Reese Kaplan -- Roster Changes to Make in the Near Future

On Opening Day during the first inning knockout of Pirates Cy Young winning ace Paul Skenes the Mets made a small transaction that didn’t get a lot of headlines.  Signed to a minor league deal the Mets reunited with 38 year old outfielder Tommy Pham who heretofore was going into the 2026 season unemployed.  Pham is a competent outfielder and a right handed bat, something the Mets could certainly use as their other outfield options include Brett Baty and Jared Young who both hit lefty.  Even now surgically repaired Mike Tauchman hit from the left side as well.  Bringing in another right handed bat made some sense particularly when the next guy on the pecking order for the outfield who is healthy, MJ Melendez, also is a lefty. 

The big question, of course, is what is the plan for Pham.  Do they jettison Jared Young once Pham gets enough playing time to demonstrate he’s in game shape and ready to ascend to the big club?  Young is a career .200 hitter so it’s not exactly as if the Mets would be parting ways with a Tony Gwynn bat. 

Of course, it would be a graceful solution to the right handed hitting need if Mark Vientos could be positioned in the outfield against a tough southpaw pitcher.  Unfortunately he has neither the speed nor the glove skills to suggest he has the ability to transition to this role despite the club’s odd repositioning of other players like Jorge Polanco, Brett Baty and Bo Bichette.  Vientos certainly has power and if you believe the Carlos Mendoza fluff that he’s hitting in the top 30 percentile of off-the-bat speed when he makes contact that unfortunately almost never landed for base hits. 

Moving from Spring Training into March regular season games, April and into May the Mets are going to have some other personnel decisions to make.  The aforementioned Vientos is at best a right handed DH against strong lefty starters but his on-the-field usefulness has been usurped by Bichette and Polanco.  Fully expect that the Mets will be open to trades that could push him into regular playing time elsewhere while fulfilling his roster spot with someone capable of more than 1-2 days per week as a DH.

Also coming back soon is lefty reliever AJ Minter.  He’s still working his way back into game shape after missing most of 2025 due to injury but his track record suggests he would be a fantastic addition to the currently suspect bullpen.  Right now Huascar Brazoban, Dicky Lovelady and Luis Garcia are at the tail end of the bullpen depth chart.  Lovelady is likely the most vulnerable as Minter would supplant him as the second lefty in the pen joining Brooks Raley. 

Of course Luis Garcia’s initial Mets appearance was nothing to write home about, but they’re likely relying on his long albeit mediocre career numbers to keep him on the roster.  Having debuted with the Phillies back in 2013, he’s also had stints with the Angels, Padres, Dodgers, Cardinals, Rangers, Red Sox and Nationals before curiously landing with the Mets during this offseason.  His career numbers are a below .500 record, an ERA over 4.00 and a terrible WHIP of 1.421.  His tenure with the club is less likely influenced by the return of Minter but more pressured by a positive AAA performance record by career All Star Craig Kimbrel.