One of the toughest parts of the Carlos Correa saga for Mets fans may have been owner Steve Cohen saying "we needed one more hitter and this puts us over the top" after the team agreed to a deal in principle with Correa.
Unfortunately, the Mets became the second team to balk at Correa's medicals and he ended up returning to Minnesota, and in his first media appearance since then, GM Billy Eppler was mum about the situation because of it's a medical issue, but he was asked if he feels comfortable with the Mets lineup without that "one more hitter."
"I think we have a strong and deep lineup. I'm confident in our group's ability to score runs," Eppler said Tuesday during the call to introduce Adam Ottavino and Omar Narvaez. "This goes without saying, and I think I've said it in the past relating to any one of the areas of the organization, but you can always be better. I do think we have a strong lineup as currently configured, but we can always be better."
Incremental improvements are the hallmark of, and something he learned from, former boss and now New York counterpart Brian Cashman.
"That's kind of the purpose of making sure you're not sitting in a fixed mindset, and you kind of adopt more of a mindset, or a growth-based mindset, where you can always improve," Eppler said. "That's what we're gonna look to do."
The Mets won 101 games last year but faltered down the stretch, and in 2023, the only real changes in the lineup from that stretch run are Omar Narvaez replacing James McCann behind the plate and maybe a longer look at Brett Baty at third base.
So, it's no surprise that the Mets may still be active in the final month before Spring Training.
"I'm still engaged in the market, talking to representation both in the outfield and in the bullpen spot," Eppler said. "Still active. Whether anything actually comes to fruition and we're doing another one of these remains to be seen. But definitely still having the conversations."
One thing Eppler is hopeful will improve the Mets' offense: the ban on the shift.
"There's many way to score, but it stands to reason that a contact approach would get rewarded," Eppler said. "You're probably going to see average go up a little bit; couple that with more traffic on the bases, and higher on-base percentage, and that fits our scheme and our ballpark."
He punctuated that with a basketball analogy.
"Hitting a three-pointer is cool every now and then, and having guys that can put a ball in the seats – but I want a lineup that's able to beat people in a number of different ways," Eppler said. "I'm kind of greedy. I want to be able to beat anybody in any particular way, and I think there's reasons we should feel good about our offense."
Follow Lou DiPietro on Twitter: @LouDiPietroWFAN
Listen live to WFAN via:
Audacy App | Online Stream | Smart Speaker
Follow WFAN on Social Media:
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Twitch
