Reese Kaplan -- Get Used to the Current Mets Offense

The merry go round of the Mets roster continues with frequent cast members being shuffled in and out of prime time as ineffectiveness, health and potential suggest changes are necessary given the ongoing losing record and the team’s inability to build on its modest recent success.  The issue right now seems to be more related to what many are calling the “Noffense” than pitching, but most of the roles other than in the outfield are related to the folks who take the mound. 

On the hitting side we have indeed seen A.J. Ewing and Nick Morabito added to the major league roster when other outfield options simply did not do enough to justify remaining a part of the big league roster.  Vidal Brujan was also added as an emergency replacement when backup shortstop Ronny Mauricio joined starter Francisco Lindor on the IL.  Backup catcher Hayden Senger is here for the same reason on a different injured player named Francisco. 

What the team is not seeing is a reliable offense.  Juan Soto is pretty much all alone when it comes to providing the batting average, power and RBIs one would expect from him.  There have been recent surges from outfielder Carson Benge and infielder Bo Bichette.  Brett Baty and Mark Vientos are still on the flip-a-coin side of whether they are assets or liabilities.  Marcus Semien isn’t putting together solidity at the plate.  Neither of the catchers are generating any offense.  The other outfielders are not doing enough either. 

The problem is that while “Play the kids!” has a certain understandable flair for its sentiment, there is not anything much left in the minor league well.  If we bypass the AAAA veterans taking space on the Syracuse roster then the last remaining hope would be first baseman Ryan Clifford who currently has provided 8 HRs and 29 RBIs which are not bad numbers at all but they are accompanied by a .216 batting average which is 21 points below his 2025 level.  He’s been up 171 times and has whiffed in 70 of those appearances.  He does not look at all like he’s ready to face more intense pitching at the major league level. 

The rest of the offensive options in Syracuse resemble the paltry numbers one step higher in Queens.  There doesn’t seem to be anyone there who could help the club at all.  That leaves the Mets with an interesting dilemma.  Do they engineer trades to fill temporary needs created by injuries and ineffectiveness or do they try their best to tread water until players who are on the IL begin to return to a competitive level?

As a refresher, the Mets are currently missing Francisco Lindor, Jorge Polanco, Luis Robert, Francisco Alvarez, Ronny Mauricio and Jared Young.  Of them Lindor and Polanco are most definitely missed the most with Alvarez having provided better offense than the current two putting on the gear.  Robert is still very much an expensive and unproven answer for center field and neither Mauricio nor Young appear to be anything more than bench pieces or Syracuse regulars. 

David Stearns’ MO has been to wait until the 11th hour in July to make any kind of trade deals and a lot can happen between now and then.  Still, any way you slice it there are about 65 days before that deadline hits and it may be sufficient time for Lindor and Polanco to return.  Alvarez may be on their heels.  Robert is not yet doing baseball activity so the timeline for his return is a great unknown. 

Any way you slice it, the 2026 season is a great uphill battle.  Without moving some of the pitching pieces or gutting the minors of AA and A players there is not a lot of player capital to propose in deals.  It is possible that the club will have grown ready to move on from Baty and/or Vientos, but no other infielders are prepared to take over for them.  Then again, Polanco could replace Vientos at first base and Lindor could shift Bichette back to third.  It may be that time is truly running out for both of them.