When the Mets brought in Adrián González last year no one was really surprised. For some reason the Mets for years felt like a destined landing spot for González and it made even more sense for him in the twilight of his career as the Mets in the last 5 or years have become a final stop for players on their way to retirement.
González was supposed to help out Dom Smith, give the Mets a little more time at first base and provide a veteran presence. Instead, the former All-Star and very good player had a bad time with the Mets on the field, and did not receive a proper send-off when he exited.
2018 Average Projection: 235 PA, 318 AB, 68 H, 8 HR, .262/.327/.415
2018 Actual: 187 PA, 169 AB, 40 H, 6 HR, .237/.299/.373
First, the PA’s are lower than his AB’s because the projection sites that do PAs saw him getting less playing time than the ones that only do ABs. You can see all of his projections here.
González surprisingly showed some pop in his short time with the Mets. Its surprising because the rest of numbers were a great decline from projections, which were more optimistic than his 2017 numbers (.242/.287/.355).
It’s sad that the end of his career will be a twisted Mets trivia question. Thankfully, I’m not sure many people will remember his quarter of a season with the Mets when they think about how good of a player he was.
