While it may be easy to blame Jay Bruce as the culprit for opening the floodgates to a Washington Nationals 11-4 win on Tuesday, the Met right fielder has provided some of the most steadiest defense on the team this season. Bruce has given the Mets a solid glove in right field and despite his first error of the season, his 5 defensive runs saved so far in 2017 should be applauded.
I wish I could say the same for center field and left field, but the Mets have taken a a bit of a step backward there this season compared to last, and the steady gold glove defense we’ve come to expect from Yoenis Cespedes just hasn’t been there in 2017. Balls hit in his direction have become a hold your breath moment and no longer the sure thing they once were.
Give Michael Conforto and Juan Lagares kudos for their defensive play in center field, but unfortunately Curtis Granderson negates some of the positive upticks on defense with his lack of range and soft arm.
All in all however, the Mets’ defensive outfield alignment has been pretty damned good regardless of the past two games, and in fact they rank sixth best in MLB. It may not have looked that way against the Nationals on Monday and Tuesday, but our outfield is the least of our problems defensively.
Clearly, the Mets infield defense has been an abject failure. There’s no rock big enough for Sandy Alderson to hide under when it comes to how abysmal the team’s defense has been over the years. But this season it has reached the apex historically for the Mets as the worst defensive team of all time.
You can put a lot of the blame for the pitching staff’s 4.84 ERA at the feet of an atrocious and porous infield that lets more groundballs through for base hits than any other team in the league. That earned run average, incidentally, is the second worst in franchise history, only the 1962 Mets at 5.04 were worse. That’s embarrassing.
First things first, you have to give Lucas Duda credit for not only being the best defensive player on the team, but for keeping the infield defense from being worse by virtue of his adept glovework and ability to scoop so many bad throws out of the dirt or ranging as wide as he does to grab those many errant throws.
The worst position by far defensively for the Mets is shortstop where ironically an in-house solution has been posting MVP-type numbers at Triple-A Las Vegas and Double-A Binghamton for two years now.
Of course I’m talking about baseball’s top shortstop prospect Amed Rosario. This young man is often lauded for his quick bat and the hard contact he makes, but make no mistake that his defense has been just as impressive. Don’t let those 13 errors in Las Vegas fool you.
General manager Sandy Alderson has resisted promoting the young phenom for fear of him coming into some savior-type expectations from the fans and media. It’s totally understandable until you realize that the Mets own an MLB worst -15 defensive runs saved at shortstop.
Mostly manned by Asdrubal Cabrera, who ranked among the game’s worst defensive shortstops, Jose Reyes covers the position now in the aftermath of an injury to Neil Walker. There is some improvement but it’s incremental at best.
The truth is that the lack of a defensive-minded shortstop has become an untenable situation for the Mets, made worse by a pitching staff that is striking out less batters and inducing more ground balls.
Third base has also seen some appalling defensive play for the Mets – a position that has been manned mostly by a combination of Jose Reyes, Wilmer Flores and T.J. Rivera. Regardless of whatever offensive value these three have provided, it’s pretty hard to justify their combined -9 defensive runs saved at the hot corner – the worst mark in the National League and second worst in the majors.
Shortstop and third base has been so bad that you can almost tolerate the 25th worst -5 DRS the Mets are getting at second base. But the bottom line is that it all adds up to an incredibly atrocious -29 defensive runs saved at these three vital infield positions.
That is completely unacceptable and screams for an immediate remedy and response. If there was ever a case for promoting Amed Rosario – this is it. As this season continues to slip away for the Mets, it may be time to start thinking about 2018, and more importantly, to make sure that the team’s defense – which has been widely ignored by this front office – becomes a major focal point moving forward.
