Mets Monday Morning GM: Which free agent finds redemption in 2022?

The New York Mets had an exciting offseason last winter—a peasant in comparison to what they did in November, however.

The team added multiple players via free agency and trades. Their big blockbuster was the addition of Francisco Lindor along with veteran starting pitcher Carlos Carrasco. Neither lived up to the expectations.

Two other players failed to live up to the hype as well. Free agents James McCann and Taijuan Walker came to the Mets with some excitement. Walker looked like he was finally healthy and he was fresh off a successful 2020 season. McCann, who had always played strong defense, became a bit of a slugger during his Chicago White Sox days. What wasn’t to like about either addition?

The Mets added James McCann and Taijuan Walker last winter and neither played particularly well

McCann seemed to revert back to his Detroit Tigers days where he was a .240/.288/.366 hitter. His first season in Flushing was actually was with McCann batting only .232/.294/.349. After hitting 25 home runs and driving in 75 in his 587 plate appearances with the White Sox in 2019-2020, McCann smacked just 10 dingers and added 46 RBI for the Mets in his 412 opportunities.

It was a poor performance but Walker gave him a run.

After making 11 starts in the shortened 2020 season and pitching to a 2.70 ERA, Walker went into free agency with the Mets willing to buy. His first half was remarkable. He was the team’s lone All-Star representative. Unfortunately, the second half was atrocious. Walker would wrap up the year with a 7-11 record (no free Slurpee either) and a 4.47 ERA. After carrying the team for much of the first half, he looked broken.

Both remain with the Mets in 2022. Which one is more likely to rebound?

Will Mets pitcher Taijuan Walker rebound?

Contractually, Walker has a lot more on the line than McCann. McCann is signed for three more years. Walker has a player option after the 2022 season so he’s going to need to perform well if he wants to waive it and test free agency again.

Another difficult player to predict, Walker’s career has been derailed by injuries numerous times. Prior to his 159 innings in 2021, you have to travel all the way back to 2017 to find a year where he was able to top 100.

The issue walk seemed to run into last year was a lack of gas in the second half. How can someone pitch so phenomenally consistent through mid-July only to look so out of his element in the final two and a half months? Unless he was hiding an injury, there’s no reasonable explanation.

Unlike McCann, we did see Walker perform well over a lengthy period of time. McCann was never on pace to be an All-Star. Walker was and did accomplish the feat for the first time in his career even if it’s now his worst ERA season.

Nothing in particular seemed to kill Walker’s season. His WHIP, hits per nine, and strikeouts per nine rates were all better than his career averages. He didn’t walk too many more batters than he usually has and while his home runs were up, the 1.5 per nine rate was only slightly more than his career total of 1.3.

For Walker to rebound, he’s going to first need us to reassess our expectations of him. His 2021 first half raised them to a new height. This season, we need to readjust and hope he meets his career 162 game average of a 10-11 record and 3.97 ERA.

Getting through the whole year with some consistency is what Walker needs most. The Mets don’t need the brilliance he had heading into the All-Star Break. They just need him to be a very good back-of-the-rotation arm.

So who is more likely to rebound this year? I'd guess Walker is more capable of having an awesome year while McCann, at best, is back to his averages.