22
2012
Looking Ahead, Offense Should Be Mets Top Priority This Offseason
An article by 
I know what you thinking.. How on earth could we spend the entire season talking about the bullpen…that woeful bullpen…and suddenly decide that the team’s offense should be the top priority this offseason? Heres why:
- Mets rank 8th in MLB with 1,169 strike outs.
- Mets rank 22nd in MLB on the year, hitting just .242 with RISP
- Mets rank 24th in MLB with only 407 extra-base hits, resulting in a .383 slugging percentage. Good for only 24th in MLB this season.
- Mets rank 25th in MLB with a .236 BA since the All-Star break.
- Mets rank 25th in MLB with 51 HR since the All-Star break and 26th overall with just 124 on the season.
- Mets rank 26th in MLB with a .301 OBP since the All-Star break.
- Mets rank 27th in MLB this season with only 71 stolen bases.
- Mets rank 29th in MLB with 204 runs scored since the All-Star break and only 25th on the year with 598.
And while I understand that each of these totals either directly relates to, or is significantly impacted by the teams’ terrible second half, the fact cannot be denied that the Mets lineup isn’t exactly executing at a high level. All the pitching the world doesn’t matter if the team can’t score runs. Just ask RA Dickey, who has only received an average of 3 runs of offense in support his Cy Young effort in his last ten starts.
While the blame for such totals should be distributed amongst the group, its the Mets outfielders who’ve been the most disappointing this season. Everyone knows the obvious, in the fact that Jason Bay has managed only 7 HR with just 18 RBI while posting an abysmal .153 BA, but the outfield as a whole has been much better, hitting just .235 as a unit. That’s a full thirty-three points lower than the infield, which has seen its catchers and first basemen hit .226 and .234 respectively.
I really don’t mean to throw stats at you all day, but the Mets can’t afford to field a strikeout prone, powerless outfield much longer. With the writing on the wall that both Wright and Dickey will factor the team’s direction into their decision making process, Lucas Duda can’t be the teams best hitting outfielder. It simply can’t be…
I’m not sure where they will find them, but the team must track down two, if not three, solid outfield options who can not only hit for average, but can respectfully patrol their position as well. I realize that those types of players don’t grow on trees, and I understand that both Michael Bourn and Nick Swisher will quite possible be out of the teams price range, but my lord has the current crop of players been bad.
This is a bad place to be for a team that was looking to have all the pieces in place once their premier pitching prospects breached the big league roster. Those pieces have started arriving, and with Matt Harvey and Jenrry Mejia (at minimum) set to break camp with the club next spring, the time is now to fix one of the all-around worst offenses in baseball. Once again Sandy Alderson has a tall task in front of him, or perhaps he has dug his own grave, but things can’t continue like this. Its simple, with pitching help on the way from within the system, the offense much take center stage this offseason.
Follow me on Twitter at @RobPatterson83
About the Author: Rob Patterson
Ultimately, I owe nearly thirty years of Mets related torture to my mother, who is the reason I became a fan. I was too young to remember the 86 run, but hope to see one I'll be able to recall much sooner than later. I enjoy writing about the team and welcome your feedback on my posts. Oh..and I am not with 28!
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NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 24 | 18 | .571 | - |
| Nationals | 23 | 20 | .535 | 1.5 |
| Phillies | 20 | 23 | .465 | 4.5 |
| Mets | 16 | 24 | .400 | 7.0 |
| Marlins | 11 | 32 | .256 | 13.5 |
Last updated: 05/18/2013
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Sell another 20 million dollar share or two so they can increase the payroll for next year. Sign BJ and trade for Justin. Even if The Dud-ah stay in LF, that will be a much more prolific offense. Yeah, I know it’s a fantasy and probably wont happen, and there are certainly other holes to fill, but actually having every day OF players would be a nice change of pace… Then, you can figure out what you do with Wright and RA. Really, the main issue is money at this point and that “should” become much more flexible sans Bay, Santana and Francisco.
I’m tired of the Mets telling the fan base they don’t have $. Look at all the contracts that were paid for players to LEAVE! So, follow me:
Anyone-AND THE ROCK MEANS ANYONE-who is arb elligible should be dismissed.
As much as he is not F.O.F. material, you have to extend Wright. Unless theres another F.O.F. and/or 3b out there!
Extend R.A.
Cut bait on Jason Bay NOW!!!!!
Wilpons, extend the payroll. Stop screwing around! Or 1,000 or less people per game will be the least of your worries.
Roster: Victorino,Tejada, B.J. Upton, Wright, M. Napoli, Ike, Justin Upton
Murph
Pitchers:R.A., Harvey, Greinke, Johan, Mejia
Bullpen: J.P. Howell, Madsen, Edgin,Familia,
I agree with most of what you said, but L.O.V.E. the Rock reference
Hi Deebo. Grienke turned down 100 million from Milwaukee and Atlanta. So if he has a choice I do believe he will opt for a team he feels can win now and pay110-120 million (5 years).That comes out to 22 million per year. Add Johan (25.5 MILLION) and R.A.(?) and your starting rotation comes out to 55-60 million. Your roster is unrealistic. How much do you think Napoli will want per year?13-15 million? B.J. will want at least 10-12 million as a F.A.. Justin Upton has 39 million (9.9 next season) remaining on his contract. Shane is going to squeeze every penny he can so let’s go with 10-12 million minimum . David Wright even with a hometown discount will probably cost 15 million per year @ 6 years? Maybe we can back load R.A. & David’s contracts? So starting rotation 55-60 million. Starting line-up 60-65 million. I would add Mike Adams to your bullpen and you still have to add a closer. Using minimum salaried players to fill roster spots(8) at 500,000 you wind up with a payroll of about 135 million. If the Mets continue to fill their roster with their future stars then we have a choice here. Stick with them and suffer or try to be like Tampa Bay and learn to incorporate the youngsters into the starting line-up. Look at the number of strikeouts these kids put up. Duda if he plays an entire season is the reincarnation of Adan Dunn. 40 homers 200 strikeouts and no OBP. We need speed not only in the outfield but on the bases. This team is not made for Citifield. Bottom line is it’s always going to fall back on the pitching and the Mets don’t have the pockets to fill that need. The biggest difference between The Rays and the Mets is the Rays believe they can win and the Mets believe they will find a way to lose. Stop with the excuses.Time to change the atmosphere in the clubhouse
They should try to get anyone to pick up any piece of Bay and Santana’s contracts. If they get back $1 million each that would be great. Get these guys out and move on. Then, take the $2M and put it towards anyone that can hit a ball out of the infield.
You raise a serious issue and one that I could never understand. Jason Bay is a lost cause and a detriment to this team in a myriad of areas. (Being a nice guy isn’t one of them.)
Wouldn’t it be better to cut him and pay the $16MM owed so that he doesn’t waste a roster spot which we could use on a more productive player? Yes, you’ll still be paying $16MM plus the cost of that player ($500K on Nieuwenhuis or Spin), but is there any question that the replacement player will perform better than the .156/.208/.237 that Bay is giving us?
Cutting Bay is the best example of addition by subtraction that I have ever seen in my life.
And it opens up a roster spot for guys like Kirk or an extra LHBP arm that would contribute much more than he would!
I still don’t see why some fans are more woried about Wilpon’s money than the Roster.
I don’t care how little or how much they pay for the roster all I care about is there are no wasted roster spots that are not producing!
The money you spend to build isn’t limited by the MLB, How many Roster spots you can use to build with is which makes the Roster spot more valuable than the money no matter what you spend!
Nobody is going to take Bay because what if every team feels the same way as the Mets? That he’s lost it? Why would a team take him if they also feel he can’t hit anymore.
Nobody is taking Bay, the Mets are not going to move him so the only thing left to do is cut him. Only after he’s cut then someone MIGHT take a flyer on him
And yet, Dave Hudgens is one of those coaches who’ve done a “solid job” this year. Granted, the talent he’s had to work with isn’t great but look at the talent he does have and tell me how he’s done a “solid job”.
1. Ike Davis (.226, 131 K’s albeit with strong power numbers)
2. Lucas Duda (.249, .399 SLG%)
3. Kirk Nieuwenhuis (.252, 98 K’s in 282 AB)
4. Josh Thole (ok, so he’s not that talented, but he used to at least hit for average: .239, .295 SLG)
AND, BEST FOR LAST:
5. Jason Bay (.153, .279 SLG, .230 OBP, by comparison Jon Neise has a .222 BA & .300 OBP)
Had Davis, Duda, and Bay all been more consistent this offense wouldn’t be as putrid as it is. Most of the blame has to go to the players of course, but coaches get paid to help MLB players figure out what they’re doing wrong that gets them into slumps and help correct them. So someone tell me why Hudgens should keep his job. Don’t even get me started on Dan Warthen.
The Priority today is the same as it was at the deadline and the same as it should have been before this season ever started!
A Right Handed Power Bat to complement Wright and to balance out the lineup so we don’t have to play two different teams depending on what arm the pitcher throws with!
They focused on looking for a LH bat off the bench which just goes to show they are making decisions that have nothing to do with the realities on the ground!
We went into this season with only Wright and Tejada as decent RH Hitters.
And it never dawned on them that they needed to get another good RHB into this lineup and relied on jason Bay and some Role player to fill that hole?
Total Negligence if you ask me!
“RH Power bat”. I guess Hairston i snot good enough with Ike behind him. Yes they are not Delgado, Alou and Beltran . Wright will morph into Bay on the next contract. Yes it is overstated and an exaggerastion but you get my point. Wright is not the solution nor the problem he is just a complement for the type of guys I named. Off the field in real life Wright is a winner. With the Mets he is ok but way overrated. Yes he is a gold glove. But nevertheles we need a complete makeover.Harvey and Niese (Seaver and Koosman)are the only nontradeables on the 25 man roster. Ike I would listen to offers and Wright I pick up option and also listen to offers.
Nope you need a RH Power bat that isn’t useless vs RHP.
Hairston did quite well this year, will he do that again or was it his career year?
I sure don’t know and I personally don’t expect Sandy to pay the freight to keep him and find out.
We need a guy like Beltran or at least another Wright in that lineup.
We get that and most of our offensive issues will go away and make Davis as much more formidable threat as well!
Does anyone think the Texas Rangers would trade Elvis Adrus and Nelson Cruz to us for R.A Dickey , Duda and Wilmer Flores?.
The smartest and probably most obvious thing for the Mets to have done was to regulate Bay to the fourth outfielder, kept Pagan and tried re-signing Beltran. That way they could have started the season with Duda in left, Pagan in center and Beltran in right. Of course, Duda had a let down season but there was no way to predict that over the winter – Pagan and Beltran having good seasons was almost a given based on their track records to date.
It’s an expensive price to pay for the fourth outfielder however expensive busts are written off by clubs all the time. And with the weak bench that we had coming out of spring training, having Bay on it would have, if nothing else, meant a defensive replacement late in the game.
But I agree, getting power hitting outfielders is now a priority. Unfortunately, so is still getting us a bullpen as well. Anyway, why hope? No team other than the Mets would trade an established hitter for a prospect over the winter anyway. And we certainly are not going to spend the money to get one.
As for the outfield – we need RH hitting power/speed combination. Here’s a quick suggestion:
- Sign BJ Upton
- Put package together in trade with Toronto to acquire RH OF prospect Jake Marisnick. (If we can extend package to include one of their stud young catchers either Arencibia or d’Arnaud, if possible).
- Similarly, determine Giants asking price on RH OF prospect Gary Brown (who we almost got in Beltran trade instead of Wheeler), and meet that price. (How progressive it was of SA to not trade Reyes for Brown and let him walk at the season’s end. Do you think the Giants would’ve wanted Reyes last year?)
By July 2013, our team offense could look like this:
OF – Upton, Brown, Marisnick
IF – Wright, Tejada, Murphy, Davis/Duda
C – Arencibia/Thole
Bench: Hairston, Kirk, Turner, Thole, Cedeno
Trade bait includes Valdespin, Mejia, Familia, McHugh, Gorski, Nimmo, Parnell, Murphy & Davis or Duda.
Line-up: Brown, Murphy, Wright, Davis, Upton, Marisnick/Kirk. Arencibia/Thole, Tejada
I know this is not perfect, not even close, but its a step in the right direction. the line-up is much better balanced & we have added speed & power. I’d like to keep Murphy, if possible, as he appears to be handling 2nd base better than expected. Why keep Thole? Because he can handle RA Dickey and will likely perform better if he’s in a better platoon situation. I think he’s a good catcher with too much lopped on him this year.
When are we going to get Flores onto this team? Make a deal to open a space for him as a starter.