PHILADELPHIA — If you’re a Mets fan, you want Matt den Dekker to join Wilmer Flores and Kirk Nieuwenhuis in serving as symbols of hope for a better future.
What you don’t want, undoubtedly, is them serving as human coupons.
Den Dekker joined the Mets on Saturday, the first day of their post-Chris Young era, and while he sat and watched the Mets outlast the Phillies, 2-1 in 11 innings, he will start getting regular reps in left field Sunday — his 27th birthday — as the Mets use the rest of this 2014 campaign to determine what they have in him. The same goes for Flores at shortstop, now that Ruben Tejada has established his limited upside, and Nieuwenhuis as a reserve outfielder. Flores drove in the Mets’ first run with a fifth-inning fielder’s choice to Philadelphia third baseman Cody Asche that brought home Lucas Duda from first.
The long-range planning makes sense for the Mets, who remain extreme long shots to qualify for postseason play. What wouldn’t make sense, however, would be to make too much out of too little come the winter.
“I’m going to do whatever they want from me,” den Dekker said, before the Mets edged the Phillies, 2-1 in 11 innings at Citizens Bank Park. “I’m happy to be here.”
He lit up Triple-A pitching this season, while playing for Las Vegas, to the tune of a .334/.407/.540 slash line. He brought a career major-league .184/.250/.243 line (in 112 appearances) with him to Philly, giving him quite a divide to cross.
“I think I’ve shortened up my swing,” de Deckker said this season. “I’m using my hands a lot more.”
Collins seconded: “One of the things we asked him to do, he’s got to cut back on those strikeouts [36 in the majors]. We know he’s got power. He’s hit for power in the past in the minor leagues. We know that the more contact he makes, the better chance he has to use that power.”
Den Dekker struck out 65 times in 384 Triple-A at-bats.
A scout from another team, who had seen den Dekker recently with Vegas, concurred that the shortened swing had improved the player’s results. Nevertheless, the scout said of den Dekker, “He still struggles against lefties, especially with breaking pitches.”
As for Flores, the scout shared doubt the 23-year-old could handle everyday shortstop responsibilities due to a lack of quickness and lateral movement. Furthermore, if the Mets decide to ease Flores’ defensive burden, the scout expressed skepticism Flores would hit well enough to support playing first base or third base.
Might as well find out for sure, right? Maybe the Mets grow convinced one of these young men can do the job every day going forward. Perhaps another team likes what it sees and uses this audition to initiate trade discussion and send an interesting player back the Mets’ way.
Yet the worst-case scenario would be having these players perform so well that the Mets go into the winter convinced they’ve found their answers and they needn’t spend significant money to upgrade their roster.
The signing, and subsequent failure, of Young stood out because the Mets have such little room for error thanks to their $83-ish million payroll. Every team makes Young-sized mistakes. The majority of clubs can absorb just an error with ease more than the Mets can.
Established players almost always come at a high price, be they dollars, prospects or both, and look: The Mets’ biggest disappointment of all this season might be their most established player, captain David Wright.
Nevertheless, the Mets need to assume the risk on an established player in an attempt to lengthen their lineup and show their fan base they are serious about contending and climbing back to the salary stratosphere they used to occupy in better times.
If they want to avoid free agency, they’ll have interesting trade pieces to discuss in Colorado’s Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki and the Cubs’ Starlin Castro. Those players will require a payroll increase, if perhaps not as dramatic as if the Mets signed a high-caliber free agent.
Opening next season with the same players the Mets opened this showcase phase would be a huge mistake. You would think that would be obvious, but based on what we’ve seen the last few years, the Mets have lost the benefit of the doubt. They can start to win it back by not treating the data of these final seven weeks as gospel.