New York Mets: What needs to happen to win big in 2020

Third Base

With the fundamentally sound Jeff McNeil penciled in to be the everyday third baseman in 2020, all I will say here is that we need The Flying Squirrel to stay healthy for the entire season. If he does, I do see good things in his future, including an All-Star appearance and possibly a gold glove.

One other item for the hot corner, is I do hope that J.D. Davis continues to practice and improve his defense at third base.

When McNeil eventually takes over at second base in the future, Davis can step into the everyday third base role. I think with some hard work and more experience he can make himself a serviceable player at third base.

Outfield

At this current moment, it does look like we will go into the 2020 season with a four-man outfield rotation of J.D. Davis, Brandon Nimmo, Jake Marisnick, and Michael Conforto. I’ll get to that other guy shortly.

Personally, I do believe this rotation will succeed and if Nimmo can stay healthy for the entire season and continue getting on-base at a .400 clip, I do see this outfield mix being extremely productive offensively and good enough defensively with the addition of Marisnick. We do still need a fifth outfielder, and as I mentioned in my low-end free agent article, I do recommend the Mets to bring in a Billy Hamilton type to not only give us another plus defender in the outfield, but also someone who can pinch-run and steal a base at will.

The one problem I do possibly see, has to do with an amateur rancher who had an incident with a wild boar. Yes, the worst thing that could happen to this 2020 outfield mix is for Yoenis Cespedes to start taking at-bats away from core guys Davis and Nimmo. After proving that he didn’t care to try and live up to his $29,000,000 per year contract and made the bad decision to partake in activities that would hinder his recovery from the injured list, he should NOT be given the chance to mess up the 2020 outfield rotation.

Now with his contract being reduced (personally I would have voided it), I believe Cespedes should be sent back to his ranch to sit out the season, or traded to another team for a bag of baseballs to be cancer in another team’s clubhouse. Yes, I have heard many Mets fans tell me since he is playing for a new contract he will be motivated and productive, but keep in mind that the Mets still play in the National League that doesn’t use the DH, and he will still have to play the outfield on two broken wheels. I think Cespedes is now officially a DH only type of player.