It has been made clear over the course of the offseason that the Mets are looking to sign an outfielder, preferably a center fielder with A.J. Pollock being one name the Mets have considered.
However, another name that has been the subject of Mets rumors in the past might be the best fit. That player is Andrew McCutchen, the former Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder that the Mets tried to acquire along with Josh Harrison last offseason.
McCutchen, 32, is coming off a very solid season split between the San Francisco Giants and the New York Yankees, albeit not up to par with his MVP caliber seasons that saw a peak of an 8.1 WAR in 2013.
In 155 games, the outfielder hit .255/.368/.424 with 20 home runs, 65 RBI, and 14 SB to give himself a 120 wRC+ and 2.6 WAR on the year. He also accumulated two defensive runs saved in time split between right and left field with a -0.8 UZR.
That seems to be in line with what to expect from him in the near future as he had a 123 wRC+ in 2017 which is obviously very similar to this past season’s clip.
One notable piece of information is that the outfielder happened to have the highest walk rate of his career last season at 21.3%, which is encouraging for a player advancing in age.
It shows that while his bat might be slowing down, he is adjusting quite smoothly and learning to be more patient in the process.
Another encouraging aspect of the outfielder’s game is his extreme durability. The five-time All-Star has played no less than 146 games in a season every year except for his rookie season. He has also played in 155 games or more six times in his career.
That statistic looks even more impressive when comparing it to the health status of Mets’ target A.J. Pollock who has only played in 150 games or more one time in his career (2015).
Pollock, though, does have a significant advantage on McCutchen, though, in that he is still a center fielder. That is with no doubt true as McCutchen simply can’t play the position anymore as he accumulated -16 DRS and -5.5 UZR at the position in 2017.
The Mets should by no means expect him to move back to the middle of the outfield. However, he might be a safer gamble to give a multi-year contract if the team is willing to move one of Brandon Nimmo or Michael Conforto to center field.
If the team were to go this route, Nimmo would make the most sense to move to center field as he had -2 DRS at the position in 350 1/3 innings at the position in 2018 as compared to Conforto’s -8 DRS in 501 2/3 innings.
Mike Puma of the New York Post reported yesterday that the Mets were considering acquiring a right-handed hitting corner outfielder and moving Brandon Nimmo to center field to serve in a platoon with Juan Lagares, the only natural center fielder on the Mets roster currently.
However, McCutchen (.950 OPS) does edge Pollock (.825 OPS) against left-handed opponents for his career. The Mets struggled mightily against southpaws last season, with an offense that lacks a right-handed hitting presence with Yoenis Cespedes expected to be on the disabled list until at least July.
In terms of what it would cost to sign McCutchen, Jon Heyman of FanCred projects his ninth-best free agent to get a three-year, $39 million contract. That likely will make him cheaper than Pollock who is asking for a contract similar to Lorenzo Cain‘s from last offseason (five-years, $80 million) and Heyman projects to get a three-year, $45 million contract in the end.
While McCutchen obviously is not a perfect fit given he is not really a center fielder anymore, the 2013 MVP could prove to be a smart investment between his on-field contributions and his reputation as being an incredible clubhouse leader.
