This offseason the Mets were unwilling to pay the price to bring a new shortstop into town. Regardless of whether that was a defensible decision, the Mets followed up with the solution of moving Wilmer Flores back to shortstop, even though they moved him off the position following the 2011 season. Not once did the club indicate they thought the 2011 decision was a mistake; rather, this was clearly an attempt to get a more productive bat at the position.

The issue is – how productive is Flores’ bat?

After a slow start in Las Vegas in 2013, Flores finished with a bang, as he put up an .887 OPS. Under normal circumstances, that’s a pretty impressive mark. However, the hitting conditions in Las Vegas and the Pacific Coast League are not ordinary. Research done last year indicated that a player going from the 51s to the Mets lost on average 19% on their OBP and 30% on their SLG.

That means that Flores’ .357/.531 marks translated into a .289/.372 and in reality he put up a .248/.295 OBP/SLG numbers for the Mets. Defenders of Flores were quick to point out how young he was and also that he was slowed by an ankle injury. They also could have pointed to his .264 BABIP dragging down his major league numbers.

In a move that seemed unfathomable at the end of the 2013 season, the Mets opened 2014 with Ruben Tejada as their starting shortstop. At the beginning of the year, both his batting and fielding were unimpressive. Eventually both areas improved for Tejada. Most of his offensive production could be chalked up to his ability to draw walks but his fielding is where we really started to notice improvement.

Still, with the season down the tubes, the decision was made to install Flores as the primary shortstop, a move to which very few people objected. The Mets knew what they had in Tejada but they needed to find out what they had in Flores. It should be pointed out that Flores had 100 sporadic PA with the Mets in 2014, in which he put up a .229/.260/.313 line for a .573 OPS. Defenders of Flores were quick to point out how young he was and also that he was hurt by not getting consistent playing time.

Since August 7, Flores has started at shortstop in 15 of the team’s 16 games. In that span, the Mets are 6-10 and Flores has a .218/.246/.236 line in 57 PA. Depending on who you ask, Flores’ fielding in this span ranks somewhere between good and dreadful. He’s not passing the eye test, as his range seems limited, his arm weak and his glove inconsistent. Yet UZR likes what it’s seen from Flores, giving him a 2.5 mark in 306.1 innings at shortstop. For the sake of completeness, DRS gives him a (-3) number, one that seemingly matches better with watching him play.

Watching Flores, one cannot help but to draw comparisons to another recent Mets farmhand – Jordany Valdespin. Like Flores, Valdespin played shortstop in the minors only to have the Mets move him off the position. Unlike Flores, the club felt that Vadespin was athletic enough to move to the outfield. In his career with the Mets, Valdespin recorded 43 starts in the OF, 13 at 2B and 1 at SS.

In 2013, Valdespin was also given a shot at regular playing time, taking over at 2B. This was not a move that the majority of people signed off on, as it made Daniel Murphy move to 1B and kept Lucas Duda in the OF, all to get playing time for a guy who had not displayed much ability to hit MLB pitching. In his one-week audition, Valdespin put up a .154/.154/.154 line in 26 PA and a month later his career with the Mets was over.

Valdespin ended his tenure in New York with a .651 OPS in 350 PA. While a low BABIP held his AVG to a dismal .219 mark, Valdespin at least showed some power, putting up a .156 ISO. He also added 14 SB with the Mets. Meanwhile, Flores has 258 PA with the Mets and has a .541 OPS. His ISO sits at .069 and he has 0 SB.

Flores will never be good defensively, although he probably would be decent at third base. He’s not someone you would want to keep as a utility player because while he’s willing to play 2B, 3B and SS – he’s not someone you’d really want to play every day if a starter went on the DL. None of his power has translated to the majors, which severely limits his attractiveness as a PH.

Defenders of Flores will point out that he’s young.

He’s not going to play 3B as long as David Wright’s on the team. He’s likely behind both Daniel Murphy and Dilson Herrera in the pecking order at 2B. And he’s really not wowed us in his SS audition to date. If forced at gunpoint to predict his MLB future with the Mets, what would you say?

Hopefully my well-known jinx powers will come to play and Flores goes off on a hot streak to end all hot streaks from now through the end of the season. But if that doesn’t happen, we’re looking at another year in Triple-A or a spot on the bench for Flores in 2015. And if his ceiling for the club is bench player, is there any reason to prefer him to Valdespin?

Of course, Valdespin was a bit off a hothead or showboat and Flores, goofy hairstyles aside, comes off much more vanilla. And if there’s one thing we know about the Wilpon-era Mets, it’s that they prefer their players not to rock the boat. Any player with personality – ranging from Kevin Mitchell to Lenny Dykstra to Lastings Milledge – is shown the door. And any managerial candidate with the same has no chance of getting a shot.

So, we’re left with hoping that all the balls hit to Flores in the field are of the charity hop variety and that somehow his front foot toe tap and stride with his back leg will lead to at least some consistent doubles power.

But hey, he’s young ya know?

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