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1 area where the Mets have gotten better, 1 where they got worse, 1 that has stayed the same
Where have the Mets gotten better and where have they come up short so far this winter?
The goal of every offseason should be to create a better team. But oftentimes it doesn’t feel like every weakness has improved. The New York Mets have certainly had a mix of reactions.
Think about it like a trip to the gym. It’s only January. You likely haven’t given up on your New Year’s Resolution of dropping some pounds yet. Not every session hits a muscle the way you’d like it to even if you did set some personal records. Your quads may be burning but your calves remain toothpicks.
Some parts of the Mets roster have already gotten a good pump. Others have atrophied. Then there are those stubborn muscles that have stayed the same. For the sake of not simply comparing the Mets to the end of 2023 roster with a club of Triple-A players, let’s use the overall 2023 look.
The Mets have gotten exceptionally better on defense
The Mets haven’t been shy about having a goal of saving runs in 2024. The Harrison Bader addition was the biggest splash in this area. Their trade with the Milwaukee Brewers that brought them Tyrone Taylor should also help fortify the defense as well.
On the bench alongside Taylor is infielder Joey Wendle whose defensive skills are what made him a worthwhile upgrade over Luis Guillorme. We should also anticipate the possibility of Tomas Nido replacing Omar Narvaez on the MLB roster once they find a taker.
The effect of the Bader signing helps improve the left field defense with Brandon Nimmo finding a new more regular position there. While there are questions about Starling Marte’s abilities in right field and third base couldn’t be more mysterious, the team has prioritized enough in the field to hopefully make up for any shortcomings they may have with the glove.
The now decade-long drought of a Mets player winning a Gold Glove may still continue, but individual awards aren’t the goal anyway. When it comes to defense, the Mets have undoubtedly bulked up.
The Mets bullpen has gotten worse
The end-of-season bullpen the Mets had in 2023 may have even been on-par with what we have right now. There’s no Adam Ottavino who, if he had opted into his deal, would’ve had many of us thinking more positively about this team’s relief corps. Instead, there’s a whole bunch of rebound candidates or guys coming off of injuries fighting for significant innings. Worst of all, many don’t even have minor league options available. What are the Mets doing?
Michael Tonkin was a solid enough addition for the Mets and at a $1 million price tag. Jorge Lopez, who had an All-Star run with the Baltimore Orioles in 2022 and then fell off a cliff with the Minnesota Twins after getting traded, feels like a “cross your fingers and hope for the best” kind of addition. Outside of that early part of the 2022 season, he hasn’t been all that great.
Many of the returning names who currently hold a roster spot bring their own questions. Edwin Diaz raises few doubts and even Brooks Raley showed we can have faith in him. What about Drew Smith who was much less himself in 2023? Sean Reid-Foley isn’t a major league reliever and neither is Phil Bickford.
Most difficult of all could be navigating a full season with a bullpen where few, if any, players are optional to the minor leagues. It takes far more than the Opening Day roster relievers to get through a season. Both in terms of talent and roster usage, the Mets bullpen is looking bad.
The Mets DH situation has stayed the same
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Unless the Mets surprise us and actually sign one of the free agent DH options out there—hey, they can trade for a guy too—we’re going to get another year beginning with a cheap platoon in the spot. Do they ever learn?
Since the DH came to the National League permanently in 2021, the Mets have missed the mark. The 2022 season began with a plan to rotate Robinson Cano, J.D. Davis, and Dominic Smith through regularly while giving at-bats to others as needed. None of those three lasted the season. We ended with the notorious Daniel Vogelbach platoon with Darin Ruf. Vogelbach was good enough to survive into the 2023 season with the Mets, but his limitation as only being able to produce against right-handed pitchers and not play defense made him a roster burden from the beginning.
Is the proposed DJ Stewart and Mark Vientos platoon any better? Only because they haven’t exhausted us yet, it may feel so. Remember how when the Mets first added Ruf many cited how excellent he was against left-handed pitchers. A problem with sitting a player often is they can grow cold. Even if they are an automatic out versus some pitchers, too much time away from live action can be detrimental.
The Mets have a chance to change the narrative. DH improvements are available. Fans couldn’t be louder about this obviously flawed plan of going strictly with the B-team at a spot the organization never seems to get right.
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