New York Mets: Five Most Expendable Players for 2017

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Like every big league team, the New York Mets need to tweak their roster and especially the starting lineup they roll out there to begin the 2017 season. There are clear keepers like a Noah Syndergaard and there are also players who fall under the category of “we’re stuck with you and we’ll hope for the best” like a David Wright.

But then, there are players who either don’t fit into the overall plans for the team, or they’ve overstayed their welcome and need to move on. This is about those players…

Around this time of the year, Mets general manager Sandy Alderson and all GMs throughout baseball begin to formulate a plan that, along with their coaching and scouting staff, constitutes the makeup of the team they want to bring north next season.

Holes in the team makeup are identified as well as strengths that don’t need to be touched. The scouting staffers might throw some names out there of players who would be a good fit on the team and who might be available in the right trade.

However, another list is also penciled in for players who are deemed expendable. These are the ones who need to be moved. There may or may not be an immediate avenue available to accomplish the move, but there is definitely a target on their back and one way or another they will not be with the Mets when the season begins. Or, at least that’s the plan.

In the past, Alderson has been tight lipped about anything he does regarding the Mets roster. He was hammered incessantly prior to the trade deadline this year to “please do something” to turbo-charge the anemic Mets offense. And as we know, at the last moment he brought Jay Bruce in to quell the uproar.

Who then are the expendable Mets players that Alderson should be thinking about dumping before the 2017 season begins? In order from least to most expendable, they are…

#5 Jeurys Familia

To earn a spot on the list of Mets expendable, Jeurys Familia has done nothing wrong. In fact, it’s questionable whether the Mets would be where they are now without him.

Instead, it’s more about the way he has been used and overused by the Mets, and in particular Terry Collins and pitching coach Dan Warthen. For the third straight year, Familia is on a pace that would place him in half the games the Mets have played (74 appearances and counting in 2016).

How long can this go on before his production, and more importantly his reliability, begins to decline? In fact, one can make the argument that his effectiveness is already declining.

For instance, in his last seven games he has only three saves. In his last 30 games, he only has 17 saves. This is not what you want to see from a closer.

Compare this to Mariano Rivera as an example of where a closer should be. Rivera generally saved two-thirds of the games he appeared in. Over the course of his career, Familia barely touches the 40 percent mark.

Simply put, he’s used in way too many games and for one reason or another doesn’t close out a high enough portion of the games he appears in.

Therefore, the Mets would be wise to move in another direction while they can and before it all comes crashing down.

#4 Lucas Duda

In his six full seasons with the Mets, Lucas Duda has appeared in an average of only 110 games per season. He’s a big lumbering man who now has a back condition that forced him to miss five months this season.

Although their injuries are different, David Wright and Duda are both dealing with back issues that seldom can be cured. These back injuries can be treated, but as many of us know, they never really go away.

So the question becomes this. How many games can Duda play in next season and the season after that before he goes down with a series of brief but nagging injuries again?

The Mets seem to be hoping that his 30 HR, 90 RBI season of 2014 is the norm for Duda and it can be repeated if only he can stay healthy.

Except that in reality, that season was exceptionally abnormal. Duda is a very pedestrian lifetime .246 hitter who has averaged fewer than 20 home runs and 60 RBI a season.

Of course, everything said here points to his diminished trade value indicating the Mets could be stuck with him for another season. But that’s Sandy Alderson’s problem and he will need to be creative in getting the Mets a much needed upgrade at first base.

#3 Juan Lagares

Juan Lagares has been on the Mets radar for what seems like forever now. He is widely known and respected as a acrobatic outfielder who consistently makes the highlight reels on ESPN.

But he hasn’t been able to hit a lick in the major leagues. In a little more than 450 games with the Mets, Lagares has managed a paltry 17 home runs and 130 RBI. Because of injuries and his anemic bat, he has been relegated to a part time “regular” and a defensive replacement late in close games.

Lagares might be one of those players who blossoms late (he’s only 27), but the question for the Mets is how much is enough. And when do you pull the plug and move on?

He could also be one of those players who simply needs a change of scenery and no matter what the Mets try to do with him, it just ain’t gonna happen.

Lagares has definite trade value exactly for that reason and he could be used to fill any of the holes the team has. But the window is closing, and not opening for that opportunity.

#2 Travis d’Arnaud

Much like Juan Lagares, the Mets have been very patient with Travis d’Arnaud. Since being acquired in the trade that sent R.A. Dickey to the Blue Jays following his fluke Cy Young year, d’Arnaud has been considered the regular catcher and used that way by manager Terry Collins.

But in that role, d’Arnaud simply has not delivered. He’s had almost 1,000 at bats in a Mets uniform averaging about 10 home runs and 30 RBI a season with a .246 lifetime batting average.

Those numbers might be acceptable for a catcher if the defensive skills were there, except they are not for d’Arnaud who continues to struggle despite being given more than adequate attention and time to improve.

Again, like Lagares he’s only 27 and he could also be one of those late bloomers. But he is not a good fit for a team like the Mets are now as they fight for a World Series title this year and beyond.

Again, his trade value remains relatively high based on his “potential” and the Mets would be wise to move him while the movin’s still good.

#1 Matt Harvey

No, this is not a joke. This has been building for quite a while now and the departure of Matt “The Brat” Harvey is really only a question of how and when his uniform will change colors.

Let’s face some facts about Harvey and none of them are pretty. Despite all the ballyhoo and buildup, he’s barely a career .500 pitcher at 29-28 in his four years with the Mets. Through no fault of his own (but the fact remains), he has been lost for the better part of two seasons.

And except for that one fleeting moment against the Royals in the World Series last year when he pitched eight brilliant innings, can you point to any other significant start or contributions he’s made to the team?

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On the other hand, it’s quite easy to point to all of the distractions and embarrassing moments he’s created for the team, beginning with that hospital bed photo when he thought it would be neat to point that middle finger at the photographer to, let’s see, how can we count the ways?

Then of course, there was last year’s fiasco when he listened to his agent Scott Boras announcing that he was imposing his own innings limit on the Mets, and therefore he probably wouldn’t be available to pitch in the playoffs. This at a time when the team was getting ready for a deep postseason run.

Immature, selfish, reckless behavior… pick your adjective because they all apply.

And when you think about it, even the bravado he displayed in that fateful ninth inning when he got in his manager’s face lobbying to go out there… wasn’t that really an act of selfishness?

Harvey will be gone anyway when he reaches free agency in 2018. Boras will get him that $100 million contract and maybe he’ll grow up or maybe he won’t. But for all he hasn’t been on the field and for all the negative he’s been off the field, the Mets need to get this guy outta here sooner rather than later.

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He probably can’t be traded over the winter so Alderson will probably wait till he’s had a few starts under his belt to prove he is healthy once again, and then he’ll pull the plug.

Hey, look at it this way. The Mets are the team that traded two future Hall of Famers in Tom Seaver and Nolan Ryan. So why would it be a stretch to trade Harvey.

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