Paul Articulates – Let’s talk about intangibles

For many reasons, the 2026 baseball season has been a disappointment for New York Mets baseball fans.  The suffering continues, as the team remains 11 games back from the final wild card spot and is still 3.5 games behind the Nationals team they just swept to climb out of the cellar.

Many fans, frustrated by where the season went and the loss of experienced veterans at the trade deadline, want to see remnants of the season removed.  Change the GM!  Release all the veteran players that disappointed!  Move on from those prospects that never became stars!  I certainly understand the sentiment, and have felt the same emotions.

However, baseball is a strange business.  Players overperform or underperform for so many (often subtle) reasons that it is very hard to predict.  Last year’s star can be this year’s goat and vice versa.  If you run the business with emotion, you will constantly be tossing out good players with the bad because you couldn’t tell a slump from a decline.

With that in mind, I decided to look at this year’s team with an eye beyond the statistics.  In today’s game, the analytics rule, but they can also mischaracterize the value of a player in an organization if one just focuses on the individual pieces and not how they fit together.

“Intangibles” is a term that refers to immeasurable qualities that contribute in ways that are not well understood.  I will take some poetic license with this definition, as some of the qualities I will refer to are indeed measurable, but are also not the numbers that are typically used to judge player effectiveness.  

On the roster of the current New York Mets, there are a handful of players that are a lock for the future.  This is essentially the same list that David Stearns used to describe the very few players that would not be considered for trades at the deadline.  The guys that are locks own that designation for reasons that are obvious to all, so there is no need to discuss the “intangible” value they bring to the team.  That list would include:

Soto, Lindor, Benge, Ewing, McLean, Scott.  Further, Lindor, Thornton, Bichette, Young, and Torrens have made the case for their future with this team.

The rest are the players that are easily dismissed by the fan base given the amount of angst create this season.  Let’s talk about three of them to really understand what they bring to the team before adding them to the scrap heap:

Brett Baty: 

Sure, he has not lived up to the prospect hype of past years.  He has shown flashes of power and capable defense, but with a career slash line of .227/.293/.653 he is not the star that was expected to arrive.  But before you say, “move on”, consider the other things he brings to the team.  

AVAILABILITY:  Baty has played in 112 of the Mets’ 125 games this season, and some that he has not played in were manager discretion.  He is the healthy guy amongst an injury-riddled lineup.  

VERSATILITY: Baty is not in the running for a gold glove, but he has shown the ability to play several positions in both infield and outfield at a capable MLB level.  When much of the roster proved fragile, Baty is able to fill in where needed.  Since the Mets have parted with Guillermo, Iglesias, and McNeil, very few can offer what Baty does in terms of roster flexibility.

Sean Manaea: In the 2025 season and the first half of 2026, Manaea was either hurt or incapable of throwing quality starts.  With a $25M/yr salary, this became one of the most painful roster spots in recent history.  Manaea has certainly figured something out recently, as his velocity and pitch location has improved, and he is now making his starts worth watching.  

But the intangible that comes with Manaea is the mentorship and clubhouse leadership he provides.  Several sources have indicated that he is among the most well-liked players on the team.  Dugout shots during any broadcast usually show Manaea surrounded by others on the pitching staff discussing the ongoing game.  

Sideline reporters have indicated that the young pitchers on the team rely on Manaea for advice on everything from the art of pitching to the fortitude required to pull yourself out of a terrible slump.  Once again, the Mets have cast off others with this ‘sensei’ quality – do you want them to do that again?

Francisco Alvarez: This “can’t miss” prospect that shot through the minors onto the Mets’ roster did miss.  He was plagued by injuries, loss of focus, and reversion to an out-of-control swing that limited his contributions to the team.  Now in his fourth full season, most of his welcome is worn out.  But Alvarez was an impetuous youngster that was more talented than he was mature.  

Several ups and downs later, he is actually learning more from his back-up than from all of his previous coaches.  Alvarez appears to be settling down into more consistent play both at the plate and behind it thanks to Luis Torrens.  Alvarez is only 24 years old, and I believe his best days are in front of him.  His abilities far outweigh his stats, and if you keep the duo of Alvarez and Torrens on this team into the future, good things will happen.

That's my conversation starter.  Who are your candidates for players who bring more to the team than just a slash line?