What Siri will bring to the Mets in 2025

This story was excerpted from Anthony DiComo’s Mets Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

NEW YORK -- In what’s been a relatively quiet start to the offseason across the Majors, the Mets completed one of the splashier moves to date in acquiring outfielder Jose Siri from the Rays for reliever Eric Orze.

In today’s newsletter, I’ll break down why the Mets made this trade and what Siri brings to the team.

What sort of player is Siri?

He’s an outfielder with glaringly obvious strengths and weaknesses. In center field, Siri is a bona fide star defender. He rated in the 99th percentile of outfield range this season, largely because of his speed. Statcast rated him one of MLB’s 10 fastest players, with an average competitive sprint speed of 29.9 feet per second. (The fastest Met was Luisangel Acuña at 29.5.) Siri likewise possesses one of the game’s strongest arms, topping out at 101.2 mph from the outfield. That, also, was Top 10 in the Majors.

“Siri, he can electrify everybody that watches him play,” Rays president of baseball operations Erik Neander said. “He can electrify the audience by completing plays that few, if any, can. But it is certainly a boom-or-bust type of profile.”

The “bust” aspect only comes into play at the plate, where Siri also possesses big tools, but an approach that has frustrated his prior three organizations. Over the last two seasons, Siri has hit 43 homers, suggesting a solid power base. He’s also struck out 300 times. Siri’s 36.9 percent K rate is easily the highest among players with at least 600 plate appearances over that stretch.

How does he fit with the Mets?

Essentially, Siri is the Mets’ Harrison Bader replacement. Entering his first year of arbitration, Siri comes significantly cheaper than Bader, who made $10.5 million. He’s also under team control for three more seasons, giving the Mets center-field stability at a time when they’ve shown a clear preference for keeping Brandon Nimmo in left. That’s unlikely to change for the rest of Nimmo’s career.

If the Mets land Juan Soto in free agency, Siri’s playing time will suffer, since Tyrone Taylor would receive most of his reps in center. If not, Siri figures to start the bulk of games at that position, with Taylor playing more frequently in right. Starling Marte could spend quite a bit of time at DH depending upon how the rest of the roster shakes out.

Since arriving in New York, president of baseball operations David Stearns has made team defense a focus. Siri clearly adds to that.

Why would the Rays let Siri go?

Neander would never say this out loud, but small-market teams like the Rays routinely trade players once their salaries start increasing, which is exactly what’s happening with Siri. MLB Trade Rumors projects him to make $2.3 million next season, or about triple what he earned this year. Rather than pay Siri that money, the Rays are going with the younger, cheaper Jonny DeLuca in center.

Siri also carries something of a checkered reputation, taking criticism from his former manager Dusty Baker for admiring a homer with the Astros in 2022 and trading punches with Brewers pitcher Abner Uribe this year, among other infractions. But that wasn’t an obstacle for the Mets and their strong clubhouse culture; right now, they’re mostly interested in what Siri can do on the field.