If some of you are holding your breaths waiting for the Mets to promote top prospect Dilson Herrera to the major leagues in light of the news on David Wright, it’s time to exhale. Go ahead and let that air out because there’s little chance you’ll see Herrera anytime soon.
Mike Puma of the New York Post has confirmed what I was saying yesterday about shifting Neil Walker to third base to make room for Dilson at second base.
The Mets, according to a front office source, have reservations about moving Walker to third base to open up a spot for Dilson Herrera – who can only play second.
Walker has played just 15 games at third base in the majors, but it was so long ago and before he became a regular for the Pirates, and he wasn’t very good as his two errors in 31 chances clearly illustrate. In fact, the Pirates ditched the idea of Walker as a third baseman in 2010 and he hasn’t played there ever since.
As of this morning, Neil Walker is the only player on the Mets roster batting over .280 and he’s second on the team with 13 home runs, two behind Yoenis Cespedes, and ranking 10th in the major leagues.
The last thing the offense starved Mets need is to upset the apple cart where Walker is concerned, by uprooting him from his natural second base position and plopping him at third base in some half-assed attempt at damage control..
So unless the Mets make a deal – or promote T.J. Rivera – expect Herrera to remain at Triple-A Las Vegas where he’s batting .288 (8th on the team) with 8 home runs and 28 RBIs.
The fact is, the Mets never really believed that Herrera would be ready to step into regular playing time in 2016, and that’s why they traded for Neil Walker in the first place, after taking a pass on Daniel Murphy and getting snubbed by Ben Zobrist.
So at least for the next 4-5 weeks – when teams will be more open to dealing – expect the Mets to navigate through this period with the likes of Wilmer Flores, Ty Kelly and Matt Reynolds.
Sandy Alderson – being the stealthy executive that he is – could still surprise us with an unlikely deal for a significant piece. But it seems too early to identify the sellers outside of the 3-4 bottom dwelling teams.
