Photo Credit: Reinhold Matay / USA TODAY Sports
Update: 10:50 pm
During the winter, teams can change their roster at a blink of an eye, and applies now to the Mets, as they agree on a two-year deal/$18.5 million deal with shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera.
Cabrera played in 2015 with the Rays, batting .265, with 15 home runs and 58 RBIs in 143 games. The nine year vet, has played with three different clubs, but spent the most time with the Cleveland Indians from 2007-2013, appearing in two all-star games.
The Venezuelan native is no stranger to the National League, as he played with the Washington Nationals in 2014.
The Mets didn’t have a full time shortstop in 2015, as they relied on Ruben Tejada and Wilmer Flores, but now with these two moves in less than a few hours, they have shored up their middle infield. The question will plague Mets fans, where will Flores play?
Original Post: 10:09 pm
When the 2015 World Series concluded at Citi Field, it more than likely ended Daniel Murphy‘s Mets career. More than that it opened up a void at second base that New York needed to fill. The obvious choice could have been just handing the job over to top prospect Dilson Herrera, but instead on Wednesday the Mets shipped pitcher Jon Niese to the Pittsburgh Pirates, in exchange for Neil Walker.
The Pittsburgh native, a true second baseman, comes with pop in his bat. One thing is he may not be able to live up to the record-setting Murphy who hit a home run in sixth straight postseason games, but he does have 93 home runs in seven big league seasons compared to Murphy’s 62 in the same span.
Walker started his career with his hometown team, the Pirates in 2009 and quickly made his presence known in 2010, when he hot .296, with 12 home runs and 66 RBIs, also finishing in 5th place in the Rookie of the Year voting.
From 2011 to 2015, the switch hitter he averaged 520 at bats, while having a stand out season at the plate in 2014, when he launched 23 home runs and drove in 76 runs. On the defensive side, Walker has a career .989 Fld%.
The Mets have infield depth in their minor league system, but they chose to look elsewhere and fill the position with a veteran.
As for the Pirates, they land Niese, who stood out in the 2015 postseason, as the Mets lefty specialist out of the pen, and if not for one bad outing in the Game 2 loss to the Royals, it would have been a perfect experience. In eight pro seasons, all with the Mets, he has a career .500 record of 61-61.
David Conde
David is the Co-Founder and Executive Editor of Legends On Deck®, as well as a Co-Host on Legends On Deck Podcast. David was a Senior Editor for MetsMerizedOnline.com, MetsMinors.net and Contributor for Hardballchat.com that spanned from 2010 to 2014. David made his MLB Debut as a writer in June 2014, while covering the NY Mets at Citi Field, for MetsmerizedOnline.com. David also coaches baseball for ages 13-15, a Babe Ruth League team in his local community. David's passion is coaching the game he loves to the future Legends of Tomorrow as well as making available a website that people can have fun sharing and reading. David is also passionate about his career as a Mortgage Loan Officer which allows him to help many families reach their dreams of owning a home. Connect with David via his Social Media pages as he loves to chat all about baseball.
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