Brad Penner – USATODAY Sports
Somewhat lost amidst the sea of injuries and underperforming veterans the New York Mets have suffered through this season is the ongoing audition of shortstop Wilmer Flores. At times, Flores has looked downright competent defensively at shortstop, and with a team-high 10 home runs, he’s added some much-needed pop to the Mets’ lineup. But too many times his lack of range and quickness has reared its ugly head, enough times to think that his future with the Mets lies somewhere other than shortstop.
To be fair, Flores has been one of the Mets’ more productive offensive players this season, but he’s not been productive enough to offset what he gives up defensively. With his current OPS under .700 following a mini-slump, Flores would need significant upgrades in his batting average and on-base percentage to make keeping him at shortstop worthwhile. With good power offensively, a strong arm and limited foot speed, Flores may best be suited for third base in the long run.
Obviously, the Mets have David Wright locked up to be their third baseman for a long time, but with his diagnosis of spinal stenosis, his future is somewhat up in the air. Even if Wright returns this year and in future years, he’ll likely need frequent days off and may be prone to DL stints, making Flores a perfect backup, as he’s capable of playing long stretches if Wright goes on the DL. While Wright is healthy, Flores can still serve as the backup middle infielder, as well as a key pincher hitter, a role in which his aggressiveness at the plate will be more of an asset than a liability.
Flores has been a suitable fill-in at shortstop this season, but there’s no way he can be the long-term solution. Even if the Mets don’t acquire a shortstop from outside the organization anytime soon, shortstop prospect Gavin Cecchini has had an impressive season at Double-A and could be big-league ready by this time next year, giving the Mets a trustworthy defensive player at the position. Cecchini could very well push Flores out at shortstop sooner or later.
For that matter, it may be time to move Flores off of shortstop right now anyway. With Wright’s continued absence, Ruben Tejada has become the regular third baseman for New York. With Wright’s return far from imminent, the Mets are foolish to keep Tejada at third base and Flores at shortstop when they would be stronger defensively by switching the two, allowing Tejada to play his natural position and putting Flores at a position that fits him better — and one he at least has some experience playing during his minor-league career.
The only other option the Mets have for the short term would be to keep Dilson Herrera at second base and insert Daniel Murphy at third base when he comes off the DL, thus leaving Flores at shortstop to keep his bat in the lineup. But with Herrera continuing to look overmatched at the plate, Murphy returning to second base and Herrera going to Triple-A would be the best course of action short of playing Murphy at third base, Tejada at shortstop and sliding Flores to second base.
However you slice it, the end result is Flores playing somewhere other than shortstop for the Mets, most likely third base. If that’s what the future holds for Flores, the Mets may be better off moving him off of shortstop sooner rather than later. That will be best for both their short-term and long-term future.
Bryan Zarpentine is a New York Mets writer at www.RantSports.com. Like him on Facebook, follow him on twitter @BZarp and add him on Google.
