By Josh Finkelstein

As we all know, center field has been a topic of discussion for the Mets almost every offseason since Carlos Beltran stopped patrolling the position. Considering he’s a managerial candidate for the Mets now, it’s clear that it’s been a while since that position was stable.

They thought they found their solution at the end of the 2014 season when Juan Lagares was making diving plays left-and-right and hitting well enough that it wasn’t an issue at the time.

In 2015, though, it became clear he wasn’t going to maintain the offense to play the position every day which, in part, led to the acquisition of Yoenis Cespedes. He would play center field often down the stretch and in 2016 too.

After the team decided he couldn’t play the position anymore, the Mets started playing a plethora of guys in center, including Brandon Nimmo and Michael Conforto as they attempted to find an everyday option.

The problem is that neither has been a good option with Conforto accumulating -15 DRS and a -4.3 UZR over 1,137 1/3 innings, while Nimmo has -7 DRS and a -5.5 UZR over 719 1/3 innings.

In the past, the team would have the luxury of putting Juan Lagares in the game late as a defensive replacement. But with a $9.5 million club option for next season, the Mets will certainly choose to buy him out for the $500K his contract calls for according to Spotrac. That leaves the Mets with no legitimate center fielder unless they choose to bring him back.

Another wrinkle to add to this situation is the presence of both Jeff McNeil and J.D. Davis.

McNeil is actually a strong defensive option for this team as he can play both corner outfield spots at around league-average (2 DRS, -0.5 UZR over 671 innings) while also performing capably at second and third base.

With Todd Frazier hitting the open market this offseason and nobody having any clue what to expect from Jed Lowrie in 2020, McNeil is currently set to play third base for the team with Robinson Cano firmly entrenched at second.

Davis presents a more complicated situation because while his bat is possibly as good as anyone’s on this team, his defense is atrocious. In left field, he registered -11 DRS and a -4.7 UZR in only 585 1/3 innings.

The bad part is that putting him back at his natural position of third base might not really help him much either, as he was actually even worse defensively at third with a -9 DRS and -1.6 UZR in 220 innings.

If you stretch both out over a 162-game pace, he would have roughly -27 DRS in left field and -59 DRS at third base.

Obviously, he would not actually have -59 DRS in a full season at the hot corner, but the point is to illustrate just how bad a player he is defensively whether at third base or left field.

The issue here is that if the Mets don’t acquire a natural center fielder, they will have to deal with Davis’ defense at one of those two positions AND Nimmo or Conforto in center field, which would significantly compromise their defense.

And for a team that ranked 24th in UZR (-12.8) and 29th in DRS (-93), that is a serious problem to encounter for an entire season. After fielding one of the worst defensive teams in MLB for three straight seasons, can the Mets afford to ignore this issue for a fourth consecutive season?

Just to put it in perspective how important this issue is, only one team in the bottom third of the league in DRS made the playoffs in 2019,  the New York Yankees. But they also compensated by hitting a record 306 home runs this season.

If the Mets truly want to compete in 2020, they need to find a way to acquire a center fielder that can at least play the position part-time to ease the burden off of Nimmo/Conforto.

This is all before even entering Yoenis Cespedes into the equation, which the team should not until he actually takes the field at this point. Even if he were to return, nobody knows what could possibly be expected of him at this stage.

The difficult part, though, is that the market for center fielders is pretty weak this offseason.

If you want to go based on affordability in terms of trade assets, which the Mets don’t have many of, and ability to play the position, Jackie Bradley Jr. probably represents the most reasonable option in terms of trade targets.

Bradley Jr., 29, is entering his last year of arbitration and registered -1 DRS and a -1.2 UZR. While those numbers don’t stand out, he was essentially league-average as that was over a full season at the position as he had 1,247 innings in center field. That being said, he lacks offensive prowess as he had a slightly below league-average 90 wRC+.

Starling Marte is certainly the more enticing name that will likely be available and he comes with two more years of potential control. That being said, Marte had -9 DRS and a -7.6 UZR over 1,141 1/3 innings which is pretty brutal.

While we would like to think that his 3.2 UZR and 1 DRS in 2018 is more along the lines of what they would be acquiring if they chose to, at 31-years-old, it’s possible that last season was the start of a decline for him defensively and the Mets would be taking a gamble. Add in that the acquisition cost to get him could be very high and he no longer makes as much sense to get this offseason.

On the free-agent market, the team’s best options for improvement defensively would be Billy Hamilton (7 DRS, 7.9 UZR over 826 innings) and Brett Gardner (-2 DRS, 1.7 UZR over 820 innings).

Hamilton, though, is simply a defensive-replacement and pinch-runner option at this stage, much along the lines of Juan Lagares, and Gardner is 36-years-old which would mean the team is taking a high-risk that he is not going to show any signs of decline next season.

Gardner and Bradley Jr. also are both left-handed hitters which, in a lineup already containing McNeil, Cano, Nimmo, and Conforto, would lead the team to becoming too lefty-heavy. Using either in a platoon, though, could provide some value for the team next season.

So, if the team were to acquire a center fielder based on names expected to be available right now, Bradley Jr. probably represents the best option, but if they don’t want to trade any assets, Gardner could serve as a solid starting option, but with some risk.

If the team does not acquire a center fielder, though, the Mets could be in for an ugly season defensively which would hurt the team significantly, especially when you consider that this team is built on starting pitching.

Center field has been a revolving door for this team ever since Beltran departed, and if the team wants to get back to where they were in 2015, they need to get better defense in center field and really find a way to improve that aspect at other positions too.