The New York Mets aren’t necessarily in desperate need of a true center fielder heading into 2020, but it certainly couldn’t hurt.
Michael Conforto is, for all intents and purposes, a right fielder and Brandon Nimmo, while serviceable up the middle, is likely better suited for a corner spot, as well.
Juan Lagares never became the offensive force the Mets had hoped, hopefully complementing his Gold Glove-caliber skills in center field, and he was bought out earlier this offseason.
That leaves a hole in the Mets’ roster. Defensive prowess was an issue for New York last season, across the board. Their -93 defensive runs saved was worst in the National League and second-worst in all of baseball.
With one of the most talented pitching staffs in baseball — as well as their rapidly-developing offensive core (the Mets’ 104 wRC+ was second in NL last year) — making top-flight defense a priority should be at the top of general manager Brodie Van Wagenen’s list this winter.
One option that has presented itself to Van Wagenen & Co. as the hot stove has begun to warm up is Pittsburgh Pirates’ center fielder, Starling Marte.
Marte hit .295/.342/.503 last season, setting career-highs with 23 homers, 82 RBIs, and a career-best 16% strikeout rate. His 119 wRC+ was his best since putting up a 120 rating in 2016.
The Dominican product’s defensive metrics took a hit in 2019 (-9 DRS, -8.3 UZR/150; FanGraphs), but his career marks (-11 DRS, which is accumulated, and -1.2 UZR/150 0ver seven MLB seasons) provide ample evidence that Marte remains a more-than-capable fielder.
His +2 outs above average (Baseball Savant) last season ranked in the 50th percentile (46th of 92 qualified MLB outfielders). Not great, but statistically above-average. We’ll take that.
Statcast developed a rating system for outfield opportunities, using a one-through-five star rating based on catch probability.
Marte was one of 11 MLB outfielders to convert every two-star (76-90 percent catch probability) last season and his 70 percent conversion rate on four-star opportunities (26-50 percent catch probability) ranked sixth among the same group.
Despite reports from mid-October alluding to the 31-year-old remaining in Pittsburgh (Adam Berry, MLB.com), Jon Heyman of MLB Network confirmed on Saturday that the Mets “have interest” in trading for Marte.
His $11.5 million option for 2020 has already been picked up by the Pirates and Pittsburgh holds a $12.5 million club option on Marte for 2021 ($2 million buyout). For a player of his caliber, that’s palatable.
What he will cost in return value is the $64,000 question. Parting with an Andres Gimenez or Ronny Mauricio to secure Marte’s services, shoring up a clear weak spot on this roster, even in thought is a tough pill to swallow.
Sure, the Mets have a logjam at the shortstop position and both players are on the upswing after a solid season from Mauricio (.268/.307/.357 at Single-A Columbia) and a red-hot finish and Arizona Fall League stint via Gimenez (.935 OPS over his final 17 games with Double-A Binghamton and .999 OPS over 18 games in the AFL).
But we’ve seen how mortgaging the future can go wrong. Many, many times. Dipping into the upper-echelon of the system is, and has always been, a slippery slope.
Perhaps packaging a collection of prospects with reasonably high ceilings — Shervyen Newton, Desmond Lindsay, maybe Ali Sanchez, who was just added to the 40-man roster this week — a la the package Van Wagenen sent Houston for J.D. Davis last season, would do the trick?
We shall see.
