The 2020 MLB seems destined to finally happen, although not the way anyone envisioned.
After months of a contentious labor dispute that failed to reach any sort of agreement, Rob Manfred will implement a schedule for the 2020 season, which is reportedly expected to be between 54-60 games. For many players, it will be a short window that could have major ramifications on their futures.
John Healy profiled the five Yankees with the most to prove in this shortened season, and these are the five Mets rowing the same boat across the East River.
Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports Dellin’s first season on the other side of town was already going to be one to watch, given that he was coming back from a partially torn Achilles suffered in his only appearance of 2019. Now, however, thanks to the pandemic pushing baseball back, Betances will be coming in on a fairly even playing field with the rest of his contemporaries.
Betances was one of baseball’s elite relievers over his five full seasons with the Yankees, but is his shoulder back to form after missing almost all of 2019, or was that a harbinger of breakdown to come? Is that left Achilles going to cause any lingering concern? And, given the option structure of his contract (and the fact that they’ve already had to pay him three-quarters of his $5.3 million signing bonus even with no baseball being played), what will the Mets need to see from Dellin to keep him in Queens beyond this season?
Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports It’s a walk year for Stroman, who, like James Paxton across town, is looking for a strong final line on his pre-free agency resume so he can cash in when he hits the open market for the first time.
The Long Island native has had an up-and-down career and was solid if unspectacular in his first half-season in Queens (4-2, 3.77 ERA, 60 K in 59 1/3 IP in 11 starts), but a strong performance in his hometown in 2020 could leave the Mets with an interesting decision; with a rotation in flux (only Jacob deGrom is signed beyond 2021) and Noah Syndergaard a question mark after Tommy John surgery, do the Mets roll the dice on Stroman long-term, or look to re-allocate his sure-to-be big dollars elsewhere?
Jim McIsaac/Getty Images The Mets signed Lowrie to a two-year, $20 million deal prior to last season, one that was befuddling even in a pre-Pete Alonso and post-Brodie Van Wagenen as an agent world, and all they got to show for it in 2019 was an 0-for-7 line in nine games and a slew of leg injuries that lingered longer than WWE Hall of Famer Cowboy Bob Orton’s fractured arm.
Coming into this season, there was no timetable for Lowrie to get on the field for an exhibition game before COVID-19 halted spring training, and there’s been little news since. So, at 36, Lowrie has a lot to prove if he wants to: that he’s healthy, that he can still be productive beyond 2020, and that he’s not going to be the Mets’ version of the Yankees’ Pedro Feliciano signing.
But does he want to? And by the same token, with an infield that’s seemingly set, already one bona fide bench bat turned DH candidates (two if Yoenis Cespedes ever shows up), and a possibly expanded roster, do the Mets even give him the chance?
Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports Speaking of that bench bat, the universal DH is here and here to stay (for now), and that gives Smith his best post-Alonso path to playing time. The Mets tried Smith in the outfield last year to mixed results, but with five players capable out there, Smith can DH and/or spell Alonso at first this year when the Polar Bear is off or taking a turn at DH.
Here’s the thing: in his age-25 season, Smith has the chance to seize an everyday role in a role that wasn’t even available until now. But, he also could be eligible for arbitration this winter as a Super Two (depending on how MLB works out that service time issue); his 11 homers and .881 OPS in limited time last year show what he can do overall, but his .303 average against lefties last year raised his career total to a whopping .207. Even on a 26-man roster, a platoon DH is a luxury, and with Cespedes maybe in the mix and Smith about to possibly get expensive in his arbitration years, Dom’s going to have to show some increased value somewhere to be avoid potentially being baseball’s version of a cap casualty over the winter.
Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports We could’ve gone with Cespedes here, but let’s be fair, he marches to his own beat. And, we could’ve picked another pending free agent or a maligned player like Brad Brach or even Robby Cano – but why not slot in the Polar Bear?
There’s no way, barring turning into Kelly Leak, that Alonso is going to hit 53 home runs or drive in 120 runs (half of those totals might lead the league), but he still has to show in some abbreviated form that 2019 wasn’t a fluke. Sure, a sophomore slump might not look as bad given the condensed schedule, but he has a corollary across town: injuries or not, Aaron Judge wasn’t nearly as productive in 2018 or 2019 as he was in his own Rookie of the Year campaign. Some more DH days will surely put any concern about Alonso’s defense that still linger onto the backburner, but there’s still a lesson to be learned.