2 Mets offseason decisions that will pay off, 1 that will backfire

NY Mets offseason decision that will payoff: Buying low on Omar Narvaez

The most surprising addition of the offseason by the Mets was the signing of free agent catcher Omar Narvaez. If you predicted this and you haven’t already won the lottery, your superpowers have gone to waste.

It seemed like the Mets would indeed look to trade James McCann this offseason, which they successfully did. Shout out to the Baltimore Orioles for a little help. What nobody suspected was the team would bring in another veteran backstop. Paired alongside Tomas Nido, the Mets have a pretty good righty/lefty setup at the plate when these two catchers grab a bat.

This does mean Francisco Alvarez gets pushed onto the backburner for at least a little while longer. It’s not such a horrible decision. Alvarez could use more seasoning behind the plate in Triple-A plus a few at-bats. One thing the Mets have been incredibly consistent at is not rushing top prospects to the show. They appear ready to do the same with Alvarez, opting to carry two more defense-focused catchers instead of one expected to become primarily known for his offense.

The decision can pay off in a lot of ways. Alvarez can become a better defender. The Mets can get early offense from Narvaez. We should still expect Alvarez to become an option for the Mets later in the year. He’s an ideal candidate to fix one offseason decision that looks like it will backfire most.

NY Mets offseason decision that will backfire: Not making a drastic change at the DH spot

The Mets seem stuck in 2021 when it comes to the DH. They’re planning the position like a National League team when we all play by American League rules. This doesn’t mean they need to equip themselves with Nelson Cruz or J.D. Martinez although both were available this past offseason and never really seemed to become a realistic target of the team.

The Mets will, instead, move forward with Daniel Vogelbach as the DH. He’ll only start against right-handed pitchers which is a faux pas. When a player is a DH only, he needs to be able to hit against pitchers throwing with both hands, not one.

It’s nothing personal against Vogelbach, but to continue with such a limited player on the roster when there was a whole offseason to make a major change feels like a mistake. The Mets will try to pair some of their right-handed starters and Tommy Pham with him at the DH spot. The trouble here is Pham will need to go from playing every day to only starting versus lefties. Not every player can make the transition easily.

Although many teams don’t employ a single player to take on the majority of at-bats as the DH, the Mets could have used the Pham and Vogelbach roster spots more wisely. A single major upgrade in the outfield or third base would have been wise. Instead, the search for production continues. The team will be easy to plan against. We can only hope Vogelbach manages to finally figure out lefties in the minimal number of at-bats he’ll get against them.

We should already prepare for the Mets to spend assets at the trade deadline looking for some alternative options.