Author: Spencer Reyes
Editor: Mark Awadallah
On this past Thursday, January 7th, the Cleveland Indians and the New York Mets followed in suit of the Rays and Padres with another offseason, blockbuster trade. The Mets traded away SS Andres Gimenez, SS Amed Rosario, OF Isaiah Greene, and RHP Josh Wolf for SS Francisco Lindor and RHP Carlos Carrasco from Cleveland. This trade caused excitement and anticipation for the 2021 season for Mets fans all over the east coast. These devoted fans have suffered long enough under the Wilpon reign. While doing so, the Mets were still able to keep top prospects, SS Ronny Mauricio and C Francisco Alvarez.
Isaiah Greene, the youngest of the Mets sent over to Cleveland, is 19 years old and was recently drafted by New York in the 2nd round of the 2020 MLB Draft. He was assigned to the GCL Mets, but after the trade, he will play with the AZL Indians Blue team in 2021. The SoCal speedy outfielder was under looked going into the draft but showed his abilities during his playing time with scout teams near his high school. He is a true centerfielder with a high potential to blossom and is expected to debut in 2024. His Mets minor leaguer counterpart, Josh Wolf, was also drafted in the 2nd round, but in 2019. Both prospects are right out of high school in California and Texas, respectively. Wolf played for the GCL Mets in 2019, went 0-1, had a 3.38 ERA, 12 SO, and a WHIP of 1.25 in 8 innings of work within 5 starts. Both youngsters still have the capability to go in either direction to further their career. The second half of players the Mets sent away are already MLB ready shortstops. Andres Gimenez, the 22-year-old Venezuelan INF, was signed by the Mets in 2015, and made his debut in 2020. He performed exceptionally well and was an offensive leader in New York. He did well enough to take the starting job away from Rosario, and within 49 games he batted .263, had a slugging % of .398, recorded 31 hits, 12 RBI’s, 3 HR’s, and stole 8 bases. He finished 7th place in the National League Rookie of the Year voting. His counterpart, Amed Rosario, hasn’t fully developed yet, but his best season was in 2019, where he batted .287, had a SLG % of .432, had 177 hits, 72 RBI’s, 15 HR’s, and had 19 stolen bases.
Gimenez is not a direct replacement for Lindor, but with the idea that the Indians are looking to haul out their players to save on cash, this trade works for them. Cleveland gets to ship out two expensive contracts in exchange for MLB ready shortstops and a pair of prospects. On the other side of the coin, the Mets also had a great side of the deal. With their new owner, the Mets seem to be attempting to put together a playoff contention team and have no problem dishing out the money to do so. The 33-year-old RHP, Carlos “Cookie” Carrasco, has played for Cleveland for all of his 11 years in the MLB. He led the MLB in wins in 2017 (18), and the next year in 2018, led the league in complete games (2). He is a durable pitcher, but more importantly, he has character and is a fighter. Carrasco battled through Leukemia in 2019 and made it back on the field better than ever. His stride and passion to play will solidify his spot in the Mets rotation of Jacob DeGrom, Marcus Stroman, Steven Matz, possibly Seth Lugo, and Noah Syndergaard after the all-star break. Francisco Lindor is a whole other animal. He is, if not the best, dual-threat fielders to play exceptionally well on defense and offense. Lindor even has the hardware to prove it, with four All-Star appearances, two Gold Gloves, two Silver Sluggers, and he even won the Platinum Glove in 2016, which is awarded to the best fielder in each year. Just like Carrasco, Lindor brings a happy presence to the Mets besides his outstanding athletic abilities, hence the nickname, “Mr. Smile”. He is also a durable ballplayer. Within his 6 years of MLB experience with the Indians, he has only missed out on 21 games after getting called up in 2015. He has led the American League in games played, plate appearances, at-bats, and sacrifice hits while also leading the MLB in plate appearances, runs, and sacrifice flies all within different seasons. His career statline reads as a BA of .285, .488 SLG, 896 H, 411 RBI, 508 R, 99 SB, and 138 HR.
He will be able to fill in at the shortstop position with a potential starting lineup of James McCann as the catcher, “Polar Bear” Alonso at 1st, Jeff McNeil at 2nd, J.D. Davis at 3rd, Dom Smith in Left Field, Brandon Nimmo in Center Field, and Michael Conforto in Right Field. But what if I told you the Mets roster could get even sweeter than it is right now? The Queens side of New York could achieve a lineup of players only dreamed of by baseball fans or made in a video game setting. The Mets still have the power, money, and space to acquire more playoff ready players. I see four different scenarios that could play out. The first one would be signing CF George Springer who is with no doubt a great hitter and defender and would provide the true center fielder the Mets need while only looking for $175M, which would put the Mets right below the Luxury Tax and would not give wiggle room to sign more free agents. Option number two would be signing CF Jackie Bradley Jr. who wants a significantly lesser valued contract for both time and money and picking up either INF DJ LeMahieu to play 3rd base or LHP Brad Hand. The third scenario would be signing just one of the three players mentioned and a low tier starting pitcher like Corey Kluber or Julio Teheran. The last scenario, which I would really like to see is signing DJ LeMahieu, Brad Hand, and a possible starting pitcher. Going through with this option would leave the Mets with this roster going into 2021:
Rotation:
Jacob DeGrom
Marcus Stroman
Carlos Carrasco
Corey Kluber/Steven Matz/Julio Teheran
David Peterson
Bullpen:
Seth Lugo
Dellin Betances
Edwin Diaz
Miguel Castro
Trevor May
Robert Gsellman
Brad Hand
Jeurys Familia
Stephen Tarpley
Catcher:
James McCann
Tomás Nido
Infield:
Pete Alonso
Francisco Lindor
Jeff McNeil
J.D. Davis
Luis Guillorme
DJ LeMahieu
Outfield:
Dominic Smith
Brandon Nimmo
Michael Conforto
Guillermo Heredia
Besides this projected opening day roster, the Mets have invited many MLB ready veterans to Spring Training in Port St. Lucie, including former Mets LHP/Broadcaster Jerry Blevins, RHP Jerad Eickhoff, longtime bullpen anchor, Arodys Vizcaíno, RHP Sam McWilliams, C Bruce Maxwell, INF José Peraza, INF Wilfredo Tovar, and OF Mallex Smith. The Mets future finally looks bright and with the changes made so far, it looks like the Mets might actually be able to make it and contend in the postseason. February 27th can’t come soon enough.
METS ARE OUR UNIVERSE
Comments