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Jeff McNeil

Jeff McNeil Removed On Cart After Collision

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3:54pm: McNeil has been diagnosed a bone contusion, manager Luis Rojas told reporters after the game (Twitter link via The Athletic’s Tim Britton). He’s not expected to require a trip to the injured list. He’ll be evaluated again tomorrow before any final decisions are made, though.

2:45pm: Initial X-rays on McNeil’s knee have come back negative, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweets. However, McNeil will still undergo an MRI for further evaluation.

12:27pm: Mets utilityman extraordinaire Jeff McNeil was carted off of the field after suffering an apparent leg injury in today’s game. He crashed into the outfield wall after making a sensational running catch.

Needless to say, there’s no indication at this point of the seriousness of the injury. McNeil attempted to leave on his own power but ultimately required additional medical attention. Any lasting absence for McNeil, of course, would be a brutal blow to an already reeling Mets club. He hasn’t shown the pop that he displayed in 2019 or even in 2018, but McNeil entered play hitting .293/.358/.362 through his first 67 trips to the plate in 2020.

The Mets have already lost Noah Syndergaard for the season due to Tommy John surgery, while Marcus Stroman has opted out of the 2020 campaign citing health and safety concerns. Also on the injured list for the Mets are Robinson Cano, Jed Lowrie, Jake Marisnick, Eduardo Nunez, Rene Rivera and Michael Wacha.

Mets Place Robinson Cano On Injured List, Activate Billy Hamilton

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10:41pm: Cano will be on the shelf “until at least mid-August,” DiComo tweets.

6:15pm: The Mets have placed second baseman Robinson Cano on the 10-day injured list due to a Grade 2 left adductor strain and selected the contract of Billy Hamilton, who’ll be on the bench for tonight’s game (Twitter links via Anthony DiComo of MLB.com). DiComo adds that Jeff McNeil (intercostal strain) and Amed Rosario (quad tightness) are both day-to-day.

There’s no telling just how long Cano will be sidelined at this point, but any type of Grade 2 strain (as opposed to a more mild Grade 1 strain) is cause for concern regarding an extended absence. His injury is particularly unfortunate for the Mets given that the 37-year-old had gotten out to a blistering start. In his first 39 plate appearances, Cano was hitting at a torrid .412/.462/.559 clip with a homer and two doubles. While it’s inevitable that he’d have cooled off to some extent, Cano also ranked among the game’s best in terms of hard-hit rate and average exit velocity, and his swinging-strike rate was among the lowest in MLB.

Despite the addition of the designated hitter in the National League, Cano has been the team’s primary second baseman. Yoenis Cespedes had been serving as the regular designated hitter, but he opted out of the remainder of the season over the weekend. With Cano, Jed Lowrie and Jeff McNeil all on the injured list, regular second-base duties for the Mets seem likeliest to fall to top prospect Andres Gimenez and veteran Brian Dozier, who inked a minor league deal late in Summer Camp and was selected to the Mets’ roster last week. Dozier is batting sixth in tonight’s lineup against lefty Patrick Corbin, but the makings of a natural platoon with the left-handed-hitting Gimenez are present. Of course, that’s contingent on Rosario returning to the lineup; Gimenez and Dozier could each draw regular starts as double play partners while Rosario is out.

As for Hamilton, he was acquired over the weekend in a trade that sent recently outrighted reliever Jordan Humphreys to the Giants. He’ll jump right onto the Mets’ big league roster and provide some speed and elite glovework off the bench. Brandon Nimmo is still lined up for everyday work in center, and he’ll be flanked by J.D. Davis and Michael Conforto to begin most games. Hamilton’s role is perhaps the same role the Mets envisioned for offseason acquisition Jake Marisnick, but he’s currently on the injured list with a hamstring strain.

Mets’ Infield Dealing With Injuries

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The Mets are suddenly dealing with a few notable injuries in their infield, Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News was among those to report. Second baseman Robinson Cano (left groin), shortstop Amed Rosario (left quad) and third baseman Jeff McNeil (lower back) are all battling some degree of “tightness,” per Thosar.

The severity of these injuries are unclear, but they’re the latest hits to an offense that saw outfielder Yoenis Cespedes opt out of the season Sunday. Cespedes got off to a subpar start this season, as has Rosario. On the other hand, Cano and McNeil have been great thus far. It’s especially encouraging in regards to Cano, who was a letdown a season ago, but not surprising in McNeil’s case. After all, he was one of the NL’s best position players last year.

The Mets entered the day at 3-7, so any further bad news for their lineup could make it even harder for the team to dig out of the hole it’s in at the one-sixth mark of the season. The Mets replaced their three lost starters with Brian Dozier, Andres Gimenez and Luis Guillorme on Monday.

Does Baseball Have Its Next Zobrist?

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You tend to hear talk of “The Next [insert player’s name]” involving guys whose careers change something about the way we think about a sport. It’s often the earth-shaking stars — Babe Ruth, Michael Jordan, Lawrence Taylor types. But not always.

In baseball, we’ve heard talk for years of “The Next Ben Zobrist” or “Team X’s Ben Zobrist.” It’s one of those things that you tended to understand when you heard it. Zobrist embodied something new and different: he was a high-end, star-level performer masquerading as a regular old utility guy. Moving around the diamond, featuring a plate-discipline-driven offensive skillset, and playing in Tampa Bay … it took some time for Zobrist to make it on the map. But once he finally got the recognition he deserved, he became the archetype of a new breed of player.

While the rest of the league caught on to the idea of moving guys around the diamond more liberally, we haven’t yet seen a single player match Zobrist as a Swiss Army knife that’s actually really good at all its functions over a sustained, multi-season span. Now, as Zobrist rides off into the sunset, Jeff McNeil of the Mets promises to change that …

The then-Devil Rays originally landed Zobrist from the Astros — in exchange for Aubrey Huff — way back in the early days of MLBTR (July of 2006). Some guy named Tim Dierkes wrote up the trade, characterizing Zobrist as a “solid but not spectacular shortstop prospect” of the sort who’s a “good guy to have around, gets on base, but not a star.”

Thankfully, Tim’s readers stuck with him despite that whiff. (I doubt I’ve had any of those, so … no need to go back and check, thanks.) In truth, the description was plenty fair at the time. It took a while for Zobrist to emerge.

Zobrist was a mess in his first two MLB seasons, putting up -1.7 rWAR and -1.9 fWAR cumulatively for the Tampa Bay organization. When the club dropped the devil from its name in 2008, Zobrist’s age-27 season, his angelic side emerged. He earned his way back for another shot and showed quite well in a 62-game run.

The next year opened with Zobrist as an obvious choice for the MLB roster. He ultimately emerged as an outright star … on paper, at least, while awaiting recognition … by turning in 599 plate appearances of .297/.405/.543 hitting with 27 home runs and nearly as many walks (91) as strikeouts (104). And he did so while appearing at every spot on the diamond aside from the battery (in addition to taking a turn at DH).

Like his forefather, McNeil was a legitimate but non-elite prospect when drafted. (The former went in the sixth round, the latter in the twelfth.) Neither player was hyped much on his way up the ladder; in both cases, they showed excellent plate discipline and polished hit tools … but little in the way of home run power.

The skillsets are rather similar, as are the timelines. Actually, having recently celebrated his 28th birthday, McNeil is a bit ahead of Zobrist’s curve. And his own versatility is proving equally useful to the Mets as Zobrist’s did to the Rays.

McNeil lined up mostly at second base when he was first called upon in 2018. He graded rather well there and could certainly have just been kept at the position for the long haul. But the Mets had other ideas. As they cooked up a surprising swap for Edwin Diaz, the Mets reportedly discussed McNeil with the Mariners. Fortunately for the New York org, it didn’t ultimately have to put him in. (Ill-conceived though the trade was, as we recently explored on YouTube, losing McNeil would’ve made it an even greater calamity.) But adding Robinson Cano meant bumping McNeil off of second base. He did have a lot of experience at the hot corner on the farm, but McNeil had spent very little time in the outfield. As it turned out, McNeil handled more 2019 frames on the grass than on the dirt, grading out as a capable defender no matter where he was thrown

While the glovework is what primarily spurs the comparison, there’s a lot connecting these two at the plate as well. McNeil is rather more dependent upon his ability to maintain a really lofty batting average to get on base. While he rarely strikes out, he’s not as handy at drawing walks as was Zobrist. But with a .321 batting average through 815 career plate appearances … so far, so good.

While McNeil had ramped up his power output in his breakout upper-minors showing in 2018 — thus forcing his way up in the midst of a busted Mets campaign — it was hard to know if it’d carry forward. He hit only three dingers in his first 63 games and 248 plate appearances in the majors. But McNeil launched 23 long balls in 567 trips to the dish in 2019, his first full big league campaign. That’s not an overly impressive tally in the streamlined-orb era, but it does suggest that McNeil can find a way to expand his contact skills into loft when the offensive environment supports that kind of approach. Zobrist never came within seven long balls of his first full-season tally, though that certainly didn’t stop him from producing a ton of value at the plate.

Why McNeil and not some other would-be Zobrists? Well, to this point, McNeil owns a 141 wRC+ at the plate — figures reminiscent of Zobrist’s monster early output. Whit Merrifield has perhaps the best claim, and he’s quite a good player in his own right. But he’s also a different beast — rather less bat (109 career wRC+) but with greater value on the bases. David Fletcher has versatility on his side, but he’s not even an average overall hitter over the same approximate span as McNeil. Likewise, Brock Holt doesn’t have a consistent record at the plate. Tommy Edman and Cavan Biggio each had early success, but neither has completed a full MLB season.

So … will the comparison hold? Zobrist took a bit of a step back at the plate in his second full MLB season but rebounded soon thereafter. And he continued to deliver multi-faceted value until he ran out of gas at the tail end. All said, Zobrist delivered 44.5 rWAR and 44.4 fWAR over this 14-year career.

McNeil has a long way to go to reach those levels of overall productivity. Statcast numbers suggest he was a bit fortunate last year, when he carried a .355 xwOBA and .385 wOBA. But even with a bit of a step back, we’d be looking at a high-quality offensive performer who (like Zobrist) contributes in the field and on the bases. Though McNeil is presently slated to line up at third base for the Mets, that could still evolve over time. Perhaps he’ll even end up reprising his ever-shifting 2019 role for certain seasons. Whether or not it’s ultimately utilized, that flexibility will help immensely when it comes to managing the roster during and between seasons.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Details On Mets’ Pursuit Of Mookie Betts

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Mookie Metts? It didn’t come to fruition, but the Mets did make an effort in December to acquire superstar outfielder Mookie Betts from Boston. The Red Sox ended up trading him to the Dodgers earlier this week.

One reason talks between the Mets and Red Sox broke down? The Mets weren’t open to moving infielder/outfielder Jeff McNeil for just a year of control over Betts, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports (they also wouldn’t give him to the Indians for shortstop Francisco Lindor). However, the Red Sox regarded McNeil as “integral” to a potential trade package, according to Sherman. Understandably, the Mets weren’t going to part with the versatile, inexpensive 27-year-old after he was one of the majors’ most effective offensive players from 2018-19.

While the Mets weren’t willing to surrender McNeil for Betts, they did offer packages centered on outfielder Brandon Nimmo and infielder/outfielder J.D. Davis (quality, affordable players in their own right), per Sherman. Those deals also would have included one of the Mets’ infield prospects in either Andres Gimenez or Ronny Mauricio, two top-100 farmhands. It seems the Mets, reluctant to absorb all of Betts’ $27MM salary, also would have tried to include one of their highly paid, unwanted veterans in outfielder Yoenis Cespedes or infielder Jed Lowrie in order to somewhat offset the money they’d have taken on had a deal with Boston gone through.

Considering that getting under the $208MM luxury-tax threshold was one of the main causes for the Red Sox’s decision to unload Betts (and left-hander David Price with him), adding Cespedes or Lowrie wouldn’t have been palatable for them. They wound up accepting the Dodgers’ offer of outfielder Alex Verdugo and two prospects – infielder Jeter Downs and catcher Connor Wong – saving a total of $75MM in the process.

Meanwhile, although the Mets went big-game hunting for Betts, their outfield appears as if it’ll enter 2020 with mostly the same cast. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, even though none of the team’s current options can rival Betts. However, to their credit, McNeil, Nimmo, Davis, Michael Conforto and Dominic Smith all had good seasons a year ago. It’s anyone’s guess what the Mets will get from Cespedes after injuries shelved him for the vast majority of the prior three seasons, but he’s back on a reduced salary and has always produced when healthy.

East Notes: McNeil, Voit, Givens

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While we wait to learn more about a possible earth-shaking swap from the AL East — participate in our poll while there’s still time! — let’s check in on a few other storylines from the game’s eastern divisions.

  • Mets utilityman Jeff McNeil anticipates settling in a bit in 2020, as Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News reports. It was largely evident just from looking at the New York roster situation, but McNeil confirms that he’s preparing to spend much of his time at the hot corner. “I think I’ll be playing a lot of third,” he said over the weekend. The 27-year-old says he’ll be a full go when camp opens. While a late-season wrist injury bothered him until late in 2019, McNeil says he’s over it now and has more or less had a normal offseason.
  • Speaking of winter recoveries, Yankees first baseman Luke Voit says he’s fitter than ever after undergoing core surgery, as George A. King III of the New York Post writes. That’s good news for him and for the club after Voit experienced a subpar, injury marred 2019 effort. He’ll need to prove in camp that he deserves a job. As King further explores, the club could lean on left-handed-hitting Mike Ford (perhaps in conjunction with Voit) and will also see how third baseman Miguel Andujar handles the other side of the infield.
  • It remains surprising that we haven’t heard more trade chatter this winter surrounding Orioles reliever Mychal Givens. That’s just fine with him. The 29-year-old says he’ll continue to “bleed black and orange” unless and until he is put into another uniform. With two full seasons to go until free agency, Givens is at the mercy of the team — except that his own performance is a major factor in his trade candidacy. Givens expressed optimism at his ability to bounce back from a rough showing last year; if he can do so, he could be a significant trade chip at the 2020 trade deadline. “Some great things have really been going on and are going to happen in the near future,” Givens says, “so hopefully I can stay here if I can. If not, it’s been a good road, but right now, like I said, I’m an Oriole.”

Latest On Francisco Lindor

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11:54pm: Jeff McNeil, the Mets’ terrific infielder/outfielder, is someone the Indians “repeatedly” asked about during the teams’ Lindor talks, Tim Healey of Newsday reports. Unsurprisingly, though, the Mets weren’t willing to deal McNeil.

10:16pm: It might not be long before we see the Indians part with their franchise player, shortstop Francisco Lindor. The Indians have informed clubs that have pursued Lindor that they want their “best and final offers so they can make an assessment over the weekend,” Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic writes (subscription link).

The Indians don’t have to give up the 26-year-old Lindor, who has two seasons’ control left, but his value’s surely sky-high right now. Plus, having traded right-hander and fellow franchise icon Corey Kluber to Texas last week, the small-market Indians could be moving toward a rebuild. The Indians’ roster still looks better than average even without Kluber, but considering they’re unlikely to extend Lindor before he’s slated to reach free agency in a couple years, management may decide to take the best possible offer now at the expense of their near-term chances.

So far this offseason, the Dodgers, Padres and Reds have been prominently connected to Lindor in the rumor mill. The Mets also showed interest in him, but they’ve drifted into the background because of Cleveland’s exorbitant asking price for Lindor, Rosenthal reports. Even though Lindor’s team control is fading and he’ll make a projected $16.7MM in 2020, it’s understandable the Indians are demanding a significant return for him. After all, he’s a four-time All-Star, one of the faces of baseball and someone who has slashed .288/.347/.493 with 130 home runs, 93 stolen bases and 27.2 fWAR since his career began in 2015.

AL East Notes: McNeil, Rays, Didi, Shapiro

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“The Rays were focused on” super-utilityman Jeff McNeil in trade talks with the Mets last offseason, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports.  McNeil’s multi-position ability and pre-arbitration salary status make him an ideal target for the Rays, making Sherman wonder if Tampa Bay could again target McNeil this winter, though the Mets’ asking price has surely gone up in the wake of McNeil’s outstanding 2019 season.  Sherman’s piece floats some potential trades to help the Mets address their center field need, including his speculative suggestion of a Kevin Kiermaier/Yonny Chirinos for McNeil swap.  The Rays would get their desired “low-cost Swiss Army Knife” of a player and also get Kiermaier’s contract off the books, with Chirinos involved to add a young arm to New York’s rotation and entice the Mets to swallow Kiermaier’s $36MM in remaining salary.  Sherman looks further within the AL East to cite the Red Sox as another possible trade partners for the center field-needy Mets, as Jackie Bradley Jr. could be available, or there’s always the “pipedream” of a one-for-one swap of Mookie Betts for Noah Syndergaard.

More from around the East…

  • The Yankees decided against issuing a one-year, $17.8MM qualifying offer to Didi Gregorius, leaving SNY.tv’s Andy Martino wondering if the shortstop’s days in the Bronx could be over.  One industry source describes the chances of Gregorius returning to New York in 2020 as “a very close call,” especially since Martino notes that Gregorius and his representatives believe they can find a multi-year deal in free agency.  Even after an injury-shortened down year, Gregorius is still the best shortstop option on the free agent market; MLBTR ranked him 12th on our list of the winter’s top 50 free agents and predicted he’d land a three-year, $42MM contract.  It’s worth noting that this deal would work out to less in average annual value than the one-year cost of the QO, so it isn’t out of the question that the Yankees could still try to bring back Gregorius for multiple years, though at a smaller hit to their 2020 luxury tax number.
  • Blue Jays president/CEO Mark Shapiro discussed Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s offseason training regiment, baseball labor relations, and some hot stove business amidst a variety of topics in a radio interview with The Fan 590’s Scott MacArthur, Ashley Docking, and Mike Zigomanis (audio link).  The Blue Jays are known to be looking for pitching this winter, with Shapiro saying “we’re going to have to be aggressive on every level of the free agent starting pitcher landscape.”  This could mean at least checking into the top-tier names on the pitching market, though given Shapiro also noted that “if you look at the history of free agent pitching contracts, it is a really, really, really high-risk area to play in.”  All things considered, the odds seem to be against Toronto landing an elite arm like Gerrit Cole at this point in their rebuilding process.  “Dollars are not going to be our challenge, which hasn’t always been the case,” Shapiro said.  “It’s going to be where we fit with Gerrit’s alignment of interests…same thing with every free agent we pursue.  What I am confident is, that throughout the free agency process we’ll be able to get better this winter, and we’ll have the resources to do it.”
  • There have been rumors about a possible extension between Shapiro and the Blue Jays since 2020 is the last year of the CEO’s deal, though he didn’t give any new details on that front.  Shapiro did reiterate his desire to stay in Toronto and “I’ve received nothing but positive feedback from the people that I report to about wanting me to remain here.”

Mets Activate Dominic Smith From 60-Day IL

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The Mets have activated first baseman/outfielder Dominic Smith from the 60-day injured list, as per a team announcement (via Twitter).  Jeff McNeil will take Smith’s spot on the 60-day IL, as McNeil suffered a fractured wrist in last night’s game.

After a stress reaction in his left foot put Smith out of action back on July 27, he has made it back in time to add a coda onto what has already been a successful 2019 campaign.  Smith has hit .278/.352/.506 with 10 homers over 196 plate appearances, with the bulk of that playing time coming against right-handed pitching.  While Smith was much more successful (.882 OPS) against righties, he also managed a pretty respectable .281/.343/.406 slash line in his 35 PA against southpaws, which is a promising sign for the 24-year-old’s chances at becoming an everyday player.

Formerly a top-100 prospect, Smith’s first two seasons in the majors saw him hit only .210/.259/.406 over 332 PA.  Smith faced criticisms about his conditioning (which he addressed last winter) and, with Pete Alonso on the rise as the Mets’ new first baseman of the future, there was speculation that New York could look to trade Smith since he seemingly didn’t have any other position on the diamond.  Instead, Smith saw a lot of time in left field this year, though defensive metrics (-24.1 UZR/150, minus-2 Defensive Runs Saved) weren’t impressed by work.

It isn’t out of the question that Smith could be put on the trade market again, now that he has somewhat revived his stock by showing that he can hit MLB pitching.  An American League team that can offer DH at-bats could be a better fit than a National League club like the Mets, plus New York also has a crowded corner outfield situation as it is.  That said, Smith is still controlled for the next four seasons and isn’t arbitration-eligible until after 2020, so the Mets could prefer to keep him around as an inexpensive and useful part-timer.

Jeff McNeil Diagnosed With Fractured Wrist

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Mets infielder/outfielder Jeff McNeil has been diagnosed with a fracture in his right wrist that was sustained when he was hit by a pitch in tonight’s game, the team announced (Twitter link via Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News). Specifically, McNeil has suffered a right distal ulnar fracture. That puts an end to his 2019 season — on the same night the Mets were mathematically eliminated from postseason contention by a Brewers victory.

It’s a sour note on which to finish an exceptional season for the 27-year-old McNeil, who hit .318/.384/.531 with 23 home runs, 37 doubles and a triple in his first full big league season. McNeil leads Mets regulars in batting average and on-base percentage, and only 12 qualified hitter in all of baseball have posted a lower strikeout rate than his minuscule 13.2 percent.

While it’s been a disastrous year for the Mets in some regards — Robinson Cano, Edwin Diaz and Jeurys Familia have all struggled; Jed Lowrie has taken seven plate appearances — McNeil and likely Rookie of the Year Pete Alonso have been among the club’s brightest spots. The position(s) at which McNeil is deployed in 2020 will depend somewhat on the team’s offseason maneuverings, but he’ll assuredly be in the lineup with regularity now that he’s cemented himself as a late-blooming building block in Queens. He’s seen action at second base, third base and in both outfield corners this season but could have a clearer path to regular reps at third base with Todd Frazier set to become a free agent. Then again, McNeil looked destined for regular second base work in 2019 before the Mets stunned the baseball world with the ill-fated Cano/Diaz blockbuster.

Regardless of where he lines up defensively, McNeil’s bat has proven to be among the most potent in the National League. Barring an offseason extension, he’ll continue to give the Mets an extreme bargain, playing out the 2020 campaign at scarcely more than the league minimum, given his standing as a pre-arbitration player. McNeil won’t even be eligible for arbitration until the completion of the 2021 season, and he’s under club control all the way through 2024.

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