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John Harper, SNY.tv | Twitter |
Almost all of the Mets race in the second half was remarkable, but the emergence of J.D. Davis and Amed Rosario, in particular, has consolidated a young positioner core that gives this franchise a totally different impression, both in the present and in the future.
Add this duet to Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil and Michael Confortoand you can argue that the Mets have five key players, four of whom are under contract control at least until the 2023 season.
And that's without counting Dom Smith, which is now probably looming as a valuable off-season trade chip, or Brandon Nimmowho plays an important role when he comes back from his neck injury, although it's more for the depth at this stage.
This raises an interesting question that I could never have imagined even before all this magic of Citi Field began to happen:
In a National League of East loaded position players, can the Mets claim to have the best young kernel?
In truth, I should still give the Braves the advantage, but even that remains debatable now, the advantage could potentially come back to the Mets if Davis and Rosario continue to play at a high level and that Nimmo will eventually return to something that is approaching 2018. form.
It was not so long ago, the Braves seemed to have a head start on young talents, but now the Mets have the right to believe that they can compete for a division title in coming years. At this point, I think they have outstripped the Nationals and Phillies on this front, which is also a pretty big change.
Ok, so let's put it this way: Would the group of players in your group want to finish the most, say, the next five years? Here's how I would classify them:
1. Braves: Hard not to take the core of Ronald Acuna, Ozzie Albies, Dansby Swanson, Freddie Freeman and Austin Riley, who intends to move to the third base instead of Josh Donaldson next season.
2. Mets: At Alonso and McNeil, they already had a potential champion and a batting title champion. Rosario now seems to be becoming a dynamic, first-stop actor, while Davis is proving wrongly that scouts who have predicted that his miner's stats are not translating into the big leagues against fast-paced high-speed balls.
In addition, Conforto is once again reaching the star level that was inaccessible to him since he's created huge expectations as a rookie in 2015.
3. Nationals: Their young core is built around Juan Soto, Trea Turner, Anthony Rendon and Victor Robles, with Soto, 20, who could become an MVP. But they'd better not let Rendon follow-free agent Bryce Harper outside, or this kernel will not be so dangerous.
4. Phillies: Harper, Rhys Hoskins, Jean Segura, J.T. Realmuto and maybe Scott Kingery These are the key numbers, but Realmuto may be a free agent after next season and it remains to be seen how much the Phillies will continue to spend after spending $ 330 million on Harper.
No matter how you classify them, it's clear that the prospects for the division's Mets have changed dramatically over the course of the season. As such, it should change the way executive director Brodie Van Wagenen and his owners envision the immediate future.
That is to say that with so many young people – and therefore affordable contracts – on the side of the players in position, the Mets should be ready to spend money if they really want to win a championship.
So after all the talk about potentially commercial Noah Syndergaard, it seems more logical to consider locking it beyond the two remaining seasons before reaching the stage of free will.
Same thing to try to extend Zack Wheeler before he becomes a free agent this winter. Wheeler may never be as dominant as he looked in his brilliant second half of last season, but his high-ceiling is a good option as the # 3 star behind Jacob deGrom and Syndergaard.
Steven Matz seems to have corrected his inconsistency also lately, and he still has two seasons before he can become a free agent. It too might be worth trying to be expanded, especially considering that, as well as the Mets are on the side of the players in position, they have no chance to succeed in the highest. levels of minors.
Yes, they have the newly acquired Marcus Stroman under control for another season, but it does not seem to be a start-of-rotation starter, but is better suited as a complement to the top four starters than as a substitute for any one of them.
Meanwhile, as Davis turns out to be Van Wagenen's off-season gold star, with the GM having bought it from the Astros for three minor league players, the Mets will no doubt be looking to trade Smith, and his left bat should bring depth of pitching back.
This depth will be necessary too. As things stand, the Mets have been lucky so far this season, as all of their runners have remained healthy, but this will not happen every year.
The fact is that Van Wagenen and his leaders have an opportunity that they would not have seen coming. Regardless of the rest of the season, the position player talent has developed to give this franchise a financial leeway to pay for both start and rescue pitches in search of a championship.
After all, just a few months ago, it seemed that the Mets were in an unsuccessful race to retain their talent against their divisional rivals, especially the Braves.
Now this pursuit is real.
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