The Mets struck gold this Black Friday.
The club is finalizing a deal with Gold Glove outfielder Starling Marte, a source confirmed late Friday night. Marte’s acquisition caps a big one-day spending spree for the Mets, after the team also picked up infielder Eduardo Escobar and outfielder Mark Canha on Friday.
Marte, Escobar and Canha represent three big pieces for the Mets. They can field an outfield made up of Brandon Nimmo, Canha and Marte while Escobar takes over the hot corner. Friday’s trio of deals are a good indication that Michael Conforto, a free agent who declined the Mets’ qualifying offer worth $18.4 million, will not return to Flushing in 2022.
MLB Network’s Jon Heyman was first to report the Marte deal. The Mets have not yet made any of their three Friday deals official. All are pending physicals, per a source.
Marte is the best center fielder on the free agent market this offseason. He is in agreement to sign a four-year, $78 million contract with the Mets, according to multiple reports. In addition to his pair of Gold Glove awards, the 33-year-old received an All-Star nod in 2016 while being a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Marte is coming off one of the best seasons of his 10-year big-league career. Split between the Miami Marlins and Oakland A’s in 2021, he slashed .310/.383/.458 with 12 home runs, a 132 OPS+ and an MLB-best 47 stolen bases over 120 games.
Escobar, 32, is a switch hitter who started 2021 playing for the Arizona Diamondbacks before he was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers at July’s deadline. He is expected to play third base most days for the Mets, but can also slide around the infield as a utility option.
“Man I couldn’t be more excited to have my boy Escobar with us,” tweeted Mets pitcher Taijuan Walker, who played with Escobar in Arizona. “Hands down one of the best teammates I’ve ever had. Mets fans are going to love him! Welcome my friend”
Canha, 32, is an underrated outfielder who can play all three positions, plus first base. He slashed .231/.358/.387 with a 111 OPS+ and 17 home runs and 12 stolen bases for the A’s last season. Canha is an above-average depth piece with a key right-handed bat. He spent the past seven seasons in Oakland.
The Marte deal, in addition to key pieces in Canha and Escobar, is Billy Eppler’s first big splash as Mets GM. He was officially announced as the 16th GM in Mets franchise history last week, with the promise from his boss, Steve Cohen, that the team would spend big this offseason.
After their first big three acquisitions, the Mets spent nearly $125 million in one day. They have plenty of roster work still left to do, with an emphasis on starting pitching, in what is expected to be a busy offseason for Cohen and his front office officials.
Though the addition of Marte finally gives the Mets a true starting center fielder for the first time since Juan Lagares roamed the outfield, the big-time signing means Nimmo is expected to shift to left field. Nimmo made significant strides in his center field defense in the past year, going from -5 DRS in 2020 to 4 DRS in 2021. But left field has always posed as a better fit for a 6-3 outfielder. In six seasons and 147 career games in left field, Nimmo has a solid 7 DRS at the corner outfield position.
The arrivals of Escobar, Canha and Marte also bring into question the futures of Dominic Smith, Jeff McNeil and J.D. Davis. Smith and Davis spent the final month of the 2021 season on the bench after an underwhelming performance at the plate for the former and a persistent hand injury for the latter. McNeil in the second half saw most of his playing time in the outfield after Javy Baez took over second-base duties.
With Escobar expected to play third base, there is no obvious spot on the roster for Davis who never really got a handle on his defense at the hot corner. If Nimmo becomes the club’s everyday left fielder and the Mets keep Baez in Flushing, Smith and McNeil will be reduced to bench roles. All three players in Davis, Smith and McNeil are now trade options, though that could change if the DH, as is expected, returns to the National League. But these are not bad problems to have for the Mets. If they hang on to any or all of those three players, the club will have significant roster depth for any injury-related issues that may pop up in-season.
The flurry of Black Friday deals are expected to be the final moves the Mets will make regarding their position players — with the exception of Baez’s free agency. The Mets are still very much in on the savvy second baseman they acquired at the trade deadline, but a handful of other teams are reportedly trying to land Baez to a multi-year deal. The addition of Escobar means the Mets are not beholden to keeping Baez, but if they did it would certainly create a stronger infield and lineup.
The Mets are said to be turning their focus to starting pitching with the outfield and infield mostly accounted for. Eppler and company still need to acquire at least 2-3 starting pitchers to decrease the amount of uncertainty in the Mets rotation. Top free-agent starters on the market include Max Scherzer, Marcus Stroman, Kevin Gausman, Robbie Ray, Jon Gray and others. The Mets are particularly interested in Gausman, seeing as how he does not have a qualifying offer attached like Ray. Sandy Alderson has stated an intention to hold on to their 14th overall draft pick in 2022. If the Mets signed Ray, the winner of the AL Cy Young award in 2021, they would lose that draft pick.
The Mets are expected to make at least one more big splash before next week’s expected lockout due to the expiring CBA. If that splash is anything like the one they made on Black Friday, then they’re just getting started.
