Brodie Van Wagenen spoke with reporters Wednesday night at the GM Meetings and said that Jeff McNeil is “penciled in” at second base for the 2019 season.
McNeil, 26, started off his major league career as good as it can get as he hit .329/.381/.471 with three home runs and 19 RBI in 248 plate appearances to help give him a 137 wRC+ and 2.7 WAR. On the defensive side, -2 DRS and 0.4 UZR at the keystone while he recorded one DRS and 0.7 UZR at third base.
In an offseason where the second-week GM has been very coy on his plans for the offseason, it is somewhat surprising that he committed to this right now, given his versatility.
It is almost certainly the right decision as McNeil really was as dynamic of a player as the team could have hoped for as he even stole seven bases and had six triples, exemplifying superb speed on the basepaths.
The Mets now appeared primed to upgrade at the hot corner, as the team needs a right-handed bat and that is likely the place they will do so, if the plan is to upgrade in the infield. That would potentially require a trade of Todd Frazier, but Manny Machado and Josh Donaldson are the highlights of this free agent class at the position on the open market.
