Jack Flynn - Syracuse Shuffling

The Syracuse club in the International League are one of the better Triple-A farm clubs in recent Mets memory. The S-Mets roster can be considered one of the early successes of the Brodie Van Wagenen era, even if the team’s record (17-14 going into Wednesday’s action) does not strike the casual observer as being overly impressive.

That is because the S-Mets roster is not stocked with budding young stars on the cusp of a major league breakthrough. You will not see the fruits of shrewd drafting or savvy trading if you visit the ballpark in Central New York.

What you will see in Syracuse are a lot of familiar faces – primarily veteran position players who have had past MLB success, and relievers who gave up four runs in the seventh inning in that game you went to at Citi Field last year.

BVW built the Syracuse roster with intention – which is more than what can be said for his predecessors. The roster is built with position players that will not embarrass themselves if pressed into service due to injuries in New York, and relievers who can give up four runs in the seventh inning at the next game you go to in Citi Field.

There is real value to this. Injuries happen to every team (even if it seems to happen to the Mets more often than most!), and having multiple position players preparing for their shot to contribute to the big club can be the difference between a playoff berth and an early winter. For most teams, the difference between RP6 and RP10 is negligible, so you may as well have a lot of cheap cannon fodder shuttling between Triple-A and MLB so as not to tax RP1 through RP5 unnecessarily.

Syracuse has potential MLB benchwarmers and sacrificial lambs in spades – and that’s why there’s not a single S-Met who deserves a spot on the Mets’ 25-man roster right now.

PC - Danny Tripodi

Rajai Davis isn’t going to steal 40 bases. Carlos Gomez has no more 20-20 seasons in him. Rene Rivera cannot out-hit Tomas Nido these days, and he won’t throw out more baserunners either. Dilson Herrera is not a real prospect. Gregor Blanco is not a Gold Glove outfielder. And please, don’t even mention Tim Tebow …

The Mets are struggling, but none of these guys are good enough to jump start the engine. None of them are worthy of a spot on the 40-man roster until and unless someone goes on the Injured List. Any thought that Davis … or Gomez … or Rivera … or Herrera … or Blanco … is the missing ingredient that will propel the Mets to glory is nothing more than wishful thinking.

(Yes, Dominic Smith was jumped by Pete Alonso, and Smith is already on the 40-man roster. While I won’t discount the possibility that Alonso could slump badly enough this summer to necessitate a switcheroo, a functional 25-man roster in the National League of 2019 does not include two primary first basemen. It’s Alonso OR Smith until the rosters expand.)

If anything, the Mets have to figure out who is going to be kicked off the island upon Jed Lowrie’s return from injury. Will Keon Broxton be demoted? Will Adeiny Hechevarria, Juan Lagares or Todd Frazier be released? I know what I am hoping for (here’s a hint – Lowrie would look great wearing #21!), but I doubt that even BVW is sure of what path he is going to take.

Here’s what I know – BVW isn’t giving up on two of those players to make room for Lowrie and whatever S-Met is enjoying the most recent 8 for 23 stretch. As poorly as Broxton, Lagares and even Frazier are performing, they still have more value to the Mets than anyone in Syracuse right now.