Reese Kaplan -- What About the Sore Wrist Guy Wanting to Play?

All I can say about the NLDS clinching game that propelled the Mets into the NLCS against the Dodgers or Padres is “Wow!”  That pretty much says it all.

What is interesting to me is roster construction as the club moves up to the next level of the playoff hierarchy.  We say in the first round vs. the Milwaukee Brewers they opted to go without the services of Tylor Megill who had just pitched and likely wasn’t going to appear in that short series anyway.  It made sense.

Then when the club moved up to the NLDS they reinstated Megill who served up the loss in Philadelphia and they sent a reliever packing.  That move also made sense though it did not turn out as anyone would have hoped.  After the come-from-behind second 2-run homer from Mark Vientos to tie the game everyone was already counting on a fight to victory.

This series also brought the return of Kodai Senga.  He did give up a leadoff smash to Kyle Schwarber, but otherwise looked like vintage Senga which is a very good thing.   

Now that they’re heading somewhere in Southern California there are still more roster moves to be made.  The first name to consider is Jeff McNeil.  Word is that he’s healed up enough from the wrist fracture suffered in the first week of September to return to playing.  

He’s taking the weekend in Arizona to see how his wrist feels after the stress of day-to-day game action.  There is precedent for MLB granting this permission as Kyle Schwarber did the very same thing while testing his recovery from injury by playing a few games in Arizona in the recent past. 

What makes it complicated is figuring out who would be leaving if indeed McNeil proves healthy enough to add.  Right now the Mets are functioning with Jose Iglesias at second base and Mark Vientos at third base.  

While Iglesias entered the postseason hitting .337 for the year, he’s been fairly ineffective during the first two playoff rounds.  Still, his positional versatility and rock solid offensive numbers suggest he is a lock for the NLCS. 

Mark Vientos quietly is putting together a postseason MVP level output with the bat.  Yes, he defense has improved but no one is ever going to confuse him with Brooks Robinson.  Consequently he is a a guaranteed roster member for California.

That then brings us to the outfield where McNeil spent a lot of his time. 

The semi regulars include Brandon Nimmo, Starling Marte, Tyrone Taylor and Harrison Bader.  While you can possibly make the arguments about the latter two not doing much with their bats, the fact is in October speed and defense grade out more highly than they do in the regular season.

The one semi-obvious move to make would be with Luisangel Acuna who wouldn’t even be in New York had it not been for McNeil’s injury.  He too has great positional versatility and did better than anyone expected when he filled in for both McNeil earlier in the month and then later for Francisco Lindor when he missed 8 games in a row.  

He has speed and defense to accompany his bat, so it would be kind of odd to drop him from the list.

That then brings us to the pitchers not being used.  We’ve already seen Huascar Brazoban dropped and during two rounds of playoffs the forgotten relievers include Danny Young and Adam Ottavino.  

One very odd possibility would be to drop one of these relievers to make room for McNeil while J.D. Martinez and Jesse Winker continue the righty/lefty platoon at DH.  Going short on pitchers at the most critical time of the year may not be the smartest move in the world.

I’ll probably be crucified for saying it, but maybe the best move right now is not to rush McNeil back for the NLCS but let him get 5-7 games in preparation for the World Series if the Mets should advance there.  

That way you’re not shoehorning in someone who would bench Jose Iglesias or leave Jeremy Hefner pounding his head against the wall when he runs out of pitchers.  With the mediocre numbers McNeil has produced in 2023 and 2024, it’s not necessarily a popular position to take but it might indeed be the shrewdest.