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New York Mets: Asdrubal Cabrera is the team’s best weapon right now

By John Carroll Jr.

SAN DIEGO, CA - APRIL 27: Asdrubal Cabrera #13 of the New York Mets reacts after hitting a three-run home run during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres at PETCO Park on April 27, 2018 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images)
SAN DIEGO, CA - APRIL 27: Asdrubal Cabrera #13 of the New York Mets reacts after hitting a three-run home run during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres at PETCO Park on April 27, 2018 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images) /
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Asdrubal Cabrera is having an amazing 2018 so far. He is the New York Mets’ only consistent hitter and the team’s MVP so far.

The New York Mets are a rather un-interesting team in 2018 so far. The hot start, but terrible stretch after that is relatively unsurprising.

What has been surprising is the emergence of Asdrubal Cabrera as being the team’s most productive position player so far.

But even just saying he is the best on the team might not be doing him justice. As of May 14, he sits 11th in the entire league in batting average.

He also leads the entire Mets team in OPS and hits.

He is second only to Yoenis Cespedes in home runs and RBIs.

The actual stats speak for themselves. However, there is more to Cabrera’s value. He has only struck out three fewer times than Jay Bruce for least amount on the team for eligible players.

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The catch there is that Cabrera has played two more games.

Cabrera also leads the team in doubles. He has 12 which is almost double (no pun intended) what the next player has.

But the impressive leading numbers don’t end there. He leads the teams in runs with 23. That stat is favorable to him due to his high spot in the batting order but he still gets on the base path. The next best player has 18 runs.

For more analytical stuff, he leads the team in  Offensive WAR. The wins above replacement stat is very complicated but a stat that is taken very seriously nowadays.

Perhaps the most impressive thing about the numbers is that he has the most at-bats out of anyone on the team. He still has almost the least amount of strikeouts. He is a consistent threat almost each and every night.

Now that we have talked about his offense, let’s talk about what wins championships; defense.

On the Mets, he leads the team in full innings played on defense.

He is second on the team in assists. Meaning, he converts on a lot of his double play chances from second. Cabrera also just has a single error.

For all the analytic enthusiasts, you might be turned off by his -0.5 defensive WAR. However, my argument is that his value on offense offsets that, and him being out there for the most innings has more of an intangible value to the team.

Overall, Asdrubal is having himself an amazing year for the not so amazing Mets. Although it is hard to make an argument that Asdrubal is a league-wide MVP, he should 100% be in consideration for MVP of the Mets.

Everything speaks for itself and even just watching the Mets on a nightly basis he is starting to show how good of a year he is having.

Next: Time for the Mets to face the real problem

Cabrera is a former All-Star so his ceiling his high. However, he is finally starting to truly emerge again this year.

It might be a surprise to some of us how well he is doing, but for him, it might not be.

Cabrera is set to become an un-restricted  free agent after this year.

He is trying to sky-rocket his value. Quite frankly, it is working. It will be hard for the Mets to let him go easy if he keeps this up.

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