[ad_1]
The best signing in Mets history could turn out to be one that owner Steve Cohen didn’t complete.
By that we mean the deal that fizzled in January that would have brought Carlos Correa to Queens on a mega-contract extending into the next decade.
Correa is off to a sputtering start with the Twins and hearing boos with the ink barely dry on the six-year deal worth $200 million he signed in the offseason. The Mets were prepared to pay him $315 million over 12 years until they reviewed his medicals and lowered their offer due to concerns about his ankle.
You think the Mets have problems now? Imagine Correa entrenched at third base with his .191/.272/.374 slash line and getting booed mercilessly at Citi Field.
Buck Showalter would be facing questions about whether Correa belonged in the middle of the batting order, if the manager hadn’t dropped him in the lineup already.
A world in which Correa is playing third base for the Mets is also one in which Brett Baty is probably at Triple-A Syracuse acquainting himself with the nuances of playing the outfield.
“I think [Correa] would’ve been a great player to have,” Brandon Nimmo told Post Sports+ this week. “But I’ve been really happy with Brett’s at-bats, and we’ve almost got like a logjam in the infield right now, where [Ronny] Mauricio is tearing it up down there in Syracuse and we just don’t have anywhere to put him right now.”
Mauricio is another player who might have needed to start playing the outfield on a team that had Correa at third base and Francisco Lindor at shortstop.
Jeff McNeil offers the flexibility of somebody who can shift to the outfield from second base, but with Baty in the mix at a corner outfield spot, there would be fewer opportunities for McNeil to move.
Nimmo pointed out that Correa would be hitting in a different lineup and would have played a different schedule in possibly friendlier weather conditions than in Minnesota had he signed with the Mets, so he isn’t totally convinced the former All-Star’s slow start would have occurred in New York.
But Nimmo acknowledged if Correa did struggle in a similar manner with the Mets, the outside noise would be loud.
“That would have been tough, and that’s tough to do in New York,” Nimmo said.
There is still plenty of time for a Correa turnaround, but from the Mets’ perspective, the opportunity to look for other options, both internal and external, is more intriguing than the possibility of an awful contract for a player whose medicals suggest he is a risk.
“From Steve’s standpoint, you’re saving some money and you’re getting production from a guy [Baty] that’s hopefully going to be a cornerstone,” Nimmo said. “I think that went into part of their decision making … where we’re sitting right now, I’ve been very happy with how Brett’s been conducting himself.”
Want to catch a game? The Mets schedule with links to buy tickets can be found here.
Up for review
The most ridiculous aspect of instant replay was on display Tuesday, when the Mets were told a play at second base in which Wil Myers clearly interfered with Lindor was non-reviewable.
On the play, Lindor was attempting to field a grounder as Myers was sliding into second base. Myers hit Lindor before he could field the grounder and also got clipped by the ball. Either contact was cause to rule Myers out. Instead he was called safe.
It seems exactly like the kind of play for which instant replay should have been implemented: the obvious missed call that could be overturned in a matter of seconds.
Instead, we continue to get inundated with reviews that are dissected to the millimeter — often inconclusively — on whether a runner beat the throw to the bag or on tag plays.
How about getting the obvious ones right?
“The game’s going very fast, and there’s so many different rules and different plays out there that the umpires can’t do it themselves,” Lindor said. “They need replay. The replay is there for a reason. I would like plays like that to be reviewed. We have a system for a season. I can’t blame the umpires for getting that call wrong even though they got it wrong, because the game’s going very fast.”
The missed call preceded a two-run triple that further buried the Mets in a game they ultimately lost 7-6. If Myers is called for intentional interference, it’s a double play and Stephen Nogosek escapes the inning.
“Defensive players like myself, it’s tough, because there were runs that most likely weren’t going to score, at least one of them,” Lindor said. “And to me, over the course of a year, that’s … money for players because their ERA goes up. [Pitchers] get sent down because he has to throw more pitches. … [O]n top of that, it’s winning the game.”
What could have been
Matt Harvey last week became the first member of the Mets’ vaunted rotation of the last decade to announce his retirement.
There was a time you would have bet on Harvey having the best career from the group that also included Jacob deGrom, Zack Wheeler, Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz.
But Harvey, because of injuries and off-field behavior, fell short of that potential, and will be remembered as a comet whose luster disappeared all too quickly.
And the others? Age and health may have caught up with all of them.
DeGrom received his big contract from the Rangers, and last week hit the injured list due to forearm discomfort. It’s a familiar tune to Mets fans.
Wheeler got off to a sluggish start with the Phillies this season, and hasn’t resembled the pitcher who has been among the National League’s best for the past few years.
Syndergaard has struggled with the Dodgers, and this week was placed on the injured list because of a cut on his finger. He had an underwhelming 2022 season with the Angels and Phillies, and appears to be barely hanging on in the major leagues.
Matz has been a significant disappointment for the Cardinals in two seasons after spurning an offer from the Mets.
[ad_2]
Source link