2 NY Mets free agents the team has already replaced, 1 more they should

The Mets replaced Harrison Bader with Jose Siri

Harrison Bader turned out to be a productive Mets free agent signing until it no longer was. Bought for one year at a somewhat steep price tag of $10.5 million, the second-half pivot of using Brandon Nimmo and Tyrone Taylor far more in center field signaled to everyone the Mets weren’t in the market for a Bader reunion in the offseason. He finished the year weakly as nothing more than a defensive replacement.

The November Mets trade which landed them Jose Siri has made a Bader reunion null and void. A great defender with some nice power and speed, Siri is a more boom or bust style of player than Bader. We kind of knew what we were getting out of Bader over the course of a season and he delivered. With Siri, there’s probably going to be a golden sombrero for every huge home run he hits.

Center field is hardly a fully secured position for the Mets. Is it going to be Siri, Taylor, or some combination of both? What does Nimmo’s health look like? When the heck are we going to get contributions from Drew Gilbert and in what capacity?

Siri, still in the arbitration phase of his career, won’t be the same financial commitment as Bader was last year. It’ll help the Mets stay within whatever budget they may have while hopefully getting enough wins with the all-or-nothing style of Siri as opposed to the some-or-a-little-more from Bader.