On Tuesday, the Mets acquired center fielder Jose Siri from the Tampa Bay Rays for right-hander Eric Orze. While only a minor move and the third trade the Mets made with the Rays in the last five months, the acquisition of Jose Siri has the potential to be a trade that offers big upside – as well as big risk.

Jose Siri spent the 2024 season with the Tampa Bay Rays, and his season played out like two entirely different seasons- the first and second half. Despite some of his struggles, he still accumulated 1.9 WAR, mostly thanks to his Gold Glove-caliber defense. To fully break down his value, we will split his contributions into offense and defense.

John Jones-USA TODAY Sports

Offense

Siri had a statistically poor 2024 season, slashing .187/.255/.366 with 18 home runs, 47 RBI and 14 stolen bases for an OPS of .620. One of Siri’s biggest issues is he struck out in 38% of his at-bats, 170 times on the season, to be exact. He struggled against righties, slashing .181/.249/.352 but hit a much better .204/.270/.408 against lefties. Siri only walked 31 times during the season, with 10 of those coming against lefties, against whom he only registered 112 plate appearances.

During the first half of the season, Siri slashed .203/.278/.395 with 12 home runs and nine stolen bases for a 117 OPS+ and a .274 BABIP over 291 plate appearances. The second half saw Siri’s stats fall off a cliff, with a .158/.212/.315 slash with six home runs and five stolen bases for a 69 OPS+ and a .236 BABIP over 157 plate appearances. While he had no documented injuries, something must have changed to see his stats in every major category drop drastically.

Siri hit much better away from Tropicana Field, home of the Rays, in nearly the same amount of games. Some of Siri’s batting average struggles can be attributed to a well-below-average BABIP of .225 at home but a much better .292 away from home. Siri barreled the ball in the 94th percentile but had low exit velocities due to poor contact and an extremely high chase rate, which limited the damage he could unlock. His average exit velocity of 87.5 put him in the 20th percentile. If he can get some luck from the BABIP fairy and use his ability to barrel up the right pitches, he could be in line for a much better season. Like 2023 when he posted a .761 OPS.

In terms of baserunning, Siri uses his 99th percentile Sprint Speed on both sides of the ball, and it allowed him to be in the 89th percentile of baserunning run value. If there is something the 2024 Mets lacked it was overall team speed considering after Francisco Lindor, Brandon Nimmo, Harrison Bader and Starling Marte, no everyday player posed a threat on the bases.

Despite such a poor 2024 season, Siri is only a season removed from a .222/.267/.494 slash in 2023, 25 home runs, 12 stolen bases, and a .761 OPS. If Siri can place his offense somewhere between the two seasons, it will allow his biggest contribution to shine, which is his…

Brad Rempel – USA TODAY SPORTS

Defense

Siri is a Gold Glove-caliber center fielder who passes both the eye test and advanced metrics. At 29 years old, he is still in his prime and could potentially be the best defensive center fielder the Mets have had since Juan Lagares won the award in 2014.  Siri had a 5.6 UZR/150 and 16 outs above average, which tied him for second most in all of the MLB. Over the last three years, Siri led all of the MLB with 40 OAA.

If the numbers don’t tell the whole tale, you can go down the wormhole and find many highlights on YouTube of Siri going out and getting the ball in center field, using his excellent range to get to balls most center fielders just can’t. Siri was in the 99th percentile of Outs Above Average, 97th percentile of arm strength and 99th percentile of sprint speed, which enables him to get great jumps on balls and even when he may not get the best read, use his speed to make up for any errors.

The majority of Siri’s value comes from his defense and he has played at least 100 games in every season since 2022. If only for his defense, Siri could still put up a close to 2 WAR season as he did in 2024. For what its worth, the Mets 2023 starting center fielder, Harrison Bader put up a 1.3 WAR with a slash of .236/.284/.373, hitting 12 home runs and stealing 17 bases. Siri had a much worse offensive season and was still worth .6 WAR more, thanks to his defense.

Conclusion

Jose Siri is the kind of risk/reward trade that David Stearns rode to success with the Brewers and is hoping to catch lightning in a bottle yet again. In addition to the low cost for obtaining Siri, by trading someone on the 40-man roster, Stearns has also left himself flexibility from a roster construction standpoint.

Lastly, Siri will make $2.3 million dollars for the 2025 season and is under team control until 2028. In a worst-case scenario, Siri becomes a late-inning defensive substitute, but in a best-case scenario can be the Mets everyday center fielder capable of winning a Gold Glove and potentially hitting 20 home runs and stealing 20 bases, all for the cost of a minor league reliever who may not have factored into the 2025 Mets bullpen.