The New York Mets had a few options once it came time to fill their infield needs this past offseason.
With David Wright sidelined (at the time) indefinitely while recovering from yet another major surgery, and Asdrubal Cabrera and/or Wilmer Flores apparently not the team’s first choices to play third base full-time, the team turned to seven-year MLB veteran and Toms River, New Jersey native, Todd Frazier.
Mets general manager Sandy Alderson was able to secure the 32-year-old’s services for the next two seasons for an efficient and team-friendly $8.5 million per season average salary.
Getting a player like Todd Frazier for the price the Mets did could turn out to be a steal in the long run. All of our fears are likely the same ones that the front-office has; this is a career .245/.321/.459 hitter who hasn’t cracked the .230 batting average mark since 2015 (.255), his last with the Cincinnati Reds.
His OPS has stayed in the same neighborhood, (2015-2017 OPS .806, .767, .772), as has his OPS+ which has been hovering in the 100-110 range since his 117 OPS+ in 2015.
And let’s not get too caught up with his Grapefruit League numbers this season (.250 batting average, .741 OPS in 52 spring training at-bats), although he has seemed to get into a rhythm over the Mets’ final week of exhibition games.
Hopefully, his lack of Spring Training success won’t carry over into the regular season, as this team is very much looking forward to having an offensively and defensively productive Frazier this year.
Another of Frazier’s positives is the steady glove he provides at third base. In just over 1,100 innings at the hot corner in 2017, Frazier was good for 10 DRS and logged a 6.7 UZR.
With Wright sidelined, it was of utmost importance to finally get a plus-glove at the position, which Frazier provides.
If Frazier can match, or at least come close, to his career 162-game averages this season for the New York Mets (.245/.321/.459, 30 home runs, 86 RBI, 111 OPS+, and 4.2 DRS per season average), his $8.5 million yearly (average) salary could turn out to be a bargain.
