For those of you who have not been paying attention, Jeff McNeil can rake.
In a season that has been an utter disappointment, McNeil has all of a sudden become the Mets best hitter not named Pete Alonso and will be joining the rookie sensation in Cleveland for the All-Star Game.
While McNeil’s rise has surprised many around baseball, if you were paying close attention last year, this performance could have been anticipated.
Last season, McNeil hit .329/.381/.471 with three home runs, six triples, 11 doubles, 19 RBIs and 35 runs scored in just 63 games played. He also flashed the leather making plenty of highlight reel plays at second base.
Despite his great performance, McNeil was not made a priority when it came to the Mets’ plans for the 2019 season. He was seen as a good contact bat that could handle MLB pitching, but someone that needed to prove that 2018 wasn’t a fluke before he could claim a job in the starting lineup everyday.
Herein lies new GM Brodie Van Wagenen’s biggest mistake in the offseason.
When Van Wagenen took the job, his mission statement was that the Mets would not only win now but also win in the future. His first big win-now move, was the now-controversial blockbuster trade that sent top prospects OF Jarred Kelenic and RHP Justin Dunn to the Seattle Mariners, as the main pieces in a deal that sent closer Edwin Diaz and Robinson Cano back to New York.
What you may not remember though, is that McNeil was supposed to be part of that deal as well. Ultimately, Van Wagenen wised up and replaced McNeil at the eleventh hour with hard-throwing reliever Gerson Bautista, but the fact that he was ever included in that deal shows just how little McNeil was valued in his own organization.
By acquiring Cano, the Mets were relegating McNeil to a utility role where he would play all over the infield without a permanent place on the diamond.
This role would still have been a substantial one for McNeil, as he could platoon with Todd Frazier at third base, while giving Amed Rosario and Robinson Cano the occasional blow as well.
Then Van Wagenen made one of the more puzzling moves in the offseason when he acquired yet another middle infielder in Jed Lowrie on a two-year $20 million contract. Lowrie was brought in to take that exact role outlined for McNeil, pushing Jeff into the relatively foreign position of playing the outfield everyday.
Now McNeil has fared better than expected in the outfield, surprisingly posting good defensive numbers in left field with two defensive runs saved. But with Cano having a bad year both offensively and defensively, and with Lowrie still yet to play his first game due to injuries, it is clear that Van Wagenen’s offseason was an abject failure.
The only thing the Mets are banking on at this point, is the play of their young position players, namely McNeil and Alonso.
McNeil is posting numbers that have him rubbing shoulders with Hall of Famers in the record books, as he has hit to an incredible line of .348/.412/.509, with 30 extra-base hits and a .922 OPS. After going 3-for-5 on Sunday night, McNeil raised his average above Cody Bellinger‘s and is now leading the MLB in batting.
At this point, McNeil has to be considered a favorite to win the batting title, as Bellinger’s average has dropped significantly after a ridiculous April that saw him hit well over .400.
All of this goes back to the offseason, where the Mets used significant assets to address the middle infield, instead of focusing on more pressing needs. The combined $27.5 million in salary for Lowrie and Cano is currently taking up 20% of the Mets payroll for 2019. For that amount of money, the Mets could have easily added two or three quality arms to their bullpen, which has been abysmal this year.
Along with not building a good bullpen, the Mets failed to address one of the more glaring holes on their roster, in acquiring a legitimate starting center fielder.
Had the Mets not made the Cano-Diaz trade, they would still have those two blue-chip prospects in Kelenic and Dunn, which they could have used to acquire that center fielder. A trade package centered around Dunn likely could have netted the Mets a center fielder like two-time Gold Glove winner Kevin Kiermaier from the Tampa Bay Rays.
Let’s also not forget that Van Wagenen’s top target after the trade with the Mariners was All-Star catcher J.T. Realmuto. Realmuto ended up being traded to the division rival Philadelphia Phillies, after the Mets did not have the assets to pull of a deal with the Miami Marlins. Kelenic alone would be better than any prospect the Marlins ended up getting back in that trade.
While this is operating with the benefit of hindsight, it is the job of the front office to have the foresight to accurately assess their assets and use them correctly.
By not seeing what they had in Jeff McNeil, the Mets wasted valuable time and resources addressing a hole in their roster that didn’t exist.
