Sandy Alderson, who usually plays everything close to the vest, had no reservations yesterday when he told Mike Francesa that he would like to see a new face at shortstop next season. He admitted that he did meet with Jhonny Peralta in Orlando, but added that there weren’t many solid candidates available at the position.
“If you’re looking to really upgrade…maybe you’ve got Peralta and Stephen Drew… Rafael Furcal is coming off a serious elbow injury, it’s not even clear if he’s throwing yet. It’s just a small group.”
Alderson understands that he can’t afford to have a weak bat at several positions. “When you start to compromise at two or three, that’s when you get in trouble,” he said.
“We’ve only got eight guys hitting, plus the pitcher… We got great defense from Lagares, but at some point you have to get offense at that position, or at the shortstop position, or at the corner outfield position. You cannot have two or three guys be holes in your offense and not get production from that position.”
It’s clear that Juan Lagares and Travis d’Arnaud have spots already locked down, though neither can be counted on offensively – at least not yet.
That makes finding an offensive minded shortstop critical to a successful offseason for the Mets – even if they have to overpay a little.
In my opinion, Peralta is the go-to guy, but he’s looking for a deal greater than three years and $45 million. signing him would be a bold move, but does Sandy have it in him to make that kind of move? We’ll see…
It’s been two years now since the Mets let Jose Reyes walk…
The search for his replacement still goes on…
