So the Mets have gone from having nobody who could play center field to having, like 87 guys out there. Even after signing Albert Almora Jr., the Mets apparently felt that they needed somebody else to battle for the position. Enter … Kevin Pillar:
Pillar's defensive metrics in center field have slid a bit in recent seasons, but he's a historically strong defender coming off his best season at the plate — .288/.336/.462 with six home runs in 54 games. Believe @JonHeyman was first to mention the Mets were close on Pillar.
— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) February 16, 2021
Pillar’s metrics have definitely slid: According to baseball reference, Pillar went from a 3.0 dWAR and a 2.8 dWAR in 2015 and 2016 to a 1.8 in 2017, an 0.1 in ’18, a combined -0.4 in ’19 and a combined -0.2 in ’20, and since WAR is a cumulative stat, that might have been worse in a full season. He did have a strong offensive season, as Sir DiComo said above, but it’s a definite outlier especially considering that it was a 54 game season. So honestly, I’m confused.
But hey, the Mets are just looking for depth at any turn, and Pillar is serviceable. On a one-year deal, I guess it couldn’t hurt, especially if he could bring some of this back from the past:
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
