McDeal with McNeil

[metirish]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: This reminds me of Carlos Beltran and his promise to Jon Niese's nose.

Carlos did pay for the nose procedure though IIRC

[Edgy MD]

Can you imagine a worse generous offer than a well-paid co-worker offering to buy you cosmetic surgery?

[Edgy MD]

I spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about the future of Jeff McNeil.



I wonder if, in the near-term, he might be best suited for third base, a move that (a) opens up second for Ronny Mauricio, ( gets him out of a relationship with Francisco Lindor that may or may not be problematic, © puts him in a position that allows him to react more than think, which might ease up the grinding gears that seemingly fill his head, and (d) allows Baty and Vientos to focus on hitting from (mostly) the DH spot, and they can worry about adapting to the big leagues defensively after they've turned a corner on offense.



He only played six innings there the last three seasons, but saw plenty of time there before that.



A good feature from Steve Gelbs the other day spotlighted Ron Washington's role with the Braves, and how he makes a point in helping rookies through their adjustments, getting them to focus not on the alleged weak spots in their game, but on their strengths. And once they establish that their strengths play at the big league level, they can work on ironing out the rest of their game without the pressure of their MLB existence being on the line. This seemed to be both obvious and revelatory, and I'd like to see the Mets introduce rookies in a philosophically similar manner. So I'd like to see Batientos protected from defensive obligations as much as possible for the time being.



Beyond that, though, I wonder if McNeil's future beyond this season may be in left field. If Mauricio is coming, and Baty and Vientos have come (if not anchored themselves in place), the soft spot in 2024 appears to be in left field, which (a) the Mets have largely vacated with the trades of Tommy Pham and and Mark Canha, and ( isn't a very good opportunity to fill from the free-agent outfield class coming in this offseason. Also © McNeil has shown himself to be a pretty good corner outfielder, lacking only the polish of a regular on stuff like carom plays.



Of course, the longer-term future for McNeil may be on a different team entirely. It's hard to read how frustrated (if at all) the Mets are with his substituting a potty mouth and red ass for productivity over extended periods, or with his swinging from All-Star-level to near-replacement-level offense every other season.



McNeil came up on a parallel track to Alonso, and so, even in bad years, holds a share in what the team's identity is right now. His presence may even be part of Alonso's self-identity as a big-leaguer. He's a terrific all-round ballplayer when playing right, and continually hustles when playing poorly. Left? Right? Second? Third? Gone? I just don't know. But I think on it.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I had been thinking left field for McNeil, since most of the Mets upper-level prospects were infielders, but the shakeup that occurred last month has infused more outfielders into the system, so who knows? I wouldn't be terribly surprised if he finished out his current contract with a different team.

[Edgy MD]

Infused them into the system, mebbe, but whether any of them are ready to take a starting role in 2024 seems like a longshot.



Also, Marte's future may be more of a mystery than McNeil's. Another Gelbs report (I think) suggested Joey Cora was predicting Marte wil be a 2024 All-Star and taking action in the clubhouse on the matter. Maybe, but from my seat, it seems as likely that he will be retired.

[metirish]

Jeff is a very curious case , a magician last season with the bat , awful this season...hard to make sense of why he can't figure it out

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

I think leftfield works out best if Baty gets his game back together and stakes a claim on third base. The good part about McNeil in the field is that he can plug in at multiple positions if needed.



I guess a factor is if they want to go after a position player as a free agent, as they don't have too many holes assuming the stars stay put. Hopefully they are focusing on pitching instead!

[Edgy MD]

I hadn't know there were reports on what they were focusing on.



It's a weird year. They have the greatest free agent ever, and not many behind him who currently qualify as stars. The starting pitching group is deep but whether there's one standout target depends on how much you think Clayton Kershaw has left. And he's weird in that he's happy to play on one-year deals.



But I'm not seeing any big offensive gets after Ohtani.



Anyhow, I don't want to hijack my own thread theme.

[MFS62]

(I can't find it but) I read a story a few weeks ago about how the new MLB shift rule has hurt McNeil more than any other batter. There were lots of scatter diagrams and stats to back that up.

If we see he hasn't made adjustments by the end of the year, I don't think his current production warrants re-signing him.



Later

[metsmarathon]

=MFS62 post_id=134882 time=1692035720 user_id=60]
(I can't find it but) I read a story a few weeks ago about how the new MLB shift rule has hurt McNeil more than any other batter. There were lots of scatter diagrams and stats to back that up.

If we see he hasn't made adjustments by the end of the year, I don't think his current production warrants re-signing him.



Later

[Edgy MD]

Eyeball scouting to me doesn't say it's the shift screwing him, so much as not dealing well with the fastballs and sliders in on his hands. The weak grounders to the right would mostly be outs in a shift alignment as much as a straight-up alignment. Perhaps moreso.



His last week has produced better results against such pitches and I hope he's turned a corner.

[roger_that]

Edgy MD wrote: I'm not seeing any big offensive gets after Ohtani.

An argument in favor of signing Alonso to a big long juicy contract, perhaps bigger and longer and juicier than seems sensible to any of us.

[Centerfield]

Jeff McNeil after the All-Star Break:



.291 Avg

.775 OPS

7 HR (versus 3 before the break)



Nothing earth shattering there, but much closer to the production we've seen. He was just awful in May/June/July. I was wondering if we'd hear something about him playing through injury.

[The Hot Corner]

McNeil was very adept at going to the opposite field and exploiting an empty left side of the infield with the shift in 2022. Without that gaping opening to punch balls through he often seemed at a loss. Balls that were hits in 2022 often became 6-3 groundouts in 2023. When he was jammed with the hard stuff it often became a swinging strike, a 4-3 ground out, or a pop up. He did seem to have fond himself in the final 5-6 weeks of the season.



He is a very good utility player. He can capably play second base and either corner outfield position. I see no reason that he could not be a capable third baseman as well with some time at the position. Assuming Mauricio can develop into a solid second baseman, as I imagine the Mets hope and envision, I see McNeil as more of a super sub (2nd, 3rd, LF, RF, LH PH, & DH). He should see substantial playing time in such a role. I'm just not sold on his bat, as an everyday corner outfielder.

[Edgy MD]

I thought he was still fine when going the other way, shift or not.



It was the slider inside that killed him. For months.

[smg58]

He had said when he got the UCL injury that he'd been dealing with stuff all year (https://nypost.com/2023/09/29/mets-jeff-mcneil-has-partial-ucl-tear-in-left-elbow/https://nypost.com/2023/09/29/mets-jeff-mcneil-has-partial-ucl-tear-in-left-elbow/). And I know there's an article out there with where he was more specific, but I can't find it right now.



I think there was a combination of factors. You make pitchers pay for pitching you inside by pulling the ball with authority, but McNeil was unable to do that until the last month or so.

[MFS62]

I saw on Facebook that Lindor has bought McNeil a new Ford Bronco for winning the 2022 batting title. I'm not sure how old the story is. It is from Metsmerized.com.



Later

[metirish]

=MFS62 post_id=141480 time=1700518484 user_id=60]
According to Metsmerized, Lindor has bought McNeil a new Ford Bronco for winning the 2022 batting title.

Later

[metirish]

Picture

[Edgy MD]

Now we'll know which car is his in the lot at Citi Field.

[kcmets]

Promised me a Benz

Bought me a Bronco