If we want to be serious about run prevention Juan Sotos role defensively needs to be addressed right after our glaring issues with pitching. Sacrifices need to be made.
I know he's only 26 but there's nothing that justifies playing a 1st percentile defender costing you 13 runs a season in the outfield. A replacement level right fielder more than likely gets us into the postseason this year
I'm all for moving Soto to DH/1B especially if Pete goes. That allows us to move Nimmo to right field and sign a guy like bellinger or Grisham to play Left field. What do you guys think?
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i could see soto putting up a fuss about moving to DH, even though its probably the right move
Very low priority upgrade tbh. Many much more pressing issues to address.
Of all the issues with the team you pick Juan Soto? Wow.
It’s not as simple as just putting a replacement level defender out there to make the postseason because that defender wouldn’t come close to Soto’s offensive production.
Soto would have had to DH all season in that case and you’d need the new RF to essentially equal our DH production from this season to make up for it.
Soto is one of the few players in the majors whose poor defense can be justified by their amazing offense.
Lmao bro please gtfo 🤣🤣
Yeah, this we clear from the get. The biggest problem with Soto is playing him in an outfield, especially with Nimmo. It seems really unlikely they push the DH move this year. If Pete leaves I could see that pushing Juan or Nimmo to first base (I have a lot more faith trying Nimmo there than Soto).
The fact is we probably need to live with the bad defense for a few more seasons. But that means the rest of the defense needs to be really good. I don’t quite see how Stearns does it, but at a minimum only one of Soto or Nimmo should be in the outfield (and if it’s Soto we need Taylor-level CF play).
13 runs caused by Soto is a drop in the ocean of our bullpen implosion.
There are issues with this team, but this ain’t even in the top 10.
He’ll need to move to first at the back end of his contract anyway, may as well start learning now if we don’t get Alonso
Wow he allowed 13 runs over the course of 162 games!?!?!? DFA HIM NOW MENDY WTF
Soto was one of the worst defenders the start of the season but the last 3 months he graded as a league average right fielder
If we pay $760m for a DH that will be the worst contract in history
Christ this is gonna be a long offseason isn’t it?
Nimmo doesn’t have the arm to be a lf and you wanna move him to right???
He got an 800 million dollar contract. He’s wont be playing another position til like hes 35.
Fuck this run prevention narrative. The pitching fucked us if we had better pitching we would not of given up so many defense runs.
Ill take average.
Some people could complain even if they had the best set of tits in their face.
And how was his offensive production in comparison? You know, RBI’s?
Guys we gotta hit the ball. I like good offenses. You can trade defense for offense at 1B and RF. This season is not on the two best hitters on our team, 1 who played like an All Star (Alonso) and 1 who played like an MVP (Soto).
Run prevention means get a good center fielder and left fielder to make up for the fact that your right fielder can’t field (which is fine because he hits 40/40 with a .900 OPS).
Soto was just part of the issue (and that ignores his offense).
Nimmo graded out at roughly average (FG has him dead average and Savant at 44th percentile). Biggest issue was Siri getting (and later Taylor who sucked in the first half) forcing McNeil out there who graded out as slightly below average. So the OF as a whole was below average. Add in Vientos and Pete with a poor defensive year from Lindor?
Missing the playoffs makes way more sense.
Nimmo should not be anywhere other than LF. If you want to move Soto to DH that’s fine. Benge will probably take CF or RF before long. He’s a solid defender with a good arm. I’m guessing CF/RF will be one of the UFA/trade targets. Vientos probably slides to 1B full time, maybe DH here and there, and hopefully eventually a platoon with Clifford.
I’m less concerned with the rotation considering the kids will be in play right from the jump next year. McLean, Tong, Sproat, and a returning Scott. Should help the bullpen too if Holmes bounces out there.
Theres obviously work to be done but I think a lot of what needs to happen is committing to the youth. Keep building from within.
For context, Soto was in the 44th percentile in fielding in 2024 and cost no runs and was in the 10th percentile in baserunning value, costing his team 3 runs. My point is that Soto made a major effort to improve his baserunning last offseason after being criticized for that in past years and his defense is kind of a moving target. He’s shown the capability to be at least average in right field as recently as last season and he has worked on improving his arm strength and accuracy. Will he ever win a gold glove? No, but I think he will take the critiques to heart again and work on improving that part of his game too.
I agree the Mets defense needs to improve. But I see suggestions below of moving X player to X position. That isn’t going to help. Having players play out of position is a recipe for the defensive issues to continue. Stearns needs to decide which players he’s fine with playing at their normal position, taking offense and defense into account. He needs to acquire replacements for as many of the other positions who won’t completely damage the Met offense while improving the defensive alignment as he can. You didn’t bring this player up, but I see other posters saying this now as well as last season, and it drives me crazy. A big NO to having Mark Vientos play first base if they don’t re-sign Alonso. “Good” offensive Vientos is hardly a lock, and who knows if his defense will be better at first than it is at third base. If Stearns is able to completely follow through on tightening up the defense on the Mets, Vientos will either be the DH or on another team.
I lowkey feel like Juan Soto could make for a decent 1B:
* His range is obviously terrible, both by both the metrics and the eye test – a large part due to his lack of speed (despite his stolen base insurgence), however this weakness can be mitigated by not having to run as far by being infield.
* His biggest defensive “asset” is his slightly above average arm, which will also play up on the infield. Even at first base, a position infamous for having terrible throwers, having a good arm will not necessarily go to waste: think of how many more outs at the plate we would have had over the past few years if Pete’s arm was at the level of even an average high school player.
* Soto has had trouble with tracking the ball in the outfield, but that won’t be much of a problem when most plays will be right in front of you on the infield.
* Playing on the dirt (especially 1B) requires more reflexes and technical skills rather than raw athleticism; the upshot of that is that these attributes are easier to acquire, and if Soto’s newfound stolen base ability has told us anything, it is that he is willing and able to learn.
* His listed height of 6’1″ is acceptable for a first baseman, and he has the bonus of being left-handed (something that will surely delight Keith Hernandez).
All that being said, while I do think 1B is an option for Soto down the road, I feel like it is still too early to commit to that transition. And in the short-medium term, I hope we re-sign Pete.
1. Soto improved defensively as the year went on. In the first half, he was really really awful. In the second half he was merely below average. If he can maintain that level of defense from the second half, he can stick in RF
2. Soto should still be able to improve his defense somewhat. He’s only 26 years old, 27 next season. He’s right around the same age Nimmo was when he transitioned to being a full-time CF.
3. No matter how much Soto improves his defense, he probably won’t be able to become a plus defender in RF. It would be good for us to get him more days at DH.
4. A move to 1B should definitely be a future consideration for Soto, but I think we are probably still a few years away from that.
5. If we do sign a stronger defensive outfielder, Nimmo should not move to RF. You usually want your better defender and especially better throwing arm in RF. Nimmo’s arm is very weak.