Evan & Tiki

Free Agent Position Players | 'Rico Brogna'

From 'Rico Brogna' (subscribe here): It's the moment you've been waiting for. Which free agents are the Mets going to be targeting? Evan gives you his top targets. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Duration:: 35m
Broadcast on:: 26 Nov 2024
Audio Format:: other

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How are we doing, everybody having a good weekend? Everybody feeling good? Everybody smiling? Everyone pumped up for more New York metropolitan baseball off-season talk. Well, you came to the right place today on Rico Bronja. We are going to do a deep dive on the position player free agent market. Most of you think there's only one position player who's a free agent. His name is Juan Soto. There are many more and today we are going to dive in on all the free agents that potentially the New York Mets should target. But before we go into specific names and we've done this when we talked about the relievers and we talked about the starters, it's good to know what we have going into this off-season. Okay, let's not forget what the Mets currently have on their roster. What they have on their roster is probably a lot less than you realized is the honest truth. Their set at catcher, barring injury, Francisco Alvarez is going to be the starting catcher as he should, Luis Terrens was tender to contract. He'll make probably about a million and a half this year, so nice little bargain for him. And then he's eligible for arbitration in 2026 as well. So right now seems pretty cut and dry, Francisco Alvarez is the starting catcher, Luis Terrens is the backup. When you look at the infield, the New York Mets have three guys that you would say are on the roster, and I'd argue one of them may well be traded. So really there are two guys on the roster that you would feel very confident about. Mark Vientos, who of course is coming off an incredible breakout season last year and Francisco Lindor, who is signed long-term, finished second in the MVP voting, congratulations to him on that. But that's it. Jeff McNeil still has a few more years left on his deal. And I've talked about this a lot. I think Jeff McNeil is a prime trade candidate, but he is someone that is currently on the roster and he is someone that offers a lot of versatility. He could be the second baseman on opening day. He can end up being the right fielder on opening day. They have a lot of options if Jeff McNeil is still here on how they use them. So he's the third guy who is not as safe as Lindor and Vientos, but also on the roster. The other position players all may start the year in the minor leagues or may not be on the roster. One guy is Luis Delo Santos. They picked him up recently during the off season, more of a super utility player, Ronnie Mauricio, who's a big mystery coming off the torn ACL and his recovery was very slow to which my assumption is if Mauricio is healthy, he probably starts the year in AAA. I don't think he makes the major league roster right out of spring training unless he dominates. The other guy is Luis San Hellicunya, who absolutely has a chance to make this team in what role. We'll see. He's being kind of an outfield mix or he could be the second baseman. The other guy is Brett Beatty. What is Brett Beatty's role going into spring training? It's probably just going to be, you better hit a lot and then maybe you can make this team. David Stern's talked about the idea of Brett Beatty playing some outfield. I think that would behoove them a lot. I think versatility A is important and B as you're trying to make your mark and find your way to have a spot on this major league roster. I think your ability to play as many positions as possible is key. Let's not forget Brett Beatty played second base in the minor leagues last year. So coming into spring training, Beatty could play third. He could play second. It would add to him to also play the outfield. That list doesn't include Peter Lonzo. He's a free agent, more on him in a little bit. So going into this off season, the Mets have two spots that I think you would say, okay, that's locked up. Francisco Lindor is the shortstop and Mark Vientos is getting 500 app ats. It could be a third base. It could be a first base. There's even a possibility, which we will get to that a lot of his app ats come at DH. Maybe not the likeliest scenario, but certainly a possibility. So that's the men infield. They clearly have holes to fill. I think based on what I just described and knowing who's here, they have to sign at least one proven, really good, all star caliber infielder, whether it's a third baseman, like Alex Pregman, or a shortstop who moves to third base like William Thomas, or bringing back Peter Lonzo. And there are other first base options, which we will get to when we deep dive into the specific names. As far as the outfield is concerned, I look at the outfield and I see one lock in starter. I see a lot of guys that are definitely on the roster, but only one locked in starter. And that guy is Brandon Nemo. Brandon Nemo is obviously signed for the next, you know, what is it? Six years, making $20 million a year. He's not coming off the best year of his career by by clear numbers, but he's the left fielder on opening day. David Stern's made it clear. He's not going to be the center fielder. I doubt with his arm strength, they would move him to right field. So Brandon Nemo and left field, fine. You could write that down in pen. You've got three other guys that are likely to be on the team. One is a trade candidate installing Marte. Starling Marte is coming into the final year of his contract, making $20 million. And I think there are scenarios where Starling Marte gets moved. But if he does get moved, that just leaves you needing to acquire an outfielder even more. But the other two guys who will be on this roster are two guys that were both tendered contracts the other day, Tyrone Taylor, who is coming into arbitration year number two, and Jose Siri, who's coming into arbitration year number one. So Jose Siri, Tyrone Taylor, I think those guys are going to get a chance to play early in center field. But both of those guys ideally are fourth outfielders. Starling Marte, I've made this clear, my opinion, ideally a designated hitter. I don't want to see him play that much right field. I'd mix him in a little bit right field if he's still on the team. But I'd mostly have him as a DH. And yet in the right deal, he could be moved. What this exercise proves? The New York Mets need to add in my opinion, especially if they want to maintain or improve their offensive standing from a year ago where they were fifth in the National League and run scored. Let's not forget. That's where the Mets ended up offensively fifth in the National League and run scored. If they want to maintain that number, they have to sign at least two legitimate all-star caliber free agents. It could be one of them could be keeping Pete Alonso, by the way. That certainly counts as one, but I think that number's got to be two. We don't know who the first baseman is. We don't know who the third baseman is, though Vientos could fill one of those two holes. We're not sure who the second baseman is. We don't know who the center fielder is. We don't know who the right fielder is. And right now, the DH is wide open. So for a team that is coming off an offensive year in which they average 4.74 runs per game, a team that hit the fourth most home runs in this league, 207. One of only four teams that over 200 home runs, they got a lot of questions. And they've got a lot of offense that they're either going to need to replace, run back, but also improve on because I don't think the Mets are good enough to just run back the guys that got most of the playing time last year. Last year, their center fielder for the most part was Harris and Bader. Obviously, I think he's not coming back, Jose, Siri and Tyrone Taylor probably give you similar production in center field to what the Mets got last year, which is not a lot. That field, same thing. They did have Jesse Winkler late in the season. He's certainly an option to also come back, but right now, the Mets have themselves potentially for outfielders, but how many of them are real starters? So I think going into this, my opinion, and hopefully you agree after hearing and kind of reminding yourself who's here, who's on the roster, they need to be aggressive to add bats. And that's why, yeah, we'll start with Juan Soto, we'll get it out of the way right away. Juan Soto is the perfect fit for this team because he is far and away the best available offensive player. And yeah, they could use a right fielder. If you sign Juan Soto and you're not trading Starling Marte, you're keeping him around. I think your route field is done. I think we could call it a day with the outfield Brandon Nemo's and left some kind of early season platoon featuring Jose, Siri and Tyrone Taylor's in center, but let's not forget Luis San Hellicunia and the other young players that can get involved in that. Juan Soto is your right fielder. And if I'm not trading Starling Marte, he's my DH. Now he'll play right field. He'll get his at bats in the outfield. There'll be days in which Nemo doesn't play. There'll be days in which Juan Soto DH is Soto plays every day. We've certainly seen that. But if you sign Juan Soto, I don't know about you guys, I'm good with that outfield. But what if they don't sign Juan Soto? What if he stays with the New York Yankees? What if he goes wherever? It doesn't even matter. He's not a met. To me, there is only two other outfield options that are borderline all-star or guys that I think will produce enough runs where you feel pretty good about them kind of slipping into right field. Number one is Tiasca Hernandez, who became very popular in Los Angeles. That's for sure. And was a hero of the postseason, even though he struggled against the Mets in the NLCS. He had a wonderful World Series. And overall, had a really good year with the Dodgers. He had 33 home runs, hit 272, had an 840 OPS. And I think Tiasca Hernandez over the last three years has proven to be one of the more reliable, solid sluggers in this sport. He hit 32 home runs in 21, hit 25 home runs in 2022, hit 26 home runs in 2023 with Seattle, and then the 33 with Los Angeles hits about 260, 270, has an OPS in the low eights. He is not Juan Soto. But he would be a major upgrade in the outfield. The Mets outfield last year was what? Including Marta and right field for 90 games, Harrison Bader, Tyrone Taylor, Brandon Nemo having it down year. Eventually they had Jesse Winker. They didn't get a lot of great outfield production. So Tiasca Hernandez, who age wise is 32 years old, would be a solid backup plan for Soto, but it's a big drop off. That's not a knock on him, but especially when you look at the age, when you just look at everything about it, he's just not nearly as good. The other guy is Anthony Santander. Anthony Santander is three years younger than Tiasca Hernandez. He's also a switch hitter. He's also coming off at least power wise, a phenomenal season. He had 44 home runs last year with Baltimore. I think one of the knocks on Santander is that the on base percentage is just not very high. He doesn't draw a lot of walks, which brings down that OPS last year, his OPS was 814, which was the highest he's ever had in a full season. But you see the power that he has, 44 home runs and 102 RBIs. It's not an easy thing, not an easy thing at all, but you'd like to see him walk a little bit more. You'd like to see him get on base a little bit more. You'd like to see him hit for a higher batting average defensively. What I hear is he's not great. Like I always say about defense, you want to watch a guy every day, but again, you had Anthony Santander in right field. It's a huge upgrade over what the Mets got from their outfield last year. So clearly there's a line. It is so number one. And then there's a major drop off, but still productive, still all star caliber players with Santander and Tiasca Hernandez. I prefer Santander. I like the versatility of him being a switch hitter. I like the fact that he's three years younger. Those are kind of two positives that Sandetaire brings. I think Tiasca has been the better player over the last three years, but I'm also kind of banking and hoping that Santander is going to build even more off of last year. That maybe he has another 40 home run season. The other thing about Anthony Santander is that if I'm losing Alonzo and I don't want to lose Peter Lanzo, but we have to have realistic conversations. Peter Lanzo is the most reliable slugger in baseball. Santander, it 44 home runs last year. It'll be easier to replace, not just the power that Pete had last year because I think the power that Pete had last year is lower than what we expect from him. We expect Pete to be in the 40s, maybe unfair, but that's the expectation. So I think Santander gives you a little bit more pop. Tiasca gives you pop too, but Santander gives you a little bit more pop. So I would rank it clearly Soto 1, Santander 2, Tiasca 3. Here's the problem. This is where things are going to get depressing. The outfield market after the big three, really the big one and the really good two is freaking awful. I'm going to give you the names. You ready? Alex Verdugo. Michael Conforto, Marc Cana, Eloy Jimenez, Max Kepler, Tyler O'Neill, Andrew McCutchen, Jason Hayward, Tommy Pham, Adam Duvall, Kevin Polar, and another guy and this guy's coming off a great year, but I worry about him. And so I kind of left him for last just so we could have a conversation. And that would be Jurex and Profar. Jurex and Profar is going to be 32 years old next season. And he's coming off a year that feels like an outlier, like you could take Profar's year last year with San Diego and you could look at it one of two ways. You can say he's putting it all together. This is what he's about to be a 280-25 home run guy, 840 OPS, or you could have the opinion I have, which is I'm not giving that guy big money off one freaking year. Two years ago, the guy had a negative war. Now all of a sudden I'm going to give this guy big money. So I don't know if you feel this way about Profar, but I don't even want to include him on that second tier with Tiosker and with Santander because I really think that last year was such a fluke. And I'd be very, very nervous to give him any kind of big money. And that's really the inherent problem. There is a big drop off when it comes to outfield-free agents after you get passed, Soto, Tiosker, and Santander. And unfortunately, when I look at this Met outfield and I see what my options are, now I know you've got young players. We have young players that can absolutely have an impact on this year, Andrew Gilbert, who's clearly an outfielder, Jett and Acuna can be outfielders, but you can't rely on them. Gilbert had a year that was almost a lost year last year. I think he'll get to the Major Leagues in 2025 and I want there to be an avenue for him to get to the Major Leagues in 2025 and that's center field. But they have to add an outfielder. It will go into the trade market in a future edition of the Rico because you want there to be more options than just what we're saying, but those are the options. And a lot of them aren't good. Now, I'll say something sort of unpopular to my fellow Met fans. You got to go to the next tier. I could just end this podcast now and say, "You better sign one of those three guys. I'm out." But we have to look at some of the other options. And one of the other options that's not as bad as you think is Michael Confordo. Now, before you throw crap at me, hear me out and I'll tell you where I wouldn't mind Michael Confordo. And do mind him if he's the everyday right fielder that I wouldn't love. If it's a Confordo Marte Platoon-ish situation, whether it's at DH in right field or, and then you've got another bat that you're adding at DH more on that in a little bit, I can live with that. I kind of like, I'm intrigued by the Confordo Marte Platoon. Last year, Michael Confordo, at 20 home runs and 130 games, he had a 759 OPS. That was his second year back after he missed all of 2022 and his numbers were a little bit better. So he had a better year. But I wouldn't mind Confordo in that kind of role. Not a, he's playing everyday against lefties and righties 155 games, but in a Platoon-ish role with Marte, I don't mind it. Now, how do I not mind it if that's the right field situation? How do I not mind it and there are other out-fielders that could kind of fit in this little grouping? Max Kepler is another guy. Not someone I really trust to play, you know, 150 games and say, "Okay, you're the right fielder. Go have fun." Max Kepler, by the way, last year, missed a lot of time. I thought he was gonna have a big year last year. He didn't. He had a down year. The year before that in 2023, he did it 24 home runs with an 800 OPS. But Kepler is one of those guys that doesn't stay very healthy. But use Kepler in this too, or Confordo, platooning with Marte as your right fielder. How would that be okay? Well, when we get to the infield, you'll see why. But the rest of these out-fielders kind of fit that bill of guys that you only like them if they're in a Platoon. Mark Can is a Platoon player. Eloy Jimenez is just not any good. Tyler O'Neill, solid year last year, but do I trust him 150 games? Andrew McCutchen at this point in his career, platoon player, Jason Hayward, Adam Duvall, Tommy Pham, Kevin Polar, all platoon players, none of them are guys that I would want to see every day. And by the way, the Mets don't need a fourth outfielder. They have two of them in Tyrone Taylor and Jose Serri. But the other guy who would fit the platoon pretty well is Jesse Winker. So would I rather have Michael Confordo or would I rather have Jesse Winker? The answer is Jesse Winker. So if you're going with this right field-ish platoon, similar to what the Mets ended up doing last year, my preference would be Jesse Winker. And there's no reason why it shouldn't be Jesse Winker. I would not want Confordo above him or Kepler above him. But those are the out-fielders. It's not a great list. It's really not. It's why the pressure's on to get one Soto. And if they don't get one Soto, Anthony Santander and Tiosca Hernandez. But let's go to the infield because this is where we can get creative. First of all, first base. Let's just address it. Peter Lanzo is the preference. The other options at first base are Anthony Rizzo, Christian Walker, Carlos Santana, Josh Bell. Oh, we really in love with that. I know Christian Walker's coming off a really good year. He's wonderful defensively. He's also older, significantly older. Is Christian Walker getting a long-term contract? And are you telling me you are more comfortable giving Christian Walker a long-term contract than Peter Lanzo? You want to go bring Anthony Rizzo, the corpse of Anthony Rizzo Act, on a one-year contract. Carlos Santana, big on base guy, but what is he now, 39 years old? Josh Bell has never, Josh Bell has never really put it all together the way we kind of fought or at least I thought he was capable of doing after he had that big run with Pittsburgh way back when we're talking 2019 when he was an all-star and he had 37 home runs and drove in 116 runs. You look at his numbers, very, very pedestrian. Last year, he spent time with Arizona and Miami. He combined a 249, 725-0PS-19 home runs. The year before that, where he combined it with Miami and Cleveland, he went 247, 744-0PS. That is a major downgrade. So I look at first base this way. Peter Lanzo is the priority. John Walker is a solid, solid backup, but Josh Bell and Carlos Santana and Anthony Rizzo, no thank you. So then you look at third base. You look at Willie Adamas, who we did a podcast on much earlier in this season, actually not that long ago, it was a couple of weeks ago, debating the merits of Adamas versus Alonzo. Well, bringing both of them in, which was suggested, and I still find very unlikely, may not be the worst or craziest thing in the world if you miss out on Soto. Here's why. If you sign Willie Adamas and Pete Alonzo, or Alex Bregman and Pete Alonzo, the two big third base options, you could conceivably have Mark Viento's DH a lot of the time. Now, I don't want to be locked in on Mark Viento's just the aging. So here's the real key on a Bregman and Domus signing, where I think the versatility thing works out great. Would Adamas play third base and second base? Because then you've got the versatility of some days having Mark Viento's be the third baseman with Pete Alonzo at first base and Adamas or Bregman at second base. Now I want to include both of them in this. I think Bregman's a better player and we've had, we have heard that Alex Bregman could be willing to move to second base. Well, my question is, are you willing to sometimes move to second base? To add that versatility, because that's where I think you can make this work with signing Alonzo and, well, look, that works with Christian Walker too. Any of the first basements, but my preference is Pete with Christian Walker second. Would you be able to move Bregman between third and second Adamas between third and second? Some days, Vientos is the DH, some days, Pete's the DH. You can really have different guys have the DH spot. Have Bregman or Adamas sometimes play second, sometimes play third. And so what that allows you to do and the reason why I don't, I wouldn't want to just say you're the second baseman, like I'm moving you to second and Vientos is staying at third is I want to leave second base open for possibly Jose Iglesias if I re-sign him, but that's not my priority. My priority is Jet Williams or Louis San Helicuna or Ronnie Mauricio. What you want to do, what I want to do is I want to win and I want to add really good players, but I also want to leave that door just a little bit of jar for the young players if they take advantage of the opportunity. You can't be overly reliant on them, but you want to give them an avenue to where they play. And so if Bregman and Adamas are willing to bounce between third base and second base, I think you give yourself that opportunity where, hey, maybe Mark Vientos does spend most of the time DHing and second base has opened up for one of those young players or the young players aren't ready and the DH is being used by someone else. Maybe it's being used by Jesse Winker or Starling Marte or Brandon Nemo. And so Vientos is at third, Alonzo is at first, and either Adamas or Bregman or at second base. I like that plan a lot more if I don't get Juan Soto. If I get Juan Soto, I think it takes the pressure off on having to add two guys into the infield. Look, when I said at the top and I stand by this, they need to add two bats. So if you can't get it in the outfield because you didn't get Juan Soto and whatever, the contract for T. Oscar gets out of whack or maybe you don't love Santander, you can add those two bats in the infield. But I think that's the way it would work best if they can commit to playing multiple positions. Let's go through some of the other infield options. We mentioned Alex Bregman and I put Bregman above Adamas. Bregman is a goal glove caliber, third baseman. One thing he does so much better than Adamas and better than Alonzo as he puts the bat on the ball. Like, it's okay to strike out something into the world, but you like to have some guys in the middle of your lineup that don't strike out a lot. Alex Bregman has never struck out a hundred times in a season. That's a cool stat these days. I like that. I like guys like that. I also think that Bregman is not trending in this horrible way. Like, if you look at his numbers last year, his batting average was the same, home runs were the same, RBI's were way down and his own base was way down. So his OPS ended up being low, but he also got off to a bad start. And if you look at the way kind of the season concluded for Bregman, he finished very strong. He had a war above four like he did the prior year. I don't see a guy that's wearing down. I also see a guy that over the last three years goes out in place. Basically every year, but 2021, he's been a reliable guy to come out and play every day. He's also a Goldglove defensive third baseman. So unlike a Domus who'd be changing positions, I just think Alex Bregman's better. Age wise, he is 30 years old, but he'll be 31 in the first few days of the season. So if you got him on a five year deal, which is probably what it's going to take, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35 prime of his career. So I would put Bregman above William Thomas, but getting two of those guys would make sense by two of those guys, Alonzo or Walker, Bregman or a Domus. If you miss out on Soto again, let me go through some of these names. So Alex Bregman, we talked about Anthony Rizzo, Josh Bell, Carlos Santana at first base, Glabertores. I don't know where Glabert works on this team because I like second base being open up as a possibility for one of the young players, and I don't see Glabertores moving a third base. By the way, the only appeal of Glabertores, I think it's got Soto loves him. Look, he's a useful ball player. He is. I think that Yankee fans have been too harsh on him. If you look at his stats, if you look at the numbers he puts up, compare it to other second baseman and baseball, there aren't many guys that put up numbers like that. Johan Mancotta, he just never stays healthy. Justin Turner. I think at this point, you're looking at him exclusively at DH Christian Walker, find back up for Pete Alonso, Brandon Juri, Husseung Kim, Ty France, Jorge Polanco, Adam Frazier. Now we're talking about bench players, Garrett Hamson, Ahmed Rosario. So again, much like the outfield in which it's a clear line of Soto Santander and Tiosker. I think the infield is very similar. To me, you've got four really appealing players, and I'm going to put Christian Walker in that. I may prefer Pete Alonso, but I understand that when you look at the defense that he has, the year he's coming off of, he is appealing. Just so we know, Christian Walker is going to be 34 on opening day. So I don't know how many years he could truly ask for, and he had a good year last year, but put his numbers up against Pete Alonso. I mean, did Christian Walker, who did miss some time, but even with missing that time, 250 average, 803 OPS, like was it really better than Pete Alonso? He's better defensively. I will give you that. But I think the infield market is basically Alonso and Walker at first base, and Bregman and Adamus potentially a third base. That's what you're looking at. It is not the deepest market in the world. And that's why the real pressure is on to hit at the top of the market. Because if you miss on the top guys, there's a major, major drop off, and then what are you looking at? Now you're kind of delving into the trade market and getting really, really desperate. Paul Goldschmidt is another guy I should mention. He is a free agent as well. He's coming off such a brutal season. He's 37 years old. I don't want to forget him, but I probably should forget him. A couple of other guys to keep an eye on, Jock Peterson. I think Jock Peterson fits as kind of like a Jesse Winker type, but I prefer Jesse Winker, especially with the way he fit in this locker room. I'm not even mentioning JD Martinez, should we? Or is that kind of a waste of time to even bring him up? Because I think we've all decided, now we're good. It's not the greatest market in the world, but it puts the pressure on David Stearns and Steve Cohen, that you have to hit at the top of the market. So what's my ideal off season with money sort of being an object, but not being completely unlimited? Obviously, one Soto would be number one and number two would be Pete Alonzo. And I think that if you did simply that, simply that, bring back Pete to play first space, hopefully on a reasonable contract, sign one Soto to play right field. I feel great. We could start playing the game of let's build the lineup. First of all, Brandon M.O. is my left fielder. For now, my center field is kind of some kind of combination of Tyrone Taylor, Jose Ciri, and maybe even Louisa in Helliconia. I would certainly give him that opportunity to be the center fielder. Pete Alonzo is my first baseman, I am trading Jeff McNeil, probably for a back of the rotation are more on that when we do our trade talk. Second base is Jose Iglesias to start with Ronnie Mauricio, Louisa in Helliconia, Jet Williams, all being factors. My shortstop is Lindor. My third baseman is Vientos, my catcher is Francisco Alvarez. And I think if you bring back Pete and you sign Soto, it does allow more comfort to give the young players a chance to really take one of those jobs. But that's what I would do. It's simple, Soto Alonzo, if you miss out on Soto, things get very, very complicated. That is my ideal off season when it comes to position players. You agree, Pete, or is there a different route you would go in terms of kind of rebuilding this lineup with the free agency questions that this team faces? I think Pete fell asleep and that's okay. That man needs a good night's sleep. He needs a good night's sleep better than any human being. I know that's for damn sure. But what is your ideal off season when it comes to the bats? You can email us to recob@gmail.com, the recob@gmail.com, Soto Alonzo, and let's have a party. We will get into the trade market and the trade possibilities for position players, for starting pitchers, for relievers. That'll be coming up over the next couple of weeks. Plus, we're going to count down the greatest home runs in the history of the New York mats. We do appreciate you listening, downloading, and subscribing to another edition of Rico Bronja. [music] [BLANK_AUDIO]