PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — The Mets’ bigwigs spent their Valentine’s Day evening wining and dining Adeiny Hechavarria, and they landed him with the prospect of earning as much as $5 million with the 2019 club.
The same bigwigs felt better trading top prospects Justin Dunn and Jarred Kelenic to the Mariners for Robinson Cano and Edwin Diaz because they retained their top prospect, Andres Gimenez.
Amed Rosario very well might make less money than Hechavarria this season, and he lacks Gimenez’s new-car allure. Yet does any doubt exist that the Mets’ best chance for a sustained run comes with Rosario as their everyday shortstop?
“We protected him at times last year, and the gloves are off this year,” Mickey Callaway said Tuesday of Rosario, following the Mets’ workout at First Data Field. “He’s going to have to go out there and continue to do what he did last year and understand what he did last year that made him more successful in the second half, and carry that over into a spot in the lineup that’s probably a little harder to accomplish that.
“So we’re asking a lot out of a young player, but if anybody can handle it, Rosie [can].”
The manager intends to hit Rosario eighth, where he batted 22 times last year compared to 58 games leading off and 54 in the ninth spot, as part of the Mets’ revamped lineup. Why not? If what the Mets saw in Rosario’s final 47 games of last season, during which he slashed .303/.355/.444 with five homers and 13 stolen bases in 209 plate appearances, can be approached along with positive defense, then the 23-year-old can live up to the hype that accompanied him upon his 2017 arrival.
“I think, to be honest, my confidence improved, and that’s what helped me in the second half,” Rosario said through an interpreter on Tuesday.
The Mets’ pursuit of Hechavarria — Callaway joined new general manager Brodie Van Wagenen and Allard Baird, the club’s new vice president and assistant GM for scouting and development, at the dinner with Hechavarria in South Florida — spoke more to a lack of a Plan B than to any lack of faith in Rosario. Regardless, the terms of Hechavarria’s minor league contract raises eyebrows: If he makes the Mets, he’ll earn a guaranteed $3 million, considerably higher than the standard rate in these deals, and can earn bonuses of $1 million each if he spends 100 and then 150 days on the team’s active roster.
“I had about four or five offers, but I never really felt comfortable with any of those,” Hechavarria said through an interpreter. “It wasn’t even about the money. It was more so about the opportunity and what they were offering in the long-term aspect.”
Though you can easily construct a 25-man roster without the defensively strong and offensively weak Hechavarria, thanks to the Mets’ newfound depth, Callaway said, “We’re going to value defense, because we have great pitching.”
Meanwhile, the 20-year-old Gimenez, whom MLB.com ranks as its 55th-best prospect in baseball, figures to start this season at either Double-A Binghamton or Triple-A Syracuse, with the big leagues not too far away. He slashed .277/.344/.358 over the final 37 games for Binghamton last year.
“I think he’s a young guy, and we don’t put any sort of ceilings on him,” Jared Banner, the Mets’ new executive director of player development, said of Gimenez. “He’s going to get smarter, stronger, and he’s going to continue to adjust as he grows in the game and gets more strength.”
A scout who has seen Gimenez play repeatedly opined, on the condition of anonymity, “To me, he’s more of a reserve guy. He doesn’t do anything outstanding. The one thing that separates him might be consistency, and he makes contact. But Rosario gives you a plus arm, and he’s a plus runner.”
No tension appears to exist between the two young shortstops.
“We are friends,” Gimenez said of him and Rosario.
No questions should loom over how this situation will optimally resolve. Nevertheless, after being plagued by shallow rosters for too long, it has to feel awfully nice for the Mets to have some options.
Source: Read Full Article