After spending six of his first eight big league seasons in the NL East, Mets fans are very familiar with the name Marcell Ozuna. At 100 career games against the Orange & Blue, Ozuna has faced the Mets more than any other team in his career, and put a very solid slashline of .285/.352/.438 during that time.
Ozuna left the division during the 2017 offseason when Marlins CEO Derek Jeter infamously gutted most of Miami’s roster, sending the Cuban outfielder to the Cardinals in exchange for prospects Magneuris Sierra, Sandy Alcantara, Zac Gallen and Daniel Castano. Ozuna dealt with some ups-and-downs in St. Louis early on as he battled a shoulder issue for most of 2018 before having it cleaned up in the offseason. He finished his two year tenure with the Redbirds at a respectable .262/.327/.451 slashline, but still not the Ozuna we saw in 2017 who at one point was making some serious noise for Top-5 NL MVP votes.
However, after Atlanta signed Ozuna to a 1-year/$18M “pillow” contract, which has become a very popular move in their front office, he displayed the best version of himself. The 29-year-old led the majors with 267 plate appearances, and put up an exceptional slashline of .338/.431/.636. Among hitters with a minimum of 200 PA, Ozuna’s 1.067 OPS finished second in baseball behind his Braves teammate Freddie Freeman (1.185), who is the presumptive NL MVP favorite.
Due to an excess of Braves outfielders, Ozuna spent most of the 2020 season as a DH. He was a center fielder for the first few years of his career in Miami, but after posting -17 defensive runs saved in 2016, the Marlins decided to move Ozuna over to left field, and it turned out to be a great decision. Since the start of 2017, Ozuna has posted 13 DRS over 3,875 innings in left field, which is third among all qualified at that position. Recently retired Alex Gordon (26 DRS) and Boston’s Andrew Benintendi (19 DRS) are the only two names ahead of him.
Contract
The free-agent market will be extremely hard to predict this offseason due to the likelihood of many teams cutting payroll due to revenue loss from COVID-19. But even factoring that in, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Ozuna get 4-5 year offers worth $20-$25 million annually.
Ozuna was represented by Scott Boras until May of 2019 when he moved to MDR Sports Management, who also represent players like Yadier Molina, Jose Quintana, Jonathan Villar, and Isan Diaz. There are going to be some exceptional offensive corner outfielders available to sign this offseason between Michael Brantley, Joc Pederson, and Nicholas Castellanos (player option), but Ozuna should be the most heavily pursued option.
Recommendation
The biggest question with a potential marriage of Ozuna and the Mets is where would he fit among all of New York’s corner outfielders? Does it make sense to trade someone like a J.D. Davis or Brandon Nimmo and replace them in the lineup with Ozuna? He could reprise his role as a designated hitter if Major League Baseball decides to keep the Universal DH in place beyond this shortened season. But when looking at hitters like Dom Smith, Pete Alonso and Robinson Cano, the Mets seemed to be doing pretty well in that area.
While most fans wouldn’t complain about a dynamic bat like that to this already loaded Mets lineup, it would make more sense that the new regime puts a strong emphasis on pitching this offseason, and looks for a true center fielder to move Nimmo over to left, and Ozuna is not that guy for them. Lets sit this one out.
