“We’re excited. Both guys are extremely talented, and we’re excited about the impact they’re going to make on and off the field.”
Those were the words of Mets GM Jared Porter, talking to Moose & Maggie on Friday about the team’s acquisition of Carlos Carrasco and Francisco Lindor – a deal which really took shape over the last week.
“I think after Jan. 1 it started to shift to look like it was going in this direction, and probably Monday was when, to me, things seemed like Cleveland was likely to have a resolution by the end of the week,” Porter said. “We were able to put ourselves in position to make this deal – we gave up some good players, but also the resources Steve Cohen has put in place to let us make these decisions.”
It was team President Sandy Alderson and Indians president Chris Antonetti who did the “heavy lifting” according to Porter, but Lindor has been a thought in Queens for a long time – and it took a lot of people throughout the organization leading up to Thursday to make it happen.
“When I got the job, Sandy filled me in on the bigger ticket items they’d been working on, and these types of moves, the best ones are always collaborative,” Porter said. “I want to make sure I point out the great job our scouting department did to get the four players we traded, and a great job on our player development side to get these guys to where they had the value to do this deal. There are some great people internally, and we put ourselves in position to get two great players.”
Of course, having an owner willing to spend and do whatever it takes to win doesn’t hurt.
“Steve (Cohen) has been great, and one of the really exciting things for us and for the fans is just how engaged and passionate he is about making everything about this organization better,” Porter said. “He asks great questions and is well versed in a lot of these baseball decisions, and he was a big part of the process. We’re fortunate to have the resources, and it’s our job to put together the right decision making processes.”
So what do the Mets do next? Porter reiterated Alderson’s thoughts from Thursday that the $210 million luxury tax threshold isn’t a hard stop – more a “barometer to measure against” than a “line in the sand” – but wasn’t committal on any particular player, like Trevor Bauer and George Springer.
“They’re great players who put themselves in position to be among the top free agents available this offseason, but it’s always mutual and we’ll keep evaluating the market, which has moved slowly,” Porter said. “We’re going to continue to be creative and opportunistic. We won’t rule anything out, but it’s important for us to make sure we have depth, which is really critical. We’ll evaluate everything, and a big part of our process is to be aggressive at the right moment.”
What might those aggressive moves be?
“Run prevention is something we need to continue to work on; that’s not only pitching, but James McCann and Lindor will be big parts of that,” Porter said. “So, it’s adding someone who doesn’t have to go out there every day but can play good defense in center field, or maybe players who can dominate one side of a platoon with good defensive capability. And relief pitching, lengthening and diversifying our bullpen is something we’ll keep our eyes on, but I don’t think we have to force anything and can wait for the market to come to us. We won’t have to force anything. I think we have leverage when we make decisions.”
And if there are no other moves made other than adding depth in certain spots – a mantra Porter reiterated again and again – the team is comfortable with some of their moving pieces, including Brandon Nimmo in center field and J.D. Davis at third base.
“I don’t think third base is necessarily somewhere we need to upgrade,” Porter said, “and we’re comfortable, yeah (with Nimmo in center). It’s an important defense position, but we’ll talk to Brandon and Tony Tarasco, our new outfield coordinator. It seemed like last year, his center field defense improved after some shifts were made, so we’ll keep looking at that. The good thing about Nimmo is he controls the strike zone well as a left-handed hitter, and he’s a huge part of our lineup no matter what.”
There’s also “no urgency” on an extension for Michael Conforto, whom Porter was high on but has yet to speak to, but within that, he said that the Mets’ position right now is that they’re “comfortable but not satisfied” with the team as is.
“You can never be satisfied I baseball. You have to always look to get better,” Porter said. “Like in the rotation, we have some really good pitchers, and Noah Syndergaard is on track to come back hopefully in June…we have good options, but we can never be satisfied. These are long seasons with lots of ups and downs.”
Listen to Porter’s entire segment with Moose & Maggie below!
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