:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/23111349/20131013_jla_usa_702.0.jpg)
The Mets met with free agent shortstop Jhonny Peralta at Major League Baseball's general manager meetings, says Jon Heyman. If you've been following the rumors today, you likely heard the team had met with a player last night. Heyman says that while the Mets won't admit it was Peralta, other teams confirmed the meeting.
Our own Jeff Kopman wrote up Peralta's free agent profile a couple weeks ago. The 31-year-old is a career .268/.330/.457 hitter with a .330 wOBA and 102 wRC+. That might not sound like much, but it would be a drastic improvement over what the Mets got out of shortstop last year. Mets shortstops hit just .215/.285/.276 in 2013, far below the major league average at the position.
About that, though, there are at least some concerns about Peralta's ability to stick at the position. Eno Sarris isn't so sure he's still a shortstop, but metrics like DRS and UZR have rated him as an average-to-slight-above-average defender at short. And, of course, Peralta was one of the players who served a 50-game suspension this season for his involvement with Biogenesis; not that there's anything wrong with that.
With Ruben Tejada clearly not the Mets' first choice at shortstop moving forward and Omar Quintanilla an expected non-tender, it's no surprise the Mets are looking outside the organization. Peralta and Stephen Drew are the top shortstops available in free agency this winter.