Reese Kaplan -- Mets Version of "I Don't Know -- 3rd Base!"

A lot of copy has already been written about the question of third base for the Mets in 2024.  Everyone is aware of the well-founded demotion for Brett Baty who was struggling on both sides of the field.  He had a reputation as a superior fielder to others trying out for the position but it seemed he left his best glove, arm and defensive instincts in Syracuse.  His bat had occasionally shown the major league fans and media what it was capable of doing to mistake pitches, but there were also stretches when he was fooled quite badly and it appeared to wreak havoc with his confidence in batting against the best pitchers in the game.

Now don't get me wrong.  The Mets were confident enough in Baty's future that the first of the fire sale discounts they offered up was on Eduardo Escobar who had been rendered into a platoon player at best so that Baty could establish himself as the heir apparent to David Wright.  Unfortunately his fielding instincts were more on par with second rate minor leaguers and his hitting was far less Wright than wrong.  

Behind Baty in the pecking order was Mark Vientos who has been a rock solid hitter throughout his ascension up the ladder to make it to the majors.  His fielding, unfortunately, never caught up with his hitting and as such it appeared as if he was going to be treated by the team as happened in his first major league stint earlier in the year when he was riding the pines so that others with less potential got the opportunities to play regularly.

Now to be fair, Vientos didn't exactly demonstrate such a hot stick that he forced himself into the lineup.  However, this time around he was playing a bit more regularly though still not every day.  Instead Daniel Vogelbach, Danny Mendick, Jonathan Arauz and other AAAA players were getting the nod.  With Baty now gone, however, it opens up more playing time to see what Vientos can do if he gets a steady couple of weeks (or months) of adjusting to major league pitching.  

In every level he's played there was a period of being ice cold followed by one of being red hot.  This Baty departure might actually give Vientos that opportunity.  If it turns out his hitting is fine but defense is questionable, there's always regular ABs as a DH despite the tradition of not using rookies in a role traditionally given to mid-career and defensively diminished veterans.  

Many folks are already clamoring for the Mets to do a short term deal with one of the pending free agent hot corner men who will be coming on the market.  They include a couple of former Mets -- Justin Turner and (yes) Eduardo Escobar -- as well as Evan Longoria.  The thinking here is a single year contract at modest cost might be a shrewd backup plan should Baty or Vientos not prove themselves ready for 150+ games of third base duty.

The other option for the Mets to consider is shifting one of their other minor league middle infielders to the third base position.  Right away Ronny Mauricio comes to mind with the thought that if he could handle shortstop then third base ought to be a walk in the park.  Then there's Luisangel Acuna who is another player that could try out the position to see how he adjusts to it defensively while working his way to the majors.  

Even Number 4 Jett Williams in the lower minor leagues has shown an innate ability to get on base and then steal with aplomb.  It's possible he could shift as well, though it might make more sense to have him become a DP partner for Francisco Lindor and moving Jeff McNeil to the other side of the infield.

Right now during this "What have we got here?" time of evaluating the club for 2024 and beyond, let's hope the front office and the field manager are on the same page about honest evaluations and not simply looking for who might be a suitable fill-in for a day here or a night there.