Could Mets Be a Match for Athletics’ Fire Sale?
Photo Credit: Kevin Sousa-USA TODAY
Late on Thursday night, the San Diego Padres shocked the baseball world when they were able to snag manager Bob Melvin from the Oakland Athletics. The well-regarded Melvin had his 2022 option picked up by the A’s earlier this offseason, but Oakland decided they would let him pursue other opportunities.
Two things have been pretty commonly known in baseball circles: one is that there’s a fire sale coming in Oakland and secondly that Melvin wanted to manage a contender, not a rebuild. Should note that Mets team president Sandy Alderson was hoping to snag Melvin away from the A’s, but the continued uncertainty in the front office probably made that unlikely given the timing.
Now that Melvin is gone, let the fire sale begin!
As noted by Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic, the A’s have multiple players due for raises in arbitration including 1B Matt Olson, 3B Matt Chapman, LHP Sean Manaea, RHP Chris Bassitt, RHP Frankie Montas, and CF Ramón Laureano.
After looking at the list it’s pretty easy to see that there’s players that could help the Mets for the 2022 season.
Chapman, even after posting a 100 OPS+ in 2021, has been an above average offensive player for his career (120 OPS+) and continues to be an elite defensive (17 OAA in 2021) played at third base. He plays position that you could argue is one of the Mets biggest needs this offseason.
That rings true for pitching depth, which Manaea ($10.2 million projected salary), Bassitt ($8.8 million) or Montas ($5.2 million) could fill, too. All three starters profiled pretty freakishly similarly in 2021. All three had strikeout percentages between 25% and 27%, their ground ball rates were between 41% and 43%, they all had ERAs in the 3s, and their FIP and xFIP all landed in the mid-to-high 3s as well. Manaea and Bassitt are entering their last year of arbitration in 2022, and Montas has two more years of team control.
Matt Olson makes the least sense positionally, as he’s played first base basically his whole career, but Olson has developed into the type of player you can fit into a lineup, especially if the designated hitter comes to the National League. He’s accumulated 13.2 fWAR over the last four seasons, including a 5 WAR season in 2021, when he mashed 39 homers with an .881 OPS. Olson is projected to make around $12 million in 2022, and he has another year of team control in 2023.
Lastly, Laureano would help solve the Mets’ outfield conundrum they seem to be facing heading into the offseason. If Michael Conforto leaves, they Mets will have to fill both corner outfield spots. (Dominic Smith likely won’t be playing left field every day in 2022.) Acquiring Laureano, a fine center fielder, could allow Nimmo to slide to one of the corner positions, where he plays a bit better. He’ll be entering his age-27 season coming off a season in which he hit .304 with a .770 OPS.
Once the Mets have their front office in place, they should get the A’s on the line soon after that.
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