Pete Alonso blasted 40 homers for the Mets last season. Francisco Lindor hit 26. Those are acceptable numbers for a 1-2 punch in a major league lineup.
But the Mets weren’t nearly as successful in receiving bop beyond their All-Star first baseman and franchise shortstop. Eduardo Escobar’s September surge got him to 20 homers, but the next-highest total was 16 apiece from Brandon Nimmo and Starling Marte. Overall, the Mets finished tied for 15th in MLB with 171 homers.
That raises the question of whether the Mets need additional long-ball threats in constructing a roster and lineup for next season.
“If the overall production is there, that’s what matters at the end of the day,” Eppler said at this week’s winter meetings while noting the Mets finished tied for fifth in MLB with 4.76 runs per game. “You can place some arguments on should you try to hit the three-pointer? I prefer [multiple] ways where you can beat teams, whether you beat them through contact, maybe you beat them through some speed and base-running … or you beat them through power.
“I kind of like to try to serve all of those if possible and really create balance because you never know who you’re going to face on a particular day, and the venues that we play in change. Sometimes those certain characteristics can get enhanced in certain venues or they can get mitigated in certain venues, so I think balance is kind of the way I like to travel the most.”
The Mets’ lineup excelled in other measures. They ranked second in the majors with a .332 on-base percentage and their .412 slugging percentage ranked eighth, a solid number — especially considering the team was middle-of-the-pack in homers.
But the Mets sure appeared underwhelming — while getting outhomered 7-3 — in getting swept over three games in Atlanta during the season’s final week, a performance that decided the NL East. Then came another power outage in losing to the Padres in the best-of-three wild card series.
Still, the Mets won 101 games and were largely successful in controlling the strike zone, led by disciplined approaches from players such as Nimmo, Mark Canha and late-season addition Daniel Vogelbach.
“For us to finish top five in runs per game in a ballpark that is notoriously non-offensive, I think that’s a little bit taller task because of the venue,” Eppler said. “So when you can put balls in play or be second in on-base, I’m not really beholden to one [approach] or another.”
Re-signing Nimmo — with an eight-year, $162 million contract — is a good start.
But don’t underestimate the potential impact of rookie Francisco Alvarez, who brings a combination of raw power and plate discipline the Mets crave.
From there, the Mets might have to package players in a trade for a big bat. Eppler isn’t tipping his hand.
“We’re going to still be active on the position-player front,” Eppler said. “Whether that yields somebody who’s more power-oriented or somebody who’s more contact-oriented, one of the things we generally try to stay true to is having good selectivity in the batter’s box and good decision-making.”
Hired help
Unless the Mets plan to give David Peterson or Tylor Megill a full-time starting job, Jacob deGrom’s departure for the Rangers has left the team without a homegrown pitcher in the starting rotation.
This seems hard to fathom after a decade in which Matt Harvey, deGrom and Steven Matz — all of whom were drafted by the organization — helped anchor the rotation. Two other pitchers who arrived in trades at young ages into the low levels of the minor leagues (and could be considered homegrown) were Zack Wheeler and Noah Syndergaard. From that heralded group of five, only deGrom really delivered on his promise, at least while still with the team. Wheeler has since emerged as a top pitcher with the Phillies.
The best case is the Mets will have young starters — such as Dominic Hamel, Mike Vasil and Junior Santos — ready to contribute at some point in 2024, but for the short term, the team is finding out just how expensive it can be to build a staff without homegrown options.
A Hall of Fame voice awaits his turn
Longtime Cubs radio play-by-play voice Pat Hughes this week won the vote for the Ford A. Frick award, which carries induction into the broadcaster’s wing of the Hall of Fame. Gary Cohen was a finalist for the award, and will again be eligible for nomination next year following changes implemented in April to the voting process.
Previously, Cohen would have had to wait three years for another appearance on the ballot.
“I’m very happy for Pat,” Cohen said. “He’s a very nice man and very deserving.”
Cohen, 64, has worked Mets broadcasts since 1989, when he began teaming with Bob Murphy (a Frick award winner) in the radio booth. Last season was Cohen’s 17th alongside Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling on SNY. The trio will be honored at next month’s Baseball Writers’ Dinner for their longevity. Last season, they matched Murphy, Lindsey Nelson and Ralph Kiner as baseball’s longest-tenured three-man crew. Murphy, Nelson and Kiner worked Mets broadcasts together from 1962-78.
Hybrid work
Another return to normalcy from the pandemic occurred with this week’s winter meetings in San Diego. The event was canceled in 2020 because of COVID and last year due to the lockout. I remember one team official predicting two years ago that the winter meetings would disappear forever as clubs became more adept conducting business on Zoom calls. What has emerged is a nice blend: Teams teams can meet with free agents on Zoom, but still realize the importance of in-person contact for much of their offseason business. The winter meetings were as bustling as ever.
