Mets outfielder Tyrone Taylor underwent a pair of offseason surgeries, the team announced Friday. Taylor had an umbilical hernia repair performed back on Oct. 30 and just yesterday underwent a procedure to remove a loose body in his right elbow. Typical recovery for each surgery is about two months, per the team. Assuming Taylor’s rehab follows a similar timetable, he’d be ready in time for spring training.
Taylor, 30, is headed into his second season with the Mets, who acquired him from the Brewers alongside Adrian Houser in a trade that sent pitching prospect Coleman Crow back to Milwaukee. While Houser’s lone year in Queens didn’t prove fruitful, Taylor wound up playing a notable role as an oft-used backup who slotted into 130 games and took 345 turns at the plate. He hit .248/.299/.401 with seven homers, 11 steals and strong defense across all three outfield spots. Taylor was particularly productive from June onward, slashing .258/.323/.440 (115 wRC+) in that stretch.
The Mets can control Taylor for another two seasons. He’s eligible for arbitration this winter and projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn an affordable $2.9MM salary. As things stand, he’s in line for an increased role next year, with Brandon Nimmo and Starling Marte representing the only other experienced outfielders on the Mets’ 40-man roster.
Of course, the Mets are widely expected to be in the outfield market this winter. Owner Steve Cohen is meeting with Juan Soto and agent Scott Boras next week, and even if the Mets can’t lure Soto to Queens, they’ll have plenty of other options to choose from in free agency. With Nimmo capable of handling center, the Mets can look into free agents and trade targets of both the corner-outfield and center field variety. Anthony Santander, Teoscar Hernandez, Tyler O’Neill and Jurickson Profar are among the free agents this winter.
Tyrone Taylor was surprisingly effective and truly earned a spot on the Met’s roster as a 3rd or 4th outfielder. The Mets should strongly consider bringing him back.
Tyrone is a great fit for the Mets, but they may pivot to Soto.
“pivot to Soto”? Taylor is the fourth OF and he’ll be on the team regardless of Soto’s status.
Yes, but technically they can non tender him. I should have explained myself, apologies.
There is a 0% chance they non-tender him.
Instead of Soto and Alonso, why not Christian Walker, Willy Adames, Teoscar Hernandez and Anthony Santander?
Outfield/DH mix of Teoscar, Santander, Nimmo and Marte.
Christian Walker at 1B. Adames at 2B, Lindor at SS. Vientos at 3B. The bad part is Vientos is a weak defender at 3B, better suited for DH.
Thats 10.5 bWAR from just two players whose average age will be 28 that you’re trading for 12.9 bWAR from four players whose average age will be 31.5. Only a difference of 2.4 WAR across two additional positions. Factor in what McNeil/Acuña/Mauricio would give you at 2nd and whoever is gonna play DH and you easily have a greater differential in WAR with a younger group of players. Not only that but you’re banking on four players replicating their production instead of just two, one of whom is a generational talent that is just about to hit his prime.
In addition, going off MLBTR’s predictions. Soto/Alonso will cost an average of $71.15 mil a year while the other four would cost $86.67 mil a year. So they could actually sign one of Walker/Teoscar/Santander (all projected at $20 mil) in addition to Soto and Alonso and be spending only $5 mil more per year.
Chris
Good analysis.
I agree that the four players that start at 31 years you are getting by the middle of the four years will have a median age of 33.
But the median of Soto and Alonso during their contracts is also 33, Soto from age 26 to 40 (median is 33) and Alonso from 30 to 36 (median is 33).
So when Soto is 30 and Alonso is 34, my proposal then gives you $71 million a year to spend again rather than being trapped. And with Soto and Alonso, you need to pay for two additional players to amke it up to four so that cost at the beginning is quite close.
Read the story he has two years of control left
Many players now out of baseball had “control left”. It’s up to the team whether they decide to tender a player a contract and with Juan Soto(and others) on the menu, there’s no guarantee he’s brought back. And I did read the story.
Taylor’s arb estimate is only $2.9 million. He put up 2.0 WAR in a non-starter role. They don’t need to ‘strongly consider’ bringing him back. Barring a trade, there is a 100% chance he’s back. *Especially* if they get Soto because that outfield defense (Soto in RF, Nimmo in CF, Marte/whoever in LF) would be bad. They would need Taylor even more.
MLB FAn is right. The SF GIants did release Jeff Davis after he won his arbitration case.in this case, under 3 million is worth it to have him as a 4th OF. He is better than many teams’ 3rd Outfielder.
Are you talking about JD Davis? Because he put up less than 1 WAR despite being a full time infielder. He gave them terrible defense to boot. Taylor put up 2.0 in a limited role and provided stellar defense, something they really needed with Marte in RF and Nimmo in LF. The situations are not remotely comparable. I’ll say it again: there is a 0% chance the Mets non-tender Taylor.
He will be back
So so underrated player this year for the Mets. People don’t talk enough about how important he was to that team. Never once that he didn’t come through. But Mendoza knows how important he was. He was actually fantastic for them.
Did you see any Mets games on TV this past season? Gary, Keith and Ron were constantly praising both Taylor and Bader, rightfully so. If the Mets go into the season with an outfield of Marte, Nimmo, and Soto – or any of the other FA outfielders who are bat-first – Taylor will again be getting lots of playing time
Good news that he’ll be ready for Spring Training. He’ll provide about 1.5 WAR for the team.
He only has 95 days to recover, though, so all the best.