It's been rumored for quite a while that the New York Mets were working to acquire shortstop Troy Tulowitzki. Since that ship has pretty much sailed, the team might be exhausted in their search outside the organization.
Although Colorado Rockies general manager Jeff Bridich said he would entertain offers for Tulowitzki, it was reported last month that the two sides were far off on a deal for the All-Star shortstop. Bridich acknowledged he was not going to deconstruct the Rockies' roster even though the team finished with the second-worst record in the MLB last season.
It now looks like the Mets will have Wilmer Flores as their Opening Day shortstop, according to Adam Rubin of ESPN New York. Mets' general manager Sandy Alderson has been searching for a replacement at the shortstop position even though Flores has only played 105 games at the professional level and is just 23 years old. Last season he slashed .247/.282/.375 with six home runs and 29 RBIs in 78 games with New York. He was called up after 55 games at Triple-A, during which he batted .323/.367/.568 with 13 home runs and 57 RBIs.
The only issue with Flores is that he had some fielding woes as a shortstop during his first few seasons in the minor leagues. He committed 80 errors in 453 games from 2008-2011 and has a fielding percentage of just .958 in 485 career games at the position. At Advanced Class-A, Double-A and Triple-A, Flores mostly played second and third base while also logging 20 games at first. However, the Venezuelan seems to be improving.
"Flores hit .322 with six homers and 18 RBIs in 90 at-bats with Margarita in his native Venezuela this winter," writes Rubin. "He is now expected back at the Mets' offseason conditioning camp, which has been relocated from Michigan to the team's spring-training facility in Port St. Lucie, Florida. The Mets maintain that continued offseason agility training should help Flores become a passable defensive shortstop."
Just last week, Mark Simon of ESPN New York wrote how Tampa Bay Rays second baseman Ben Zobrist "is the guy for the Mets to get." The Rays recently signed infielder Asdrubal Cabrera and it looks like Zobrist and his $7.5 million salary for 2015 could be on the way out of Tampa. The team is looking to reduce payroll since their highest figure ($76.8 million) came in 2014 and they finished fourth in the NL East division. Zobrist has much experience at second base, shortstop and the outfield and can be used in a variety of ways with the Mets.
"Such a deal would cost the Mets considerably, given they would probably be bidding against a lot of teams," writes Simon. "But the Mets have something the Rays don't at the moment -- farm system depth -- from which they could probably put together a nice package. We won't speculate on what that could or should be, but given the current standing of the Mets' farm system, it's something they should be able to use to their advantage."
However, the Mets have been very reluctant to surrender their young talent, especially starting pitching. A deal for the longtime Ray wouldn't cost them as much as one would for Tulowitzki, but they would be only getting one year out of Zobrist. It would be safe to say we're going to see Flores out there on Opening Day.