No sooner had my keyboard cooled on a piece regarding the stagnation that was apparently OK with David Stearns and the rest of the front office when he caught many folks by surprise with the promotions this week of Joey Lucchesi and Mark Vientos.
The second arrival of Mark Vientos came as a total shock. There´s no other way to say it. Yes, Brett Baty is still the primary third baseman but with a slew of lefties on the immediate horizon it provided the opportunity for that rarity in Metsville — actual playing time for Mark Vientos.
It is interesting to see both how he handles it and how much opportunity will exist for him if he hits well and fields better than say J.D. Davis did when he had an opportunity to take on the hot corner. If both of those things indeed happen, does it mean Brett Baty is slated for a visit to Syracuse and perhaps Jose Iglesias gets promoted to replace Joey Wendle as the spare infielder?
Of course, these changes are only the beginning. The open questions from Wednesday´s column still remain with Drew Smith, Tylor Megill, David Peterson on the pretty much immediate horizon and Kodai Senga in the wave that follows. It would appear that David Stearns has some roster juggling to do which could include trades of expiring contracts or unproven multi-year pitchers who never really put it all together.
On Sunday Mack published his ¨Let´s blow it up¨ column in which he implored Steve Cohen and company to understand that the current roster is not any better than they have shown. Now perhaps it is time for me to make my take on a wholesale makeover which bean a little earlier than anticipated for a July midseason rewrite.
The first issue is, of course, Pete Alonso. Trade him to get a return that likely surpasses the QO draft pick that would happen by keeping him for the full season. He already turned down an offer in 2023. You could up the offer but for a second straight year he is demonstrating an all-or-nothing offensive approach and you might simply be better saving somewhere in the vicinity of $30 million or so per year for 6-8 more years than it would be to pay him in that range.
Granted, without seeing regular playing time and consistently productive hitting by Mark Vientos this action would require tremendous courage and guts of steel not seen in New York in quite some time.
Next would come DH J.D. Martinez. He is still a solid hitter at a position well suited to someone who at age 37 is best known for his bat. Hell, D.J. Stewart was used as a pinch runner for him this week which speaks volumes. As long as he can hit, he might be a retention candidate for a 2025 contract, but he also could net some immediate return in a club disassembly.
On a lower profile, you have to wonder about the prospect of a return for Starling Marte who appears to be proving he is over the injuries that sullied his 2023 season. The Mets do have him for one more year and his 2024 showing might entice another team to bring him on board with little long term financial risk.
After that comes another player on a second consecutive subpar year in Jeff McNeil. He is not delivering what he has shown capable of doing and at age 32 it is possible his best days are prematurely behind him. Trading him away would likely require a buy-down as no one will be lining up to pay his salary obligation at this level of output.
Then there are the short termers like Harrison Bader and Omar Narvaez. Neither would net much in return but there is nothing more to be gained by keeping them around.
The last group would include the fringiest players like D.J. Stewart who might have a modest return possible as the club has gotten as much out of the big man as they can expect. Pitchers Jose Quintana is on an expiring deal, Adrian Houser is playing himself out of pro ball and some relievers might be open for the right deal as well.
Going into 2025 I can foresee Mark Vientos, Ronny Mauricio, Francisco Alvarez, maybe Brett Baty, Franciso Lindor, Tyrone Taylor and Brandon Nimmo. Pretty much everyone else is up for grabs. Kodai Senga, Christian Scott, probably Sean Manaea, perhaps Jose Butto, perhaps Luis Severino, Edwin Diaz and other relievers currently on the team could be back.
As Mack said, there are a lot of holes in this roster. One or two quick fixes won´t transform the team into a contender.
12 comments:
It does seem that the schedule for the Mets’ next 45 days, starting tonight with Miami, is a lot easier than that of the first 45 days. Asthey say, they are “o the clock”. Go 30-15, and let’s see where things are at.
Did you say Blow It Up?
I can't believe someone would say this.
I agree the Mets should unload many of these players, including "the core", but if it was me, I would keep DJ Stewart around. He's cheap and having a left handed PH on the bench with a lot of power is a good thing. Plus, he's not horrible in the field and can spot start at 1st and the corner outfield spots. He also takes good at bats and makes pitchers work. I would also keep Taylor, he's been a pleasant surprise, and, again, is cheap
Jon G, and I wanted to avoid bringing this up, but Taylor has 2 HRs and 13 RBIs, which look decent, until you recall he hit a grand slam off a 50 MPH Luis Guillorme serving in a blow out. Strip that out, and you have .250 with 1 HR and 9 RBIs. I was hoping for more from him, but it is early yet.
By the way...
Mets currently 0.5 games behind the 6th playoff slot in the NL
I still don't understand why the team is still without a backup MIF, now that Wendle is gone. If either Lindor or McNeil is injured, or simply needs a day off, will we see DJ Stewart at an important IF spot? Just kidding about DJ, of course, but who is capable of stepping up?
Usually, teams carry two backups, as the Mets did with Short and Wendle. Some go with only one. But how long can the Mets go with none?
Tom, forgot about that grand slam, so Taylor's numbers are pedestrian. But I do like his demeanor and his hustle
Also, as far as middle infielders, Iglesias should be called ASAP. Even Ronnie Darling was talking about him and saying that he always liked Iglesias because of his professionalism and steady glove
Cohen was on SNY yesterday saying there won’t be a sell off this year, and he expects the team to make the playoffs.
I think Cohen has to say that because attendance is already down and if he says we're looking at selling, the place will be empty
There was a back story on the Cohen appearance.
He sent what he thought was a private message to, as Martino says, was "a fan"
Instead he mistakenly clicked it public which drown Twitter to, well, flutter.
I felt bad for Mark Vientos last year because I thought that he had performed well enough to get a shot at some real playing time in MLB. This year not so much - he has shown already that he does not have the instincts to play the infield at the MLB level. He is unproven in the outfield. He has some power,but a .285 average in the minors does not translate into a healthy average in the bigs, so he is destined to become an all-or-nothing bust.
A similar argument can be made for Joey Lucchesi - he has performed well at the AAA level yet in multiple big league opportunities has not shown the ability to throw meaningful innings with a low ERA. So like Vientos, his ceiling is too low for a significant contribution to the MLB Mets.
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