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The worst position change in NY Mets history

There might not be a worse position change in Mets history than this one.
ByTim Boyle|
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Mar 2, 2018; Port St. Lucie, FL, USA; A view of a baseball glove that sits on the bench in the dugout prior to the spring training game between the New York Mets and the Washington Nationals at First Data Field. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-Imagn Images
Mar 2, 2018; Port St. Lucie, FL, USA; A view of a baseball glove that sits on the bench in the dugout prior to the spring training game between the New York Mets and the Washington Nationals at First Data Field. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-Imagn Images | Jasen Vinlove-Imagn Images

The 2026 New York Mets season will have a lot of discussion about position changes. Bo Bichette moving to third base. Jorge Polanco at first base. Brett Baty in right field, first base, and maybe somewhere else will regularly be a topic.

It’s nothing new to stick a guy at a new position he is relatively unfamiliar with or has never played before. Dominic Smith moving to left field back in 2021 is one of the most extreme examples that didn’t go too well. Todd Hundley to left field in 1998 was pretty awful, too.

Statistically, none seem to compare to what the Mets did in 1992. A beloved slugger for several seasons, defense was never a strong point of Howard Johnson. The longtime Mets third baseman and occasional shortstop moved to center field. The end results were terrifying.

How bad was Howard Johnson in center field for the 1992 Mets?

Outs Above Average is too new, but other defensive metrics are available. Baseball-Reference’s Rtot, which stands for Total Zone Total Fielding Runs Above Average, is a combination of several factors. It’s a fair enough assessment of a player’s defensive performance.

Johnson rated at -25 Rtot. His lowest at third base in any single season was -11.

For some side-by-side comparisons, was only at -5 in left field. Per 1200 innings, he’d measure out at -25. Johnson only played 713 innings in center field. His 1200 inning rating would come to -42.

Juan Soto gets a lot of flack for his defensive performance in 2025 for the Mets. The -10 Rtot again shows how significantly worse Johnson was as a defender.

The Mets took note of this. They moved him back to third base for the 1993 season where he played at his usual below-average standard yet not at a historically bad rate.

FanGraphs agrees with Baseball-Reference in terms of how poor the results were for HoJo. His -24.4 for them is second to only Rusty Staub in 1974. Johnson's year in 1992 might've been worse by different measures, though. His Rtot was at -18 with a -16 per 1200 innings (he played more than 1200 so it actually went down).

Johnson had already been steadily moving away from third base leading up to the 1992 season. Some time at shortstop and in the corner outfield in years prior, the wrong thing was to believe center field was the right call.

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