Mets still deciding Brandon Nimmo-Harrison Bader's outfield splits in 2024
Since the Mets signed Harrison Bader, the question of who will man center field in 2024 has been raised.
Will it be incumbent centerfield Brandon Nimmo, who still has seven years left on his contract with the Mets, or will Bader -- arguably the superior defender -- be the outfield general? There's no easy solution, but it's something president of baseball operations David Stearns and the organization will have to figure out.
When asked directly how the Mets plan to align its defense, Stearns, unsurprisingly, kept their thinking mostly close to the chest.
"Harrison is going to play a lot of center field. He's going to play regularly in center field," Stearns told the media over Zoom on Wednesday. "We're fortunate we have a number of outfielders who can play multiple positions, and play center field."
When Nimmo's position, specifically as a left fielder, was brought up, Stearns added, "Is Brandon going to be exclusively a left fielder? We’ll tackle that as we get into spring training and see the true formulation of what our team looks like, what it looks like at the end of camp, and we'll have a more definitive answer to that."
Stearns adds that Nimmo wants to do whatever is best for the Mets, and would flip between left and center field or stay predominantly in left. The long-time Met is open to both possibilities.
The question of how much the Mets plan to use Bader was brought up again to Stearns, but the first-year Mets GM said it'll be determined throughout the season, with manager Carlos Mendoza having a say in the matter.
"We signed [Bader] because he’s a very talented player and I would expect him to play regularly in center field," Stearns said. "How that looks like over the course of the season, to be determined. We believe in his talent, we believe in him defensively and we believe he can impact the game offensively as well. He’ll get plenty of playing time, some of it's going to be matchup-based, but he’ll get plenty of playing time in centerfield."
In seven seasons, Nimmo has played 157 of his 703 games in left field -- with 93 being in right. Bader, on the other hand, has played just 54 out of his 594 games in either corner outfield.
