Cubs fan… they’re not looking at him to start. He’s a 4th or 5th OF, which he will be just fine for
Exactly, a late inning defensive replacement and a start or two a week. Solid potential pickup. Although he has the Pirates written all over him.
Actually, it’s more like do they need Springer? They already have three outfielders who can hit very well.
If money were no issue, sure, you sign Springer. But with Conforto, Lindor, Syndergaard all needing long term contracts, a fourth outfielder like Almora or JBJ might be a better investment.
All true, but JBJ is gonna cost a lot more than Almora
Jbj is going to sign to be a starting CFer somewhere. Now I would be fine with him here, esp if we get the dh, and bring on Almora and marisnick as well. OF complete. Even if u sign Almora and marisnick to 2-3 CHEEEEEEEEEEEAP
2-3 yr deals that are cheap, would be a bad idea even if u let conforto walk for the pick.
I believe Scott Boras is Conforto’s agent. That alone makes me feel like MC will not be with the Mets long term. I expect the dollars and years Boras will ask for Conforto will be insane. If the Mets extend Lindor and Syndergaard, I think it’ll be even less likely, because Boras will ask for the moon for MC.
Problem is that their OF defense is unplayable. That’s why they need Springer.
How will they ever decide? Those 2 are literally neck and neck!!
That is a really, really good idea. I was thinking JBJ, but even he’s gonna go for 10 mil AAV. This is genius. Then they can round out their pen and then maybe another starter. It would be a good move.
Only in mlb can one play badly and still expect a rise.
Corporate America likes this.
Don’t be the guy that knows your stuff, meets deadlines, does commendable work. Be the guy that pops in late, has no clue how to do his job or even what it is, never meets deadlines, whose work always needs to be corrected by someone else. This guy has a future.
Day two on the job and the new guy thinks he should be the manager. What a crock.
The Mets “looked at” Almora. Did he look back?
That’s the real question.
youtube.com/watch?v=8BwldNjFUj8
He winked at me!
Don’t wink, kid.
Guarantee you the Blue Jays have as well, but no offer will be made. Only signing they’re gonna make will be Mark Shapiro. Pathetic!
This should not be much of a surprise. I guarantee that the Mets have “looked at” nearly every single center fielder in MLB.
“Team looks at obscure nobody player” articles are always the best.
artfay: Articles re Team X,Y,Z “are looking at…” give people who like to complain the perfect platform to do so.
Why are you even here
Cohen: mad genius, billionaire, made the Mets a legit threat…still refuses to pay luxury tax.
@purplehayes
You could always offer to pay it for him! If he goes to the max this year, he has to cut next year when Cano comes back and raises need to be paid. Lets see what the Mets have first, and what they really need.
@stymee I’m just poking fun at the fact that even big-talk, billionaire owners seem to stop at the tax threshold. It isn’t an insult to Cohen. I think the Mets had a tremendous offseason.
He isn’t stopping bc he is afraid to go over. He would go over if cano contract didn’t exist. He has to time it better so that when cano contract ends they don’t face the really bad consequences. And even then he said he would go over this year if he has too but it’s probably unlikely.
I think he’s being smart. But I also think he should tweet less.
Don’t worry. Mets fans will be paying for the luxury tax when/if Cohen goes over it. Then the average, working class guy will be stuck watching at home like so many other working class guys in so many other markets.
It’s funny to me that people think teams need to be “complete” at the start of the season.
There is literally no harm… very little harm… done letting things play out and then trade to round out your roster. The Mets have a good roster but they really need to add a real Center Fielder since aside from Lindor, they have a lot defensive question marks all around the diamond. Adding a guy like Bradley Jr. and Kolton Wong, IMO, would turn this team in a legitimate contender, then address the bullpen mid-season.
Bullpens are addressed mid season, preseason, alll year around. They’re constantly being tweaked. The Mets currently have a large pool of arms in their pen, but many of them are mediocre and there’s also a few question marks in there. I still wouldn’t mind seeing them sign it guy like Rosenthal, Hand, or Melancon. I’d prioritize that over CF. Go into spring training with a bunch of arms fighting it out for a spot in the pen
The Mets “prioritized” the bullpen in 2019 and how did that work out?
Relievers, IMO as a jaded Cub fan, are too fickle for me to invest heavily in. But even still, I would disregard spending top dollar on Hand or Rosenthal and give less money to Archie Bradley and have enough to improve my defense.
The Mets were negative 22 DRS last season… defense should be a priority. They got Lindor, and that is great but they dealt their best defender to get him. Nimmo is a BAD defender in CF… correction, he is an awful defender in CF. You cannot live with a guy who had a -5 DRS in only 308 innings. That equates to a -24 DRS in a 162 game season.
Right, acquiring a legit CFr and pushing Nimmo to LF is an absolute must
They can probably pick him up on a Minor League Deal as Insurance ….
Why Not?
He’s a good fit for the red Sox if he’s willing to sign a one year deal. Despite their narrative on re-signing JBJ, I doubt they are willing to pony up the cash for a 2 or 3 year term. Frankly, I don’t think he wants to come back. Marisnick will probably be on their radar.
Doesn’t mean a lot. Alderson yesterday on a podcast indicated that he was looking for a couple of outfielders. Feels they don’t have enough options/depth on the roster.
This doesn’t need to be considered bad. Maybe even get him on just a minor league deal. He’s not an everyday starter but a fourth of fifth outfielder is perfectly fine. If he hits manages to hit close to league average it’s a right handed bat of the bench which the Mets could need.
Dumpster diving Cohen!
Should I laugh now or wait till it’s get funny?
Springer will be the Mets starting CF.
I don’t think so. I think they’re done with the huge moves, but we’ll see.
Replace think with hoping lol. People are scared of Cohen around the league.
I’m not scared. I think the Mets made some great moves. I think they’ll be a great team for the next 5 years at least. But I couldn’t care less about what they do. I focused on my team’s moves or lack thereof.
@Dan Hunter
So Springer will be the Mets starting CF?
What happened to when you said that Starling Marte was being traded by the Pirates to the Mets? Did you give up on that? The Marlins can still trade Marte to the Pirates so they can trade him to the Mets.
I don’t know if I love your predictions more or @MetsFan22’s prediction more. Tough call.
I never said marte would be a Met lol. Stop making things up. The Mets don’t even need springer. He would be nice but I doubt we get him now that we got Lindor.. (a better player.)
Almora should sign the first (only) major-league contract he’s offered. I could see him being forced into a minor-league contract with a spring training invitation.
Almora is signing with the Orioles. Just watch
I think Alomara would be a good pick up. Maddon ruined a lot of these young guys in Chicago. Give him regular time and in a yr or two he will be close to LoCain
He was pretty much an everyday player in 2018 and was atrocious. Got tons of Ab in 2019 and was worse and in limited action 2020 he was abysmal. Not sure how Maddon ruined him.
Almora was doing okay until his foul ball hit that fan. Was absolutely horrible with the bat after that.
I Felt really bad for him. That was a horrible situation.
I was just thinking yesterday that Almora would fit well with Mets. Worth a shot, even if they get Springer. He could still develop some offense and he plays plus OF.
“Mets looked at Almora…” Good , but just keep looking thot…
I’ve looked at him as well, on the TV
For those who are staying awake at night worrying about going over the Luxury Tax, are you even sure there’s going to BE a Luxury Tax with a new CBA in 2021???? If you ARE sure, please call Manfred and Tony Clarke….they’re DYING to know.
FWIW (admittedly not much), I think Sandy & Co. are looking at Springer/JBJ/trade for KK (Rays eating money) in that order. Almora’s a 5th OF, but you really only have room for 4.
I’d be shocked if the owners agree to give up the CBT. They all want a hard cap but the players union won’t agree to that so they’ll do all they can to keep the CBT program in place.
5th outfielder, AAA depth. Very similar to Juan Lagares, but younger.
I am all for depth in positions but the Mets have so many big bat options for the outfield; Smith, Nimmo, Conforto, Davis, McNeil. Yet other than McNeil, all pretty poor defensively. Dom is possibly a top 50 player if he continues what he’s doing but without a DH in the NL, he’s either got to split time with Alsono at 1B, which he should be at anyways, or get his reps in LF. Which clogs up adding something like a Springer to the order.
They already added a HUGE offensively increase going from Rosario to Lindor, which is saying a lot as they led the league last year in OPS+.
Defense has always been an issue for the Mets. They ranked at the bottom of the league in Rdrs, Rtot and Rtot/yr.
Frankly with such a cluster of good bats for the outfield, they very well can possibly trade for a player instead. Which doesn’t have to be a CF but a pitcher of sorts and sign a defensive guy with some sort of offensive capabilities (so no, sorry Billy Hamilton, but anyone better at hitting that a pitcher would be nice).
You Mets fans are funny. Dom Smith had one good half season and now he’s a top 50 player? You guys make baseball fans laugh.
Not a Mets fan but let’s take a look at some stuff information as I see you probably made this comment off of a very poor look into the stats or are a Philly/Yankee type fan.
Smith blew up AA/AAA while being a top 100 prospect.
Between his 2019/2020 years combined: 139 games with a .299/.366/.571 OPS+ at 150.
Not a defensive player by any means but can play corner OF and 1B.
He’s only 25 years old.
Btw before you criticize comments be sure to understand nuances. Such as me saying “possibly a top 50 player” versus “IS a top 50 player”.
Don’t be clowning on a fanbase, that I’m not even apart of for that matter, if you are going to only provide such a baseless and lame comment as that.
Clap if you love dynamo
Nice response regarding Dom Smith. I would also add that Smith was a 1st Round Pick 11th overall in the 2013 draft. So he clearly had been scouted and he was well thought of.
In addition, it was just yesterday that Sandy Alderson indicated that Dom Smith is “going nowhere” when someone mentioned he might be moved. So baseball fans may be laughing but the people who should know a good ball player when they see one are not.
still waiting for your reply
Almora would be a nice pickup for the Mets. Excellent D and a plus runner on the basebaths. Not a burner, but won’t make bonehead decisions. He’s just not a very good hitter, nothing wrong with him as a 4th OF.
Absolutely. Finally logic.
Mets should sign Almora and Brantley and then flip D Smith or Nimmo for some bullpen help, if they miss out on Springer. Now if they get Springer, doesn’t really matter who they trade out of Nimmo, Conforto, Smith, if any of them.
Signing Almora and Brantley, then trading away Nimmo or Dom Smith for ‘bullpen help’ makes them a worse team, unless they get an amazing haul for either of them.
Adding Bradley would actually improve the Mets. The Mets are a poor defensive team and having Nimmo playing out of position doesn’t help them. He’s a good player, but he doesn’t help the team.
I would highly advise not signing Almora for anything other than a minor league deal. He is a talented enough player that it’s worth a risk but not worth a roster spot.
I would sign Bradley and Wong, giving them gold glove caliber defenders up the middle and call it an off-season. Maybe sign a decent but not ace reliever and worry about the making rounding out the roster mid-season via trade.
You don’t trade players of the caliber of Nimmo or Smith for “bullpen” help. You just don’t. That’s ridiculously underselling on big assets.
Somewhere there is a right handed hitting CF who fits somewhere between Springer and Almora.
Ramon Laureano? Starling Marte? Kevin Pillar?
Almora is Juan Lagares without the Gold Glove. If the Mets are going to skip Springer then go for JBJ or Pillar. If none of them than roll the dice on Nimmo or give Mallex Smith a chance since he’s already in camp (at least they’ll have they’re first real stolen base threat since young Jose Reyes)
Pillar cannot defend CF anymore. If you’re going to add a guy with a -DRS and a -dWAR then keep Nimmo in CF.
Translation – Springer, if you’re interested, time to get realistic.
Are people really sayin a high 800 to low 900 ops bat with cheap control isn’t good enough for a elite RP? lol as a Mets fan I’d be pissed if hader started with smith.
The Mets remind me of Baltimore when it comes to signing free agents
They should just sign Pillar and Bradley Jr. and platoon the two. Gives them improved defense in CF and is cheaper than Springer.
Would ya just look at em
Springer is going to be this year’s JD Martinez. He’s out there looking for a huge deal of $150M+ but he has priced himself out of the market. It sure seems like he’s destined to sign with Toronto on a 5/$115M or 5/$120M deal. The Mets are clearly out on him after Lindor, so who is left besides Toronto? I guess he could go back to Houston but I don’t think they have the cap space to pay him.
Toronto could front load the contract and offer him opt outs after Year 2, Year 3 & Year 4 to get the deal done.
mets WILL FINISH 4TH.