TAMPA — Juan Lagares led off Wednesday and smoked an 0-2 double off the left-field wall against Masahiro Tanaka, stole third and scored when John Ryan Murphy heaved the ball into left field.
It was the kind of power-speed combo that intrigues and enthuses the Mets about having Lagares bat first. Later in the game, he hit a two-run homer off Dellin Betances, and Lagares is batting .395 this spring.
Yet the Mets are toying with having him — wait for it — hit last.
Manager Terry Collins told me that as early as Friday against the Cardinals — when Curtis Granderson and David Wright return to the lineup — the Mets might experiment once again with the pitcher hitting eighth.
“It is something we are thinking about,” Collins said.
Collins did deploy his starter in the eighth spot 10 times last year. The standard theory as to why a team might want to do this is to get its third-place hitter more RBI chances after the first time through the lineup by having three position players hit in front of him rather than the pitcher and two position players.
With the Mets now, Collins also sees a way to diversify his lineup by having Lagares hit ninth followed by Curtis Granderson first, David Wright second, Lucas Duda third, Michael Cuddyer fourth, Daniel Murphy fifth and either Travis d’Arnaud or Wilmer Flores sixth. That would be righty-lefty-righty-lefty-righty-lefty-righty.
“It negates a lefty reliever coming in and taking out an entire inning easily,” Collins said.
He also thinks the Mets are better positioned than most to try this because they have a couple of starters who handle the bat well, notably Jacob deGrom and Jonathon Niese. Collins used deGrom to hit eighth five times last year, Niese four times and Bartolo Colon (a woeful hitter) once.
Tanaka holding back for season
Masahiro Tanaka is either holding back to preserve for the season or being held back by restriction in his elbow. The truth? It probably will not begin to be revealed until the season with Tanaka still in line to pitch the April 6 opener against Toronto.
Tanaka’s fastball was mainly 88 to 89, topping out at 91 mph Wednesday against the Mets. He said he is only throwing sinkers — not faster four-seamers — to try to get a feel for that pitch because he had damage done too often against him on his four-seam fastball last year. The Yankees insist their charts show Tanaka is throwing at about the same velocity now as at this time last year. Plus, he averaged 91.2 mph on his fastball last year, though he seemed to have the ability to go get 93 to 95 mph when he needed it and suggested he will again this year.
Manager Joe Girardi mentioned Tanaka had more familiar velocity in an earlier spring start when he was throwing four-seam fastballs.
Nevertheless, multiple scouts at the game mentioned the lack of high-end velocity and precision with the sinker. Nevertheless, seven of his 14 outs came via strikeouts and one scout said, “His split was as good as ever, he threw probably six or seven real good ones and I don’t think he could throw that pitch if his elbow was hurting.”
Another scout said, “He looked comfortable to me. He topped out at 91 mph in his final inning and locked in with excellent command by that point. It was not what I saw last spring training, but it was good enough. He will have to be pinpoint with his fastball if he does not get more velocity. There were terrific splits with late action. He knows how to pitch and will be fine as long as he holds up physically.”
Of course, that is the key concern after Tanaka missed two months last season with a small tendon tear in his elbow.
Campbell, Muno in battle for roster spot
Terry Collins was feeling optimistic both Daniel Murphy (hamstring) and Wilmer Flores (foot) would be back playing in the next few days and available for Opening Day.
The ability to use minor league games to allow the middle infielders to bat more frequently is likely to be used as a tool to get them to see a greater frequency of live pitching and make up for lost time.
If both are ready, the Mets are essentially down to one positional question: Who is the 25th man between Eric Campbell and Danny Muno?
Collins knows Campbell from last season and likes his positional versatility. However, the manager is concerned about having just one lefty on the bench (Kirk Nieuwenhuis) at a time when power righty relief is in such abundance.
Muno is a switch hitter who can play second or third and, in a crunch, short. The Mets like his tenacity at the plate and he has had a strong spring, hitting .378 with a .993 OPS.
Amazin’s in search of reliable relief options
The Mets stayed out of the relief market in the offseason, believing they had enough arms to throw at any problem. But already they are vexed by not having a lefty they trust — with the loss of Josh Edgin for the season a significant contributor — and now they even have some questions about their righty bridge to the end game, at least to begin the season.
On the lefty front, Mets officials sounded more optimistic they could land someone. I have not heard his name mentioned directly with the Mets, but several executives cited the availability of St. Louis’ Sam Freeman, who is out of options. It could be more complicated because they are in the same division, but Miami (Mike Dunn) and Washington (Matt Thornton or Xavier Cedeno) also were cited by scouts as willing to move a southpaw reliever.
As for righties, the Mets will begin the season without Bobby Parnell and also likely without Vic Black. Neither is considered a long-term issue, but the Mets will probably need a seventh-inning arm for at least a week — maybe a drop more. Manager Terry Collins mentioned farmhand Erik Goeddel as a possibility. The manager was also intrigued how Rafael Montero’s stuff might play up in one-inning bursts. A scout at the game Wednesday who has seen Montero quite a bit said it was the best he has seen the righty’s slider.