Johneshwy Fargas
Desperate times call for desperate measures. Looking at the New York Mets injury situation, which hit a nadir when Kevin Pillar was hit in the face, they need all the help they can get.
Honestly, looking at things, they need J.D. Davis back.
Part of the reason is Jonathan Villar‘s struggles. Yes, he is in fact struggling. So far this year, Villar has an 87 wRC+ at the plate, and at third base, he has a -2 DRS and -1 OAA.
There’s also the current pinch hitting options. Patrick Mazeika is a feel good story, but he has a 76.1 exit velocity, and that’s even with the homer.
Now, Mazeika’s presence has allowed the Mets to go to James McCann and Tomas Nido as pinch hitters. While McCann delivered last night, he’s struggled mightily at the plate.
Also, for what little it’s worth, Nido has not been a good pinch hitter in his career. That said, he probably should get more time behind that plate, but that’s a discussion for another day.
The Mets are getting something from Jose Peraza right now, but he’s still not putting up great numbers. There should be very genuine interest in Johneshwy Fargas and Khalil Lee, but it’s apparent the Mets don’t believe either is truly ready.
Breaking it all down, the Mets need help. Yes, Davis is the worst defender in the majors. Yes, his offensive production to date has been nearly entirely BABIP and juiced ball reliant.
Taking all that into account, he’s needed at the moment. He can at least stand at third and in left. He will give you an honest at-bat. Where the Mets are right now, that is sorely needed (pun intended).
Hopefully, Davis’ rehab game goes well permitting the Mets to active him sooner rather than later. At this point, with the way things are going, we can only imagine who else gets injured between now and the later.
In case you missed it with the Mets making a circus of the Yoenis Cespedes situation, the team once again traded a prospect for a defensive replacement in center. This is the third such trade the Mets have made since Brodie Van Wagenen was hired as the Mets General Manager.
The first trade was trading Adam Hill, Felix Valerio, and Bobby Wahl for Keon Broxton. Broxton played just 34 games with the Mets in 2019. He had a 3 OPS+ and a -0.5 WAR being released. He has signed a minor league deal with the Mariners. Currently, he is part of their 60 player pool, but he has yet to be recalled.
With Juan Lagares departing via free agency, instead of pursuing any one of the cheap defensive center fielders on the fee agent market, Van Wagenen traded Blake Taylor and Kenedy Corona for Jake Marisnick.
Marisnick lasted just four games before landing on the IL. Meanwhile, Taylor has been sensational for the Astros. He’s pitched 7.1 scoreless innings over five appearances. Ironically, his 0.8 WAR would lead the Mets this year.
What is maddening about that is the Mets couldn’t just gone out this past offseason and signed Lagares. Last year, Lagares had a very good 5 OAA. This past offseason, he settled for a minor league deal with the Padres, which based upon incentives, could’ve reached $2.4 million.
The Mets not only gave up prospects for Marisnick, but the perpetually cash strapped franchise, agreed to pay him $3.3 million in arbitration.
Instead of Lagares, the Mets could’ve signed Billy Hamilton. This past offseason, Hamilton signed a minor league deal with the Giants.
Considering the Mets only use their defensive players sparingly, begrudgingly letting them bat on occasion, Hamilton was perfect for this team. He’s an elite defensive CF with speed which could be best utilized as a pinch runner.
But, Hamilton only required a minor league deal with an invitation to Spring Training. Since that wasn’t coupled with the unnecessary parting of prospects, Van Wagenen wasn’t interested.
However, now, that the Mets were able to give the Giants Jordan Humphreys, who is a very real prospect with a live arm, the Mets were suddenly interested.
They were interested despite Hamilton missing part of summer camp for undisclosed medical reasons. He would not make the Giants Opening Day roster. Instead, he would be part of their player pool.
The Mets made this trade despite having Lagares back. They also had other no-hit defensive replacements like Johneshwy Fargas.
Obtaining Hamilton when you already had reasonable facsimiles is an odd move. Trading an actual prospect for him when you had those pieces is a plain bad move. When you give up pieces for a player you could’ve had for a minor league deal and wasn’t even on a MLB roster at the trade of the trade is pure and simple incompetence.
Parting with five prospects and a MLB reliever for three defensive replacements, two of whom did nothing of value for your team, and the third not even being on a MLB roster, is a fireable offense. That goes double when Lagares has been with the organization.
This is an embarrassing misallocation of resources. Even if you want to make the dumb and highly flawed argument these prospects may not develop into productive major leaguers, the Mets lost the ability to move these players for actual useful pieces.
In the end, we focus on the loss of Jarred Kelenic and Justin Dunn. We can and should look at that to use it to criticize Brodie Van Wagenen. However, if you want a real sign of how Van Wagenen doesn’t know what he’s doing, look no further than his parting with real prospects for the privilege of overpaying players who just could’ve been signed for the league minimum.
In the end, not even comprehending the market and how to properly manage and allocate his resources shows just how much Van Wagenen doesn’t comprehend how to do this job. Whenever the Mets are finally sold we can only hope the new owner has Van Wagenen follow the Wilpons out the door before he inflicts any more damage to the franchise.