DJ Stewart
All signs point to the New York Mets signing Juan Soto. Steve Cohen will not be outdone here, and he’s found a player seemingly eager to be the next great player to come to the Mets.
Arguably, Soto would be THE best hitter to ever don a Mets uniform. When you go to the create a player on MLB the Show, in terms of hitting, it looks like Soto.
At 26, the Mets would be getting their next Mike Piazza, Carlos Beltran, or Francisco Lindor, i.e. a future Hall of Famer in their prime. However, Soto might be the most promising.
That’s from an offensive standpoint. Defensively, it’s an entirely different discussion.
Yes, Soto has been nominated for a Gold Glove the past two years. However, seeing how Lindor can’t get nominated, we see how much stock we should put into that process.
Soto is not a good outfielder. He had a -1 OAA in 2024, and he has a cumulative -25 OAA over the past three seasons. Over that time frame, he has rated as the worst defensive right fielder in all of baseball.
Making matters worse is Soto’s speed. He’s slow. To put it into perspective, DJ Stewart is faster. There were only six right fielders in all of baseball slower than him.
As a result, he’s a poor to middling base runner. Put another way, he’s effectively a one tool player, but that one tool is so worth it.
That goes double for the Mets. Soto hits .333/.466/.709 at Citi Field. That’s Barry Bonds PED level production.
That production takes the Mets to the next level. Instead of losing in six games to the Los Angeles Dodgers they beat them. He’s that much of a difference maker.
Of course, contracts are not made in a bubble. They carry long term risks. As noted, we can argue Soto is already poised to move to DH, and we don’t know his feelings on being a full-time DH.
Of course, some of the concern could be mitigated with opt outs. That creates the drama of revisiting this every few years. It could also hasten a mistake contact in the future.
All told, there are obvious risks with Soto signing a megadeal. We can’t pretend they don’t exist. It’s something that needs to be considered, especially for David Stearns who puts an emphasis on run prevention.
All told, the Mets still should do everything possible to sign him. He’s the perfect fit for this team. They’re blessed to have an owner who won’t hamstring building this roster because of this deal.
Soto should be a Met even if we should stop pretending this deal would carry significant risks.
The New York Mets can call it what they want, but they had a fire sale where they overhauled the organization. Finally, they built the type of farm system which can create the sustainable winner Steve Cohen coveted when he first purchased the team.
Saying the quiet part out loud, the next step in the Mets plan is to lose enough games to get a top six pick in the draft. Put in other words, the Mets are tanking. They need to tank because if they have a pick outside the top six they will drop 10 spots in draft position due to their payroll.
For the Mets, they now have to decide how they want to tank. Do they want to tank while failing to put a representative and competitive product on the field? Do they want to best use this time to get get a look at and develop young players? Or, do they just want to be horrendous and go through the motions?
Checking into the Mets series finale against the Kansas City Royals, Buck Showalter had his old Baltimore Orioles buddy DJ Stewart batting second. Rafael Ortega was in center. It was at least the first game since the trade deadline Danny Mendick, who played eight of the last nine, wasn’t in the starting lineup.
Stewart and Mendick are 29 years old. Ortega is 32. Up until this point in their careers, none of these players have been able to stick on Major League rosters. Given their age, it is fair to question whether that will ever happen .
Being fair to Stewart, he has made the most of his second chance. You could argue he could carve out a role in the Mets for the next year or two. That goes double with Daniel Vogelbach likely being gone after this year. However, you cannot say the same of Mendick or Ortega.
For an example of what the Mets should be doing, we can look to Jonathan Araúz. He just turned 25, and he was once thought of as a top prospect with the Boston Red Sox organization. There is real value in getting a long look at him to determine if he has a future with the Mets in a utility role.
There is dignity and a purpose getting a long look at Araúz. The same could be said about taking a look at Ronny Mauricio and letting him work with the Mets coaching staff to let them weigh in on whether his future is at second or any one of the three outfield positions.
Luke Ritter is having a big year in the minors, and he will be Rule 5 eligible again this offseason. Jose Peroza will also be Rule 5 eligible. There are others in the organization. Arguably, one of these two could be taken in the draft.
If you may be in a position where you are forced to add them, why not take a look now? The same could be said of some relievers like Dedniel Núñez, who was already once taken in the Rule 5 Draft.
The overriding point here is the Mets have young prospects having big years. There is nothing wrong with giving them a look at the Major League level. If they are drowning, send them down, and let them be better for the experience. You can get an evaluation from the Major League coaching staff. If you’re not impressed, you have more information at your disposal as you move on from them.
Overall, you are going to lose as many games (perhaps more) than you will be with Mendick, Ortega, and Stewart. However, you will be furthering your organizations goals. Mostly, you are giving your fans something to see who have stuck with you during this disappointing season, and you hope will be there next year as you change course from your past offseason strategies.
Just when you got good vibes going with the New York Mets winning six in a row to open July, they enter the All Star Break losing two in a row. The Saturday loss wasn’t that bad as you knew it was going to be a tough game.
The Mets started David Peterson, who battled and kept the Mets in the game. They had Pete Alonso and Francisco Alvarez up as the tying run in the ninth, but Josh Hader was better. You tip your cap and move onto the next game.
The next game was the real problem.
After what seemed like a resurgence, Max Scherzer again wasn’t good. The struggling Manny Machado tagged him with a three run homer in the first inning. This wouldn’t prove to be one of those get the ace early because he’ll shut you down moments because Machado would hit a two run homer against Scherzer in the fifth.
The Mets offense sputtered, and this time Joe Musgrove didn’t need an oil slick on his ears to do it.
Tommy Pham went down with an injury. Buck Showalter made sure to bat one of his old Baltimore Orioles, DJ Stewart, above Alvarez and Brett Baty. Really, no one was particularly good on the day, and Brandon Nimmo continues to be mired in an 0-for-20 stretch. He’s also 3-for-30 in July.
To a certain extent, these last two games might have caused fans needless hand-wringing. We did get a little excited with the winning streak, especially with it coming against good teams. We thought there might be a glimmer of hope that the Mets were getting back into the race. With the way the starting pitching was going, there was good reason for it.
As it stands now, the Mets are 18.5 games back of the Atlanta Braves. They are also seven games back in the Wild Card. They trail five teams for that last Wild Card spot including the San Diego Padres who leaped ahead of the Mets after this series.
It’s too much to say this series ended the season. After all, their putrid June probably did that. Rather, this might’ve just been another nail in the coffin. No, it’s not over, and we have seen stranger things happen (1973, 2016). However, it is a series like this that should have us temper our expectations until further notice.