Harrison Bader has returned to New York, but he will be residing in a different city this time. As per Andy Martino of SNY and Joel Sherman of the New York Post, the former Yankee and Bronxville native inked a one-year, $10.5 million contract with the Mets to become their new center fielder.
Bader played for the Cincinnati Reds until the end of the previous season, but he also played for the Yankees in 2022 and 2023. He had previously been a member of the St. Louis Cardinals from 2017 to 2022. He batted.232 with a.274 on-base percentage, seven home runs, and 20 stolen bases in 344 plate appearances last season. His career batting line is.243/.310/.396.
The Mets brought him to Queens because of his glove, even though his bat has declined over the past few years. In 2021, he was awarded a Gold Glove, and his defense is highly regarded by all advanced fielding metrics. Since making his MLB debut in 2017, he has amassed 52 defensive runs saved (DRS), which ranks him sixth among outfielders during that time. Based on outs above average (OAA), he has been the league’s best outfielder for the past six years.
The guy directly behind him, Kevin Kiermaier, inked a $10.5 million, one-year contract with the Toronto Blue Jays last week. Though Bader is four years younger than Kiermaier—he turns 30 in June—his hitting numbers from the previous season were lower.
His excellent glove work will benefit the Mets defense as a whole. They did not have a true center fielder until he signed. Although Brandon Nimmo was the starting center fielder in 2024 and probably would have remained so, at thirty-one years old, his -7 DRS and zero OAA suggest he was losing ground in the outfield. Despite being one of the team’s greatest hitters, he would be better served switching to an outfield corner. The team traded for Tyrone Taylor from Milwaukee earlier in the offseason. Despite having a lot of experience, he only appeared in eight games at center in 2023 as opposed to 81 on the corners.
The team no longer needs to depend on Nimmo and Taylor to cover the center of the outfield every day with Bader on the field. Given that Bauer’s offense is not up to par for an everyday player and he has never totaled more than 427 plate appearances in a season, they will likely still spend a lot of time there. However, he bats.299/.361/.575 versus left-handed pitchers, which at the very least qualifies him as a platoon starter. On the other hand, he can fill in as a defensive replacement when he sits against strong right-handers despite his.207/.240/.263 line against them, which is essentially an automatic out.
For the Mets, signing a role-player like Bader is a departure from tradition. Center fielder Cody Bellinger is widely regarded as the best available free agent position player this year. The Mets have been MLB’s biggest spenders since Steve Cohen took over the team in 2020, regularly awarding big contracts to the best free agents available. With a projected payroll of $346 million in 2023, they were required to pay a luxury tax penalty of slightly under $101 million, which is more than twice the amount of the second-highest tax outlay.
The Mets would have definitely chased Bellinger over Bader if they had persisted in their free-spending ways. But with a 75-87 record in 2023, the team placed fourth in the NL East, suggesting that their large budget wasn’t well-spent. While nobody thinks Bader can play at Bellinger’s caliber, the team does not need to sign a multiyear contract because they now have an excellent defensive center fielder.