Reese Kaplan -- Big Hole in Center Field Just Got Bigger

Monday night I had a Billy Eppler flashback for an unethical reason.  He was censured for apparently manipulating the IL which kept him out of baseball employment once he left the Mets.  Then word filtered down that the foul ball off the leg of Jose Siri was not merely a bruise as originally reported, but actually a fractured tibia which would account for his crutches and inability to put weight on that leg. 

The first thing that ran through my mind was how could the club not know the man broke a bone?  Did they not do proper medical evaluation of his injury?  A fracture is not something that you fix with a few days off and a Band Aid. 

The second thing that popped up (and it was not very nice) is that when the Mets are struggling big time to get any offensive production from the center field position and Jose Siri was not even approaching the sub Mendoza level of 2024.  He was hitting .050 in twenty 2025 at-bats.  Losing his bat was not going to hurt the club (although his speed and defense would be missed).

So that’s when the Billy Eppler moment popped into my head.  Isn’t it ironic that when the club was receiving nothing from the bat of Jose Siri and he was down with what was reported to be a minor bruise injury all of the sudden morphed into an unnoticed and unreported fracture?  

A cynic (or at least one more afflicted with that condition than I am) would think the Mets were once again playing the IL game to improve the roster since a fractured tibia in best case is 6-8 weeks of totally immobility of the leg, followed by a lengthy rehab perior wearing a brace.  If surgery is required then Siri joins Nick Madrigal on the lost 2025 season list.

So now what do the Mets do to address this situation?  Several things popped into my head.  The first of which was Jeff McNeil.  He’s not quite ready to return but is playing minor league games now.  He could take over left field with Brandon Nimmo or even Starling Marte playing center field.  That approach hurts the defense but should improve the offense.

Option number two is to play Tyrone Taylor and his career .240 batting average every day.  He’s hitting a less than robust .176 with a single RBI for the season in limited playing opportunities.  It’s convenient and could be what they do until McNeil is ready but it’s not a major improvement over how they started the season.  In this case Nimmo and Marte would become your fallback center fielders.

Option three is likely not going to happen but it’s out there.  They did toy a little bit with speedy Luisangel Acuna playing the outfield while in the minors.  No one likely thinks he’s ready all of the sudden to take over day-to-day center field duties but he might get some opportunities to play out there sporadically. 

Option four in-house would be looking at who’s currently on the 40-man roster who could be promoted.  Unfortunately there are no outfielders on the current list not already in New York.  At best you’d look at promoting an infielder and shoving an untested Acuna out between Nimmo and Juan Soto, but that approach is less than ideal.  Ronny Mauricio is still on the IL.  That would leave former Chicago Cub Jared Young as the available selection.  Given his .210 career major league batting average that approach doesn’t look promising either. 

So what about making a deal to get an outfielder from elsewhere?  In an absolutely best case scenario Siri is out for three months.  That would make him available perhaps for the second half of July.  It may be time for David Stearns and his staff to work the phones aggressively in the hopes of landing someone who could provide starting or backup level center field productivity.