David Stearns confident Marcus Semien will rebound…
LAS VEGAS — Marcus Semien’s self-motivation is his greatest asset in making an attempt to improve on his underwhelming first season in Queens.
That was the evaluation of president of baseball operations David Stearns on Tuesday when requested about the Mets’ plans at second base for next season.
The 36-year-old Semien will have an alternative to play “a lot of” second base next season, according to Stearns.
“This is an extremely motivated player,” Stearns said at the final managers conferences. “This is someone who works as hard as anyone, who believes in his own ability, and who I know is going to get everything out of what he has.”
Brett Baty stays an option at the place, but the Mets also have prospects such as Jefferson Rojas, Émilien Pitre and Mitch Voit who may very well be prepared at some level next season.
Marcus Semien will rebound from his poor first season with the Mets, basic supervisor David Stearns predicts. Jason Szenes for New York Post
Semien posted a .620 OPS and struggled defensively, ending at minus-9 outs above average, according to Statcast, which ranked in MLB’s fifth percentile.
He still has $46 million remaining on his contract over the next two seasons.
“[Semien] didn’t have the type of year that he wanted to last year,” Stearns said. “He didn’t have the type of year we believe he’s capable of. We also think we have got a lot of options, both guys who played in the big leagues last year for us and guys who are knocking on the door of the big leagues that we feel good about that position.”
Though Bo Bichette has flexibility to play other infield positions, Stearns said the plan is to keep him at third base. Bichette switched to the place from shortstop last season upon becoming a member of the Mets.
Bichette is returning after opting in to a contract that will pay him $42 million next season.
“I was happy about it,” Stearns said. “We expect Bo to have a really good year next year. We saw what he’s capable of doing over the last three or four months of the season, and I think he is excited to come back. He’s comfortable with our group, he’s emerging as a leader in our clubhouse. I am very excited to have him back.”
Last 12 months at the final managers conferences, Stearns positioned Carson Benge in the dialog for a beginning job by saying the top prospect would head to spring training with an alternative to win a major league job.
Stearns isn’t ready this offseason to make such a pronouncement on a prospect.
“That could change by the time we get to spring training or Opening Day,” Stearns said. “But sitting here right now there’s not a name that I am going to put out there like that.”
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