Mets Shortstop Battle: Andres Gimenez vs. Amed Rosario

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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – AUGUST 08: Amed Rosario #1 of the New York Mets in action against the Miami Marlins at Citi Field on August 08, 2020 in New York City. New York Mets defeated the Miami Marlins 8-4. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images) /

The New York Mets thought Amed Rosario was the answer at shortstop. In 2020, Andres Gimenez looks like a contender for the job.

Over the last few years, Amed Rosario has made significant strides in his development at the major league level. Coming into 2020, the New York Mets were hopeful that Rosario would continue to make strides towards improving all aspects of his game but so far that has not happened.

Through 58 at-bats Rosario has hit to a .207/.207/.310/.517 slash line. That is not good by any means. Rosario does not have a walk thus far and he seems to have regressed a little with his plate discipline, swinging at 42% of pitches outside of the strike zone, up from 38.1% in 2019.

Now to be fair Rosario did get injured about a week into the season and that is probably a contributing factor to his slow start. However, that opened the door at least initially for Andres Gimenez to fill in at shortstop. He performed quite well the few games he started for Rosario, impressing in all facets of the game.

With Rosario having been out with a stomach bug Gimenez has continued to get playing time and he has played so well he has now thrust himself into the National League Rookie of the Year conversation.

Through 46 at-bats Gimenez is hitting .286/.327/.388/.715 with two triples and five stolen bases. He has been a ball magnet in the field making some incredible defensive plays and turning fast double plays.

As Gimenez gets more playing time, one question keeps getting larger. When Rosario is back, and Robinson Cano is healthy what happens to Gimenez? At this point, Gimenez has to be playing every day and one could make the argument that Cano can DH but Dom Smith also needs to play most days if not every day. Things can get messy real fast.

NEW YORK, NY – APRIL 06: (NEW YORK DAILIES OUT) Ike Davis #29 of the New York Mets in action against the Cincinnati Reds at Citi Field on April 6, 2014 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. The Reds defeated the Mets 2-1. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images) /

Similar position battles of the recent past

Back in the 2013-time frame, the Mets had a similar situation at first base with Ike Davis and Lucas Duda. Both players were first basemen and needed to play every day. They were both tried at different positions, but that experiment failed and then-GM Sandy Alderson had a decision to make. Which one is his future first baseman?

We all know the outcome of that situation. The Mets traded Ike Davis to Pittsburg in 2014 and they went with Lucas Duda at first base until they traded him to Tampa Bay for Drew Smith in 2017.

The trade of Duda came primarily because the Mets had Dom Smith ready to be promoted to the big leagues and shortly after that, the Mets had another difficult decision to make.

That was the decision between Dom Smith and Pete Alonso for the full-time first base job. Both men were excellent players who were very different from each other but played the same position. Only one could play first at a time so Brodie Van Wagenen had to make a choice.

The outcome of this situation was a little bit different from the Davis and Duda one. Smith was able to learn left field and with the advent of the designated hitter in the National League in 2020, he now has two main positions to play as well as spelling Alonso every so often at first base.

Both of these are good models to use for this Gimenez vs. Rosario battle but how does it compare to the others and whose hand will be raised at the end of the fight?

WASHINGTON, DC – AUGUST 04: Andres Gimenez #60 of the New York Mets throws the ball to first base against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on August 4, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images) /

Who will the Mets choose at shortstop?

So where does this Gimenez and Rosario situation fall in regards to these two other situations?

This situation is much more complicated and intertwined than the others due to the roster being much deeper and there not being many positions available for one of them to learn and play full time.

For example, if the Mets move Gimenez to second and keep Rosario at short that creates a problem because Cano is currently the second baseman and if he becomes the DH then a place needs to be found for Smith and the outfield is full as of right now.

Similarly, if Gimenez becomes the shortstop then Rosario needs to be moved and the only real place for him in centerfield, which will not work either. If he goes to center, then Nimmo can go to a more natural corner spot but then Jeff McNeil would need to go to third and that leave J.D. Davis out in the cold.

No matter how you slice it as of right now there is no way to follow the Smith and Alonso model. That leaves Van Wagenen, or whoever replaces him when the team is sold, with two options.

The first being that it follows the Davis and Duda model and one of them gets traded most likely for a starting pitcher. I personally do not see that happening at this point because Gimenez is only been in the league for three weeks and he may cool down and end up being closer to a bench player than an everyday shortstop, especially with not much power.

The second option, being the more likely one, is that Rosario goes back to short when he is healthy, and Cano goes back to second when he returns from the Injured List. This means that Gimenez would go back to the role that he had the first week of the season where he is a late-inning defensive replacement at second base.

I personally believe that Rosario should earn his spot back from Gimenez. That would mean that Rosario would play short and Gimenez would play second until Cano is healthy. That is Rosario’s tryout. If he is still struggling at that point, then Gimenez goes back to short and Rosario becomes a bench player and re-evaluate in 2021.

Next. A disaster of a rotation this year but could 2021 be better?

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Just like the Davis-Duda and Smith-Alonso situations, I am happy that I am not the one making the decisions because at this point in time both are really young talented players and to give up on one by trading him seems like the wrong move but the house is getting crowded and sooner or later someone will have to be evicted.

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