Entering the 2018 season, the Mets right side defense was a question mark.  With veterans who could mitigate against their declining skills with positioning and baseball acumen, how much of a question mark the right side would be defensively would be open to debate.

With the Mets starting the year 15-6, it would be fair to say any concerns about any areas of this team could be overblown.  And yet, it does seem the right side defense has been an issue on more than one occasion, and possibly, it helped cost the Mets some games.  Here’s a review:

April 16th

This game was known for a complete and utter bullpen meltdown with the bullpen walking in two runs, issuing another walk, hitting a batter, and allowing three hits in a six run Nationals inning.  In a microcosm, the focus is the bullpen.  In a macro sense, there is a question if the defense could have stemmed the tide.

The first two runs of that inning were scored on a Bryce Harper single hit between Asdrubal Cabrera and Adrian Gonzalez.  Arguably, another tandem fields that ball and gets at least one out.

The next RBI single was a game tying Wilmer Difo single by Wilmer Flores.  Again, it is an open debate if another first baseman, maybe not Gonzalez, but another first baseman gets that ball or even knocks it down.

Lost in the meltdown were two plays where the right side could have made a play, and they didn’t.  Maybe if those plays were made, that inning goes much differently.

April 21st

With the game already tied in the bottom of the ninth, Ender Inciarte came to the plate with runners at the corners.  In 2017, Inciarte was third in the NL in bunt hits.  As a result, his dropping down a bunt, even against a drawn-in infield, could not be ruled out as a possibility.  Even Gary Cohen predicted it could happen.

Inciarte would drop down that bunt, and even with Gonzalez charging in, he had no real shot to get the runner at home, and as a result, the Mets lost that game.

April 24th

With the game tied and Matt Harvey on the mound, Dexter Fowler hit a line drive to right field.  A plantar fascitiis plagued Jay Bruce took long to get there, and the speedy Fowler took advantage stretching the single to a double.  That would put Fowler in position to score on the ensuing RBI double by Paul DeJong.

Unlike the aforementioned games, the Mets would not lose this close one due to a Gonzalez sacrifice fly and Bruce homer.

Advanced Stats Perspective

Looking at the trio of Gonzalez, Cabrera, and Bruce, they are some of the slower players in Major League Baseball.  According to Baseball Savant, Gonzalez is the sixth slowest first baseman, Cabrera is the second slowest second baseman, and Bruce is the slowest outfielder in all of baseball.  All combined, this is the slowest right side defense in all of baseball.

This creates an opportunity for teams to get more hits through the right side of the infield, drop those hits into the Bermuda Triangle, and take the extra base on balls hit to right.

Expanding it further, Gonzalez’s -1 DRS is 15th among MLB first baseman, Bruce’s -2 DRS is 16 among MLB right fielders, and Cabrera’s -3 DRS is worst in the majors among MLB second baseman.

Overall, the Mets -1 DRS among first baseman is 17th, -2 DRS among their right fielders is ranked 22nd, and -3 DRS among second baseman is third worst in the majors.  The combined -6 DRS takes the Mets defense from a middle of the pack in the majors to a lower third defensive club.

It has created a soft spot in the Mets defense, which is all the more of a problem when you consider the bullpen has one left-handed reliever in Jerry Blevins and right now has just one left-handed starter in Steven Matz.  Even with Jason Vargas soon to come off the disabled list and a bullpen full of platoon neutral to reverse platoon pitchers, this is a problem.

Now, when Cabrera is hitting like an MVP candidate, Gonzalez is getting key hits, and Bruce is hitting go-ahead homers, no one is going to care all that much.

However, when Cabrera comes back to Earth, Gonzalez stops getting those clutch RBIs, and Brandon Nimmo continues to pressure a hobbled Bruce for playing time, it’s going to become harder and harder to ignore the defensive liability the three present on one side of the field.  While we can argue their impact on the aforementioned games, there will come a point in time the Mets right side defense will cost the team a game or two or more.

So, yes, right now there is no reason to have a cause for alarm or a sense of urgency.  That said, sooner or later, Sandy Alderson and Mickey Callaway are going to have to find a way to mitigate against what could be the Mets biggest issue right now, even if that means bruising a couple of egos by lifting them late in games for defense.