Uniform tweaks, and a discussion about Teoscar Hernández

The Mets will be making a slight uniform change in 2024. Plus, looking at the pros and cons of signing Teoscar Hernández.

What’s Up with the Mets? 🍎

• Steve Cohen and David Stearns are in “lockstep” that they won’t pivot for the sake of pivoting, which is why the club is not in on Blake Snell or Jordan Montgomery (SNY)

• The Mets were ranked as the top fit for free agent OF Teoscar Hernández (MLB.com)

• The team will make slight updates to their black jerseys, removing the white drop shadow from the hats (SNY)

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The pros and cons of Teoscar Hernández… ✍️

It’s been an extremely quiet offseason for the Mets after coming up short in their pursuit of top free agent target Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and it projects to continue to be that way moving forward.

It has already been reported several times over the last few weeks that Steve Cohen and David Stearns are aligned that the club will not overreact to losing out on Yamamoto and pivoting to other big fish. Even so, just because the club does not appear to swimming in the deep end of free agency this year doesn’t mean that they’re not going to be active at all. There are still other options in free agency that can help this team in 2024 without going against their philosophies and plans for this offseason and the next.

One of those free agent options could be Teoscar Hernández, who MLB.com recently ranked as a top fit for the club. Over 160 games last season, the right-handed outfielder hit .258/.305/.435 with 26 home runs, 29 doubles, 93 RBI, a .741 OPS and 106 OPS+ for the Seattle Mariners.

Hernández, who was not given the qualifying offer from the Mariners earlier this winter, is far from a perfect player but he does bring a lot of power with him – something this Mets lineup could really use. Despite the team finishing in the top-10 in the league with 215 home runs last season, over a third of them came from just two players on their roster in Pete Alonso and Francisco Lindor. One issue this offense has faced over the last few seasons has been the lack of power and protection for Alonso in that lineup, so it makes sense that the Mets have shown interest in players such as Hernández and even J.D. Martínez.

Hernández would also give the Mets some insurance in their outfield after Starling Marte suffered from several injuries over the last few seasons and struggled mightily when he did play in 2023. This would also allow the club to keep Jeff McNeil in the infield more often than not, where he brings more value as a second baseman.

That being said, there are a few cons that would come with signing Hernández, as well. Not only does his low on-base percentage and lack of walks negatively impact his overall numbers, but it affects his overall consistency. Despite two straight seasons from 2020-21 with an on-base of over .340, Hernández has struggled to draw walks and has a .316 OBP over the course of his major league career. The veteran outfielder also saw a massive uptick in strikeouts this past season, going from 152 Ks in 2022 to 211 last year. Hernández was in the bottom third percentile in whiff percentage in 2023, according to Baseball Savant.

He decreased on-base percentage and overall contact over the last couple seasons could be a red flag for potentially interested teams, though interestingly enough when Hernández does make contact, it is with authority. This past season, Hernández’s 49.4 hard hit percentage ranked in the top 10 percent of the league.

Overall, there are legitimate positives and negatives that would come with signing Hernández. While his power and hard-hit percentage offer something the Mets lineup could really use, his increasingly all-or-nothing style of play may act as something that scares off David Stearns and other teams who may be interested.

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Hot Stove 🔥

• The Padres are reportedly close to signing Korean RHP Woo Suk Go (Heyman)

• The Dbacks reportedly signed C Tucker Barnhart to a minor league deal (Fansided)