Prior to Friday night’s bout with the Washington Nationals, Mets general manager Sandy Alderson acknowledged that defense is going to be a top priority going forward.
The Mets began the season with shaky defense all around which didn’t help the overall pitching situation, which too was erratic.
Asdrubal Cabrera shifted all over the infield and particularly struggled at the hot corner, posting a UZR of -2.0 and even more so at his preferred position of shortstop. He had a -4.8 UZR there this year and a -4.2 last year.
The 31-year-old also had a -9 DRS at short, an alarming trend that had been occurring since the 2011 season.
Neil Walker, who was shipped out of town last month, had a great year at second in 2016 at the keystone, but struggled through injury this season and was mediocre when he was out there.
The hot corner was also a mess, with New York plugging in below average fielders Wilmer Flores, T.J. Rivera and Cabrera there in replacement of David Wright, who will not play a single game this season.
Amed Rosario has provided a more stable glove at short since his promotion, posting a 1.7 UZR in a limited sample size and Cabrera has fared far better at second than any other position.
With former Gold Glover Juan Lagares splitting time with the speedy Brandon Nimmo in center, the Mets defense is stronger up the middle than it has been all year.
However, there is still room for improvement. Alderson preaches strong defense, but that means not having players spend an extended amount of time out of position like we saw this year.
The old adage goes, “Strong pitching and defense wins ballgames.” Those two areas need not be neglected this offseason if the Mets want to compete.
