On yesterday’s airing of the Cookie Club on SNY with Steve Gelbs, outfielders J.D. Davis and Dominic Smith and club manager Luis Rojas discussed the possibility of playing in a shortened 82-game season. The three also offered their thoughts on incorporating a designated hitter, a rule the league expects to enforce for the 2020 season (should it ever start), and one that would no doubt provide the lineup a lot more flexibility.

Rojas made a point of protecting the pitchers’ health, as both their ability to work consistently from inning-to-inning and the eliminated risk of injury while at the plate would obviously benefit quality of performance, saying, “The number one thing is having our pitchers with a quick ramp-up… we want to leave the pitchers alone [without making them bat].”

He also noted the versatility among the position players on the active roster:

“With the individuals we have on the team… [We have] guys like Dom and J.D. that can move around in different positions. With the depth that we have, I think the guys showed last year that – for a National League team – we scored a lot of runs last year.”

Both Smith and Davis had been moved off of their original positions at the corners of the infield and reassigned to left field last year, with mixed, but generally statistically negative results. Davis, in particular, seemed to welcome the possibility of moving to a hitting-only role. As the case has always been with these two players, however, the focus was on the benefit of the team:

“It takes a lot of hard work to get here,” Smith told Gelbs. “Whatever situation I get put in, I want to be prepared… I want to make Luis make tough decisions… because if he’s forced to make tough decisions, it means our club is doing some things really well… All we want to do is win. That’s our whole goal. We hate losing; we take it personally when we lose games that we feel like we should win. We really are a very selfless team… our only goal is just to win ballgames”

Davis echoed the sentiment: “I was super pumped about it. Individually, you can’t get wrapped into it, but as a team perspective… it’s gonna be a great addition to our lineup just to have another bat in there. Even though Jake [Jacob deGrom] really wants to hit, I think it’d be better for us.”

Obviously given their numbers last year, either Smith or Davis getting more frequent at-bats would elevate an offense that ranked sixth in the National League in OPS (.770), fifth in home runs (242), and second in wRC+ (104) in 2019.

However, similar arguments can be made for a handful of Mets hitters, many of whom are more limited in their mobility. Robinson Cano and Jed Lowrie may have an easier time finding a rhythm at the plate if they have less on their hands navigating the middle of the infield. Yoenis Cespedes, who had already been making plenty of noise in spring training hitting sessions, would likely return to the lineup a lot sooner with the stresses of patrolling left field out of the equation.

There are also a couple of strategic routes Rojas could take in crafting the best defensive lineup possible, giving Brandon Nimmo everyday at-bats in the DH slot without having to withhold Jake Marisnick‘s elite defense in center field. The pitching would equally benefit from the lockdown defense Luis Guillorme offers at second in Cano’s place, though the 25-year old Guillorme’s second-half .300/.391/.475 line may also merit the swap on an offensive front.

It’s a pretty good lineup, but if we get an extra hitter in there, I think it should be super fun to see what this offense can do,” said Smith.