The New York Mets started the offseason with an unexpected bang, inking veteran Michael Cuddyer to a two-year, $21 million pact. Since then, they've gone mostly quiet.
That has to change if New York is truly shifting into win-now mode, as assistant general manager John Ricco suggested after the Cuddyer signing.
"I think this is a message that we're going to be aggressive," Ricco told Newsday's Marc Carig. "And right out of the box, we had a guy we liked, and we went out and got him."
Cuddyer got a qualifying offer from the Colorado Rockies, which means the Mets liked him enough to sacrifice a first-round draft pick. He's 36 and coming off an injury-riddled season.
But, as Carig notes, "The Mets gravitated toward him early in the free-agent process because of his power from the right side and his ability to fit into the Mets' hitting philosophy."
Fine. Now what?
To put it bluntly: The Mets aren't one aging corner outfielder away from serious contention. Yes, they finished second in the National League East in 2014. But their 79-83 record put them 17 games behind the Washington Nationals, who remain the toast of the division.
The most obvious place for an upgrade is at shortstop. Though GM Sandy Alderson told the New York Post's Mike Puma he wouldn't shift into "panic mode" if the Mets started the season with incumbent Wilmer Flores at short, many fans may disagree.
Flores posted a pedestrian .251/.286/.378 slash line in 259 at-bats last year. And Alderson damned him with faint praise by admitting to Puma that Flores "doesn't pass the eye test" at shortstop. But he insisted that there's "maybe a little more there than you give him credit [for]..."
Unfortunately for the Mets, the shortstop market is limited. Top free-agent targets like Asdrubal Cabrera, Stephen Drew and Jed Lowrie come with warts—Drew in particular had an abysmal 2014—though they'd certainly represent an improvement.
The other option is a trade, perhaps with the Chicago Cubs, who are loaded at the position with All-Star Starlin Castro and top prospects Javier Baez and Addison Russell.
Chicago, however, has appeared reluctant to part with its middle-infield chips so far, and Ken Davidoff of the New York Post reports that talks between the Cubs and Mets "haven't progressed significantly."
Another sticking point for New York could be the budget. As Puma notes, the Mets' payroll should bump up against the $100 million mark once raises are given to arbitration-eligible players. That leaves little wiggle room to add an impact free agent.
That is, of course, unless they shed some salary. Pitchers Jon Niese, Dillon Gee and Bartolo Colon, who will earn somewhere north of $21 million combined (depending on what Gee gets in arbitration), are all on the block. So far, interest has been limited, per Puma:
That should change as the market takes shape and elite arms fall off the board. Meanwhile, the Mets have to get aggressive and explore all options.
Yes, there's a paucity of impact bats available, especially at their position of greatest need. But the Cuddyer signing was a clear signal this is no rebuilding year.
There is reason for optimism. Ace Matt Harvey, set to return from Tommy John surgery, anchors a rotation that also features Rookie of the Year Jacob deGrom and promising 24-year-old right-hander Zack Wheeler. And first baseman Lucas Duda had a breakout season, belting 30 home runs and driving in 92.
But the Mets need something more—and it can't be simply moving in the fences at Citi Field
That's not a joke, as Michael Powell of The New York Times explains:
At season’s end, the [Mets'] analysts carefully studied home run trajectories and decided to move in [the right-center field] fence by as much as 11 feet. Alderson offered a flurry of statistics to show that the Mets’ right fielder, Curtis Granderson, would have hit nine more home runs last season with closer fences. And the Mets would have hit more home runs than their opponents to this particular sector of the ballpark.
It couldn't hurt, right? Well, as Powell points out, the Mets moved the left field fence in after the 2011 season and finished with a worse record in 2012.
No, the answer isn't adjusted dimensions, and it's not Cuddyer and a prayer. The Mets opened the winter with a bang—they can't end with a whimper.
All statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.
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