New York Mets assistant general manager John Ricco was on SNY talking the state of the team Thursday night and one thing that was discussed in-depth was the teams awful defense in 2018.
Ricco on the topic, “We have had several decent players, but as a group I don’t think we valued it as much as we need to.”
The Mets as a team in 2017 had a major league worst -73 defensive runs saved with the Tigers the second worst at -62. A good portion of that -73 number came from the Mets playing Asdrubal Cabrera and Jose Reyes out of position at shortstop which will be manned by Amed Rosario in 2018.
Back in September, general manager Sandy Alderson admitted that defense should be a bigger priority going forward for the Mets, “When your pitchers aren’t striking everybody out, as we’ve had the benefit of in the past, the defense becomes a little more important. A recognition after this year that if we’re going to have pitching that puts the ball in play a little more, then the defense is going to have to be more of a priority.”
Th Mets team committed a whopping 92 errors this past season, their most in a single season since 2014.
Alderson’s reputation in the past has been as an offense first guys when it comes to position players and Ricco acknowledged as much saying, “Sandy, he’s a big offense guy. I think that you will see us focus a little bit more on defense.
The Mets could go a long way in improving their defense with Rosario at short everyday, Juan Lagares staying healthy in center and adding a second baseman like Ian Kinsler or Dee Gordon.
