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5 Mets players under contract for 2024 the fans are ready to move on from
Will we get our wish and see the Mets move on from any of these players?
Fed up? You’re not alone. The New York Mets season is now over and wholesale changes are a part of the plans many fans wish they could make.
We know that even under Steve Cohen there isn’t going to be a snap of the fingers to correct everything. Some contracts are stuck on his payroll. Other players will, for whatever reason, stick around and bring us more misery.
The front office changes already underway led by David Stearns becoming the new President of Baseball Operations should signal less attachment to the current players. He had zero to do with the building of this team. Maybe he’ll save us from any of these five players under contract for 2024, some through arbitration, and find a way to move on.
1) NY Mets fans have been long ready to move on from Omar Narvaez
Omar Narvaez’s contract includes a player option for 2024 which seems to be an obvious one for him to pick up. It’s going to be impossible for him to earn anywhere close to the $7 million the Mets agreed to pay him if he stuck around for a second season.
The year became lost for Narvaez due to an early injury. He never recovered the playing time he was supposed to get because we had already fallen in love with Francisco Alvarez. There were certainly opportunities along the way for Narvaez to increase his playing time and maybe even become more of a DH option or push Alvarez into that role at times. But because Narvaez had such a miserable campaign, he stuck as the backup catcher.
Numbers for Narvaez this year included a .211/.283/.297 slash line with 2 home runs and 7 RBI in 296 plate appearances. It was actually pretty close to what he produced in twice as many opportunities last year. Maybe this wasn’t such a bad performance for him—it’s just who he is now. This feels like a shorter James McCann contract all over again.
2) NY Mets fans were mistreated by Trevor Gott almost immediately
Trevor Gott came to the Mets with more anticipation than he should have. The way the traded happened, with the Mets eating Chris Flexen’s salary, had us all nodding in agreement that this was a super move. All it cost was money and a reliever the club had already DFA’d, Zach Muchenhirn.
Gott had already begun to struggle with the Seattle Mariners right before the trade. The Mets looked past it. After all, even the best relievers can have those painful days where nothing goes right and their ERAs inflate like a tire after you finally get around to putting some air in it following the first cold morning.
To use a word a lot of kids do these days, Gott has been very “mid.” Sure, he’s a decent enough reliever to have on the roster to pitch the fifth or sixth inning when no one else is available or your team is already trailing. He can even close out a game where you need a grand slam in the ninth to come back. Beyond this, Gott has been an unsatisfactory member of the Mets.
There are a bunch more relievers who fall into this category as well. Phil Bickford’s keycard shouldn’t work next year either.
What may save Gott’s job is the amount of money the Mets paid to get him. Plus, doesn’t every roster need someone to mop up a little?
Gott ended up 0-2 with a 4.34 ERA for the Mets in 29 innings. It’s not horrific. It’s still too high to roll out a welcome back mat.
3) NY Mets fans aren’t wrong to have lost faith in Starling Marte
The injury excuse applies to Starling Marte and yet this sort of explanation for why he underperformed so much in 2023 isn’t enough to make fans feel better. Missing time has become a pattern for him since joining the Mets. He missed a good part of the second half in 2022. Nearly half of 2023 was a wash because of it, too.
When he was available, Marte wasn’t the same caliber of player he was in year one. The only area where he continued to excel was with stolen bases. Larger bases and additional MLB rule changes assisted here most. He had 24 this year which, if healthy, should have led to him challenging for 50.
Marte will play next season at age 35 and a hefty $20.75 million payday. He’ll get the same in 2025 when his contract finally expires.
Many of us already realized by the time Marte would reach this stage of his career he’d probably be slowing down. It would have been more acceptable if the Mets were at least able to milk a little more out of him from the first half of the contract. After two seasons, they’re going to have to squeeze harder to turn this into a salvageable deal.
In his 86 games and 341 plate appearances, Marte batted .248/.301/.324 with 5 home runs and 28 RBI. His defensive WAR dropped from 0.1 in 2022 to -1.0.
What are the chances the Mets move on from Marte? Consider it incredibly slim. They committed to him financially a little too much. What we could see is a few more starts at the DH spot and maybe even a move to left field.
4) NY Mets fans turned on Daniel Vogelbach quickly
Daniel Vogelbach quickly went from one of the more popular Mets players to a guy constantly getting roasted. There were questions when he first joined the club in the summer of 2022. However, a productive albeit limited bat was enough to convince fans he could be useful in 2023.
An awful spring carried into the regular season where it became apparent quickly that even if Vogelbach was his usual semi-productive self, there were problems. The inability to play more than first base was already a problem with Pete Alonso at the position. The Mets have never allowed Vogelbach to play a single inning defensively which only fueled skepticism further as to what he could offer.
Carrying Vogelbach was limiting from the start of the year. A part-time player who can’t play defense or run and doesn’t really hit all that well either is going to rub fans the wrong way. Vogelbach did. His once lovable “everyman” reputation built largely by his large build was gone. Fans wanted homers. Vogey barely delivered.
The choice to move on from Vogelbach this offseason is easy. The Mets can non-tender him and hope fans somehow forget about the experience. They can help us do so by finding a legitimate DH who doesn’t have to sit against left-handed pitchers or get pinch run for constantly.
Vogelbach ended up with 319 plate appearances where he put together a .233/.339/.404 batting line. He added in 13 home runs and 48 RBI. It’s not horrific for his track record, but the limitations are way too much to even consider bringing him back.
5) NY Mets fans have learned to dread relief appearances from Drew Smith
Where did it all go wrong for Drew Smith? A deeper dive into some of his numbers, he was probably always destined to be much more mediocre than he had been in the past. Strong ERA seasons in the past have included weaker FIPs to suggest Smith was more lucky than good at times.
However you’d like to personally spin the numbers positively or negatively, the one thing everyone agrees on is that Smith just isn’t capable of taking the next step. He had been a quality middle reliever for the Mets in the seventh inning. Asking for much is apparently too much.
Smith logged 56.1 innings this year and gave the Mets a 4.15 ERA performance. An ERA+ of 102 and 4.55 FIP all point toward how average of a bullpen arm he was. Mets fans know he was probably even below the curve as he seemed to specialize in coming up small in big moments. Hitters had their most fun against him in medium leverage situations, owning a .911 OPS versus him in those 72 plate appearances.
Smith is now only a year away from free agency. He does have some trade value and if the Mets are looking to retool and make available anyone who isn’t tied down beyond 2024, trading him in the offseason feels like something to do.
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