(Bill Menzel/Sportsday Wire)
Well, the Mets will always have October.
It didn’t take long for Joe Maddon and the Chicago Cubs to garnish their revenge on the Amazin’s when they swooped in and signed second baseman Ben Zobrist to a 4-year, $56 million contract.
According to reports, the Mets were right there with the money and Zobrist chose Chicago because of his history with Maddon and the proximity to his Nashville home. There’s nothing to be ashamed about there, however the Mets now have some work to do.
Where do the Mets go from here? They have a second base hole to fill and they need to upgrade their offense to go along with their Tiffany starting staff.
1) Re-sign Daniel Murphy
Conventional wisdom would say the Mets should just bring Murphy back. A three year contract in the low teens should do it. He’s younger than Zobrist, and we all know what he can do in New York.
The problem with Murphy is that he’s stiff deficient defensively and ask yourself, will you be getting the Murphy from the playoffs or the one who hits .285 with 12 homers a year?
Yeah…we agree.
2) Go With The Three-Headed Monster Up The Middle
The Mets still have Dilson Herrera, Wilmer Flores, and Ruben Tejada and manager Terry Collins can use all three in a rotation with Flores being the swingman between second and short.
This is not ideal, because if the Mets thought that would light the world on fire, they would not have entertained Zobrist.
3) Sign An Outfielder
The Mets probably won’t be going after Yoenis Cespedes, but if they can sign a Denard Span or a Gerardo Parra to be the left-handed compliment to Juan Lagares.
Or they should kick the tires on Justin Upton and see if they can get a reasonable contract from him. That would give the team a middle of the order hitter and if you bat Michael Conforto third and Upton fourth, the Mets would be sitting pretty going into the season.
4) Fortify the Bench
A good bench is key for any contending team. Injuries happen and the Mets will need better players coming in for the later innings. Both Kelly Johnson and Juan Uribe were great bench players and if the Mets re-sign them give the club credible replacements in the infield and outfield in need be.
Even if they signed Zobrist, the Mets should look into bringing back their bench.
The clock is running now, but there’s still over two months until pitchers and catchers report. It’s time for Plan B, since October is a distant memory.
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