This was his first season having a WAR of 5. This reminds me of the Shin-Soo Choo contract but he was better than Nimmo before his monster deal.
Got close in 2018 with 4.8. The Mets made an adjustment with him in the outfield by having him play deeper and it made a drastic differnce in his defense hence a big boost in his value. I think this is what makes his earlier years look more so so despite the good offensive value. The injuries he's had were kinda fluky tbh but of course a concern but I'm not that worried about it tbh.
His OPS+ has been pretty similar the last few years and I can see him benefiting from the shift ban. He's also been striking out less and hitting the ball harder these last few years. His obp dropping this year honestly looked more of a product of how he was being pitched and confidence in his swing and being able to handle pitches. Didn't really swing at garbage and wasted more pitches. The one thing I see is an uptick in gb% for him this year but I'm not too concerned about that.
Even if it would be an overpay hurting another team, that will definitely not be the case for the Mets. To me, this deal comes down to what the alternative would have to have been for the Mets had he left and that loss of prospects in an effort to compete now. That would've probably have them having to address more via free agency later on than they'd want to. I get how the Mets could be more comfortable making this deal at this length with him than another team simply due to the familiarity.
And the market is hot right now so every deal looks like way more than it was going to be be.
Side note: They're paying Cano $20 Million in 2023. It's light lol
