With Brodie Van Wagenen now steering the Mets and the Wilpons still its navigators, uncertainty is going to be a given until the new GM can stabilize the team's core.
In his first major move, Van Wagenen did bolster the bullpen, lessening that uncertainty, by adding a new closer, Edwin Diaz, and bringing back a former one, Jeurys Familia, though he might have overpaid for the latter. Plus, he added a hitter who had a higher BA (.303) than every Met position player except for Juan Lagares and Jeff McNeil who, combined, played in only 93 games.
Then, Van Wagenen signed Wilson Ramos, filling the team's need for a catcher who can hit. His 2018 statline: .306/.358/.487. Those numbers remind me of the days of Mike Piazza who, in his best season with the Mets, hit .324/.398/.614. Some sportswriters have even predicted that Ramos will bat fourth. It's been a long time since a Mets catcher batted cleanup.
High on Van Wagenen's TO DO list must be to re-sign P Jacob deGrom. Despite winning only 10 games in 2018, he won the NL Cy Young Award because of his 1.70 ERA, 269 SO, 46 BB, only 2 WP, and a 0.912 WHIP in 217.0 IP for a team that hit only .234, tying them with the Phillies for the lowest team BA in MLB.
With the Mets pitchers and catchers scheduled to report to St. Lucie on Feb. 12, it will be interesting to see what their new GM does in the interim to further strengthen the team and lessen fan uncertainty.
No comments:
Post a Comment