It’s no secret that Jay Bruce and Neil Walker have taken the reins as the veteran leaders of the Mets lineup as Yoenis Cespedes and David Wright remain sidelined with varying degrees of injuries.
But the question remains as to what happens to the sluggers once the 2017 season concludes.
Bruce, 30, had his $13 million contract picked up by the Mets in the 2016-17 offseason with full intent to trade the outfielder.
When that didn’t happen, Bruce responded with an April in which he clubbed seven home runs, drove in 16 runs and hit to a .292/.370/.584 clip.
Overall this season, Bruce is hitting .248/.323/.495 (which are in line with his overall career numbers), with 13 home runs and 36 RBI.
As an impending free agent, Bruce hopes that he remains with the team beyond the trade deadline, and more importantly, beyond the 2017 season.
“I’ve enjoyed my time here. My career here didn’t start necessarily how I wanted it to, but I’ve been welcomed by the organization,” Bruce said. “It’s a very passionate fan base and a team that I think has a lot of talent and a lot of ability, so yeah, I would consider myself a needed commodity.”
Bruce added that he believes he is an impact player and can help the team in a positive way.
“I take a lot of pride in offense and defense. I take a lot of pride in staying on the field,” Bruce said. “I take a lot of pride in kind of staying under the radar, just doing my job. The more guys like that that you can have, the better.’’
Walker had big shoes to fill when Daniel Murphy departed for the nation’s capital after his Babe Ruth-esque 2015 postseason, and performed well in his first season in blue and orange.
In 2016, Walker hit .282/.347/.476 with 23 homers and 55 RBI in 113 games before missing the remainder of the season after undergoing a lumbar microdiscectomy.
The 31-year-old accepted the $17.2 million qualifying offer the Mets offered him and has lived up to it so far in 2017, especially as of late.
In his last 28 games, Walker is hitting to the tune of .326/.381/.596 with five long balls and 17 RBI.
The idea of Walker and the Mets coming to terms on a contract extension were floated around during spring training but have since been shelved until presumably the offseason.
“I’m going to have hopefully a lot of options. We’ll see,” Walker said. “We obviously almost got something done here in spring training and that didn’t happen.”
Walker added that he is going to continue playing his game and will see what is out there when the time comes to make a decision.
“I’m not disappointed in the team, but I’m disappointed kind of in the process of things. I guess that’s business. Sometimes things go the way that you hope and sometimes they don’t,” Walker said. “I’m going to play this year, I’m going to see how things go. And I can take a bird’s-eye view when the season ends of what’s out there.’’
While both Bruce and Walker are streaky at the dish and are both subjected to long stretches where they are either white hot or ice cold, it’s hard to deny the presence they have had in the Mets lineup in 2017.
With fellow outfielder Curtis Granderson‘s contract set to expire at the conclusion of the season and the suddenly injury prone Asdrubal Cabrera facing a $2 million buyout this winter, retaining Bruce and Walker would keep two important commodities talents in Queens.
With Jose Reyes likely gone after this season or before and the uncertainty surrounding Wright, the Mets could be looking at an infield of Wilmer Flores at third base, Amed Rosario and Walker up the middle and one of Lucas Duda (also slated to hit the open market) or Dominic Smith at first heading into next season.
That in addition to an outfield of Cespedes, Michael Conforto and the aforementioned Bruce looks solid on paper, and barring any injuries (don’t hold your breath) can play with the big boys.
Sandy Alderson would be wise and learn from his mistakes by finding a fair balance of retaining the important pieces to the puzzle, as well as finding the missing ones to secure a quality finished product.
