The Mets are Proving They Mean Business

When Steve Cohen bought the Mets on November 6th, a lot of the baseball community expected big moves and contender very soon. Two months later they make a blockbuster move to acquire Francisco Lindor and Carlos Carrasco for Amed Rosario, Andre Giménez, Josh Wolf, and Isaiah Greene

Francisco Lindor is the highlight of this trade. Lindor entered the league halfway through the 2015 season where he has spent the last six seasons in Cleveland establishing himself as an elite shortstop in the MLB. During his tenure at Cleveland, Lindor became a four-time all-star, two-time gold glover, and two-time silver slugger and helped the Indians to a 2016 World Series appearance.

Lindor is hitting a very respectable .285 for his career but had a down year last season. He only hit .258 last season with 8 home runs. Besides having a down year in a weird season, he has been a very consistent and reliable player for Cleveland.

While Lindor is a projected to be a free agent after the 2021 season, the Mets should have no problem giving Lindor the money that he wants and they have already expressed interest in resigning him.

The Mets also beefed up their starting rotation by adding Carlos Carrasco as well. Carrasco has been a solid piece to the Indian’s rotation for many years now. He has a very respectable 3.77 career ERA and led the AL in wins in the 2017 season. Carrasco is under contract through 2022 and has a team option for 2023. He is expected to make 12 million dollars over the next two years and 14 million if the Mets accept the team option.

How will these two players help the Mets achieve the success that people expect?

With the addition of Lindor, the Mets get a true star in the field. Of course, they have one the best pitchers in the game on the mound in Jacob DeGrom but, they need hitting help and they certainly got that with Lindor. Power and a good ability to get on base with a threat of stealing? That is a win for the Mets. They also get elite defense as well. Lindor brings an impressive 99.5 fielding percentage to an already solid defensive team. The Mets ranked 3rd in the NL in fielding percentage as a team last season and got an upgrade.

Last season the Met’s only consistent starting pitcher was DeGrom and Peterson. Everybody else, not too good. Now add Carrasco and Stroman with a returning Syndergaard in early June, this is easily a top 5 rotation in the NL.

DeGrom has a career 2.61 ERA including 2 Cy Youngs in 2018 and 2019, Syndergaard has a career 3.31 ERA and Stroman has a career 3.77 ERA but, has improved drastically over the past 2 years. Assembling a rotation of pitchers who all have a career ERA under 4.00 and adding David Peterson who is only 24, is pretty scary to face.

Steve Cohen promised to make big moves and so far he has delivered. Watch out for the Mets this year as they are going to be front runners in the NL hoping to win their first World Series title since 1986.