The New York Mets felt they needed first base insurance for the young Dominic Smith this offseason and their answer was signing veteran Adrian Gonzalez to contract for the major league minimum.
The soon-to-be 36-year-old Gonzalez has struggled at the plate this spring slashing just .212/.278/.242 in 33 at-bats with only one extra base hit. In that span he has walked three times and struck out seven.
It’s not only the results for Gonzalez at the plate – the bat looks slow, his power is non-existent – and that combined looks like a hitter coming off 2017 season in which he had a .642 OPS that simply might be done.
Gonzalez was limited to only 231 at-bats in his awful -1.2 WAR 2017 season because of a lower back injury that now requires him to do 90 minutes of warmups prior to the regular team stuff.
The former four-time gold glover even saw his defense drop last year to -2 DRS in 501 innings at first base. Sure he’s shown that he can still pick it at first base but his lack of range is an issue.
On Wednesday the New York Yankees released veteran first baseman/outfielder Adam Lind. He wasn’t going to make the Opening Day roster for them with Greg Bird already at first base and they recently added Neil Walker who can give them insurance at the position.
Lind is coming off a 2017 season in which he hit .303/.362/.513 with 14 doubles, 14 home and 59 RBI in 301 plate appearances for the Washington Nationals. He’s also posted an OPS of of at least .820 four of the last five seasons.
Lind is absolutely a platoon player, he crushed righties last year with a .898 OPS against them and was limited to only 29 at-bats against lefties. That’s not a problem for the Mets because they have Wilmer Flores that can play first base and hits lefties well (.838 career OPS).
I’m full aware that Lind is only 3 for 15 this spring after signing a deal during the middle of camp. I’m not that worried about a guy that was good offensive in 2017 and has long recent track record of hitting well. Also aware that he’s not a great defender at first (-2 DRS) though he does have some experience in left field (25 games in 2017).
My issues with Gonzalez are the combination of everything said above. You could ignore the bad offensive spring if he wasn’t almost 36 coming off the worst season of his career and still dealing with a back issue that has limited his defensive ability.
With Gonzalez predictably struggling, Dominic Smith still on the sidelines with a quad injury, and the Mets being reluctant to give Jay Bruce reps at first, the Mets should be proactive at first base by signing Lind and if necessary in the process, cutting Gonzalez.
