Unfortunately, it comes as no surprise David Wright might not be ready for Opening Day following news of a right shoulder impingement. No one realistically knows when Wright is going to be ready to play this year. With that in mind, the Mets now have an available spot on the Opening Day roster.
In-house options include T.J. Rivera and Matt Reynolds, who are both on the 40-man roster. Ty Kelly would also be an option should the Mets be willing to make a 40-man roster move, which would probably include putting Wright on the 60-day disabled list.
The argument for Kelly would be the fact that his switch hitting ability would present the Mets with a left-handed hitting option for a team that promises to have a completely right-handed bench. His versatility in the field may also prove to be important. With that said, if you are willing to make an important roster move for Kelly, why not go all in and bring back Kelly Johnson?
Over the past two seasons, Johnson has hit .260/.319/.441 with 14 homers and 37 RBI in 131 games. During that span, he played every position for the Mets except pitcher, catcher, and center field. He could continue to be a very important player for the Mets.
The fact is, Johnson has been vital to the Mets’ success over the past two seasons. In 2015, he was able to serve as an everyday player until the team got healthy. In 2016, he worked diligently to become a better hitter, slashing .268/.328/.459. When Neil Walker went down, he and Wilmer Flores paired to make an extremely effective platoon at second base. As we’ve seen, he’s also capable of playing third, which just became an important issue again with Wright’s injury.
Frankly, it is surprising that it would come to this for the Mets to make a move to add Johnson. This is the same player the Mets have traded prospect after prospect for in successive years. The ultimate reason these trades were necessary was because the Mets had built flawed, if not weak, benches heading into the 2015 and 2016 seasons. While the Mets bench in 2017 promises to be deeper than year’s past, it is still flawed for the aforementioned reasons. The addition of Kelly Johnson would go a long way in resolving those issues.
