FanPost

The Center-Field "Opener" - Insanity or Inventive Run Preventer? Vote Now!

The Mets roster is in a bit of a bind.

They've got two bonafide slugging 1Bers in non-DH league. The cost of running both onto the field at once could be 20-30 defensive runs lost over the course of 162 games - plus the psychological drain of extra pitches thrown and the resulting fewer SP innings/greater strain on the bullpen.

One proposed solution is to sign Jackie Bradley, Jr. and practice a "5 Man Fielder Rotation" that has one of Alonso, Dom Smith, Nimmo, JBJ, Conforto sit/rest one game out of five during which they'd presumably be the primary pinch-hitter. Not a bad plan and I'd buy into it. It still has Dom in LF 60% of the time but that's better than 90% of the time.

Are there any other answers?

Maybe. I tossed this out in the comments about a week ago but here it is again: a defensive platoon that features a Center-Field "Opener". It presumes no JBJ -€” those dollars would go to better & pricier SP/pen/3B upgrades while remaining under the luxury tax. The plan calls for 3 CFers on the 25-man - Nimmo plus two of Kevin Pillar, Mallex Smith & Albert Almora.

  • The starting lineup would have the CFer hit in the #8 slot.
  • Nimmo starts in left, one of the other CFers takes the field hitting in the 8 hole.
  • Dom pinch-hits when the #8/CF turn comes up in the batting order. Dom goes to LF and Nimmo moves to CF.
  • Then late in the game with the lead the other CFer enters, Dom to 1B, Pete to bench and Nimmo back to LF.

During home games the "CF Opener" will get at least 2 innings in the field unless the Mets reach hit the #8 spot in the bottom of the first and 3 innings of defense in games where the Mets offense starts slow. That's also the type of game where you want a better glove in longer. On the road you're never going to get more than 2 innings of defensive upgrade at the start so the juice is less worth the squeeze.

The benefit of the CF "Opener" over the "5 Man Rotation" is that you're not eliminating nearly 20% of the PA's from big hitters like Dom, Pete, Nimmo & Conforto. The downside is that it's weird and you don't have a plus-plus CFer like JBJ patrolling CF 80% of the time.

What do you think?

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