The New York Mets front office catalyzing Steve Cohen’s public displeasure with Steven Matz’s agent Rob Martin into a holiday weekend bender imbibing in roster-reinforcing deals was quite the turn of events.
Adding former Cardinals prospect Nick Plummer to major league deal following his 2021 reemergence (.280/.415/.479, 15 homers over 478 PA between Double-A and Triple-A; 144 wRC+ 16th-best among both levels) and, to a lesser extent, right-hander Antonio Santos (picked up on waivers from Colorado) were solid directions for New York to shift following the firestorm that ensued on Wednesday morning.
Depth is good, as is changing the narrative during times like those. But judging by the pace at which this organization had been moving this offseason, it’s safe to say that no one was anticipating the shopping spree that would take place once the front office woke up from their respective tryptophan-aided slumbers after the holiday.
On Friday morning, we implored Mr. C to let that miles-long cache of legal tender do his talking for him. Admittedly, we didn’t expect such a prompt response.
However, Mets general manager Billy Eppler & Co. embraced the spending spirit of the Friday after Thanksgiving with open arms, angling agreements from infielder Eduardo Escobar, outfielder Mark Canha, and center fielder Starling Marte before the day was through.
The first two are big. That last one is huge.
Escobar, 32, plays second base, shortstop, and third. Canha, also 32, plays all three outfield positions and some first base. Versatility is becoming a theme here and we dig that very much.
In the box, both have a moderate amount of pop (Canha is good for 15-20 homers a year, Escobar has 111 dingers over 638 games since 2017) and fall on the right side of average with regularity (Canha, 126 wRC+ since 2018; Escobar, 105).
Best yet, both were signed to economically-friendly deals (two years, $20 million for Escobar; two years, $26.5 million for Canha) and both can assuredly be counted on for 100-plus starts a year at a variety of positions. That’s gonna play, especially with a multitude of other areas to address on the roster.
As for Marte, the Mets finally have the true center fielder they’ve been pining for in perpetuity. And not only that, the Dominican product was the top option at the position on the market. Big win.
The 33-year-old comes to Queens on a four-year, $78 million deal ($19.5 million AAV), bringing a dynamic offensive profile (.298/.358/.472, 122 wRC+, 123 extra-base hits, 82 stolen bases since 2019) and solid glove (17 outs above average since 2018, per Statcast) to shore up a long-pestering weak spot for the Mets.
Brandon Nimmo took over duties in center field last season and performed admirably (4 OAA), but shifting the 28-year-old into a corner spot (2 OAA and 5 OAA in left and right field over his career, respectively) certainly bodes well for the defensive potential of the group.
Tossing Canha, a fine defender in his own right (2 OAA in right and center last season, -2 in left), into the other corner on most days should result in a noticeable step up in defensive acuity among the Mets’ grassroamers.
All good things. As for what’s next, oy.
Free-agent right-hander Kevin Gausman has been rumored as a top target to help repopulate the Mets’ rotation (two vacancies), as have reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Robbie Ray and future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer.
Reports have New York and Toronto as two of the finalists for Gausman (we profiled him here) with more teams in the mix and a five-year deal as the logical landing point for his services.
The 30-year-old right-hander is coming off a great year (2.81 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 227 K over 33 starts) and would make any rotation better. Alluring, no doubt.
With regards to Marcus Stroman — who’s openly expressed his desire to return to New York after enjoying a career year in Flushing last season — a since-deleted tweet via the 30-year-old right-hander on Saturday night pointed to the possibility that the Mets have moved on in favor of other targets.
That would be unfortunate, as all interested parties know what Stroman brings to the table as a potential number two behind Jacob deGrom. But these things do happen. We’ll just have to wait and see how this all shakes out, won’t we?
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