James Loney has been acquired by the Mets in a trade with the San Diego Padres, reports ESPN’s Adam Rubin. The Mets are trading cash considerations for the veteran first baseman. Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, first reported that the Mets were scouting Loney in El Paso on Friday.
Loney, 32, is batting .342 with a .373 OBP and .424 slugging in 43 games with the Padres’ Triple-A affiliate. He has nine doubles, two homers and 28 RBIs in 158 at-bats.
A career .285 major league hitter, Loney doesn’t have that prototypical first baseman’s power, but he owns a career .303 average with runners in scoring position, and he’ll certainly help the Mets in that department where they own a paltry .217/.303/.358 line with RISP.
This immediately improves on Eric Campbell, who has started four straight games at first base and was hitting only .182 with one homer and five RBIs in 55 at-bats this season.
Loney figures to be in a platoon at first with Wilmer Flores, getting the bulk of the playing time against right-handed pitching.
This is definitely a nice signing for the Mets, who have now patched the void left by the injured Lucas Duda.
