New York Mets: Five options at second base for 2017
By Jason Evans
Neil Walker
The trade of Jon Niese for Neil Walker during last offseason was one of Sandy Alderson’s best moves as GM of the Mets. Walker hit .282 with an .823 OPS, a career-high 23 homers and 55 RBI.
When David Wright went down for the rest of the year with a neck injury, Walker seemed to take the leadership torch on the team and ran with it.
Mets hitting coach Kevin Long clearly made some adjustments to Walker’s right-handed swing which helped him produce more than he has in his entire career from that side of the plate this season.
Walker is a free agent after the season and his back surgery is going to complicate things. Will they give him a qualifying offer for next season? Remember, a new CBA wouldn’t come into play until after the qualifying period so the same free agent rules apply. Could he take it? Could the Mets give him a multi-year offer coming off the surgery?
It would be risky since you don’t know how he is going to come back from it and what kind of player he would be. The Mets have had enough injury questions in recent years and this would just be another one.
Next: Their third baseman