Photo by Ben Sandstrom/MiLB.com
The New York Mets have apparently commenced their trade season, with closer Jeurys Familia likely to be the first player on the move, as per Buster Olney of ESPN.
Though no deal has been completed as of Saturday morning, it’s a virtual certainty that the 28-year-old right-hander has pitched his final game for the Mets. Other teams said to be in the running are Arizona, Atlanta, the Cubs and the Red Sox, among others.
Surely the next domino to fall in the Mets’ shipping out of their veteran, soon-to-be free agents will be their second baseman, Asdrubal Cabrera.
Cabrera, 32, has also reportedly been garnering a fair amount of interest, and with good reason (.281/.334/.490, 17 homers, 52 runs batted in this season). The clear-cut favorite to assume the starting position at Cabrera’s vacated spot has to be 26-year-old Jeff McNeil.
This season, split between Double-A Binghamton and Triple-A Las Vegas, McNeil is slashing .344/.410/.625 with 19 home runs, 70 runs batted in, 33 walks, and 42 strikeouts in 331 at-bats (214 with Binghamton, 117 with Vegas).
The 51’s kept McNeil out of last night’s 11-8 loss to the Reno Aces, leading this writer to believe that when Familia is indeed traded, with Cabrera likely to be heading out behind him, McNeil could and should be the player the Mets call up as the corresponding move.
As Mike Mayer of MMO noted this morning, the 51’s used pinch hitters in two high-leverage situations last night, both times choosing not to use Jeff McNeil.
With Familia having received the same “protective” treatment as the details of his trade were/still are being hammered out during last night’s win over the Yankees, it’s only natural that the organization had similar restrictions put into effect for the 26-year-old McNeil.
He’s the heir apparent, at least through the end of 2018, to the keystone position on this team. McNeil has proven all he can at each and every level of MiLB (.312/.380/.444 in 424 career minor league games).
It’s high time to give this young man a shot. With a clear upgrade at the position in the Rockies’ DJ LeMahieu set to hit free agency at the end of the year, this is a promotion that probably should have taken place weeks ago.
The only way for the Mets to know what they have in Jeff McNeil is to give him a fair shake at the highest level this game has to offer. It seems as if that time is nearly upon him; and us too, for that matter.
