In their latest surprise move of the offseason, the Mets signed Kevin Pillar to a one year, $5 million deal on Monday. After signing Albert Almora last week, it seemed like the backup OF spot on the bench was pretty set. Apparently not, as Pillar now sits behind the starting trio of Brandon Nimmo, Michael Conforto, and Dominic Smith on the outfield depth chart.
The 32-year old Pillar isn’t quite the player he was with the Blue Jays in the late 2010’s. While he once was one of the most incredible outfielders in baseball (enjoy this compilation from a couple years back), he’s now much closer to league average - slightly above in 2019, slightly below in 2020 per Statcast’s OAA.