MACK – Let’s Revisit - C - Ryan Tayman

 

MACK – Let’s Revisit - C - Ryan Tayman

Ryan Tayman is a right-handed-hitting catcher in the New York Mets’ minor league system. He was selected in the 9th round (270th overall) of the 2026 MLB Draft out of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

mlb.com

Background and Personal Info

• Full name: Ryan William Tayman
• Born: August 26, 2005, in San Luis Obispo, California
• Hometown: Grover Beach, CA
• High school: Arroyo Grande HS (where he was a standout, hitting .453 with power as a senior and earning San Luis Obispo County Player of the Year honors)
• Physical: 6'2", 210 lbs; bats and throws right-handed

His mother, Lauri, played college softball. He grew up attending Cal Poly games and clinics at Baggett Stadium before eventually playing there.

amazinavenue.com

College CareerTayman spent his first two seasons (2024–2025) at the University of California (Cal) primarily as a backup catcher and designated hitter:

• 2024 (freshman): .254 average with 6 home runs in 21 games (16 starts).
• 2025 (sophomore): .274 with 5 home runs in 39 games.

He transferred to nearby Cal Poly for his junior year in 2026 and had a breakout season. In 63 games he hit .357/.447/.672 with 19 doubles, 1 triple, 18 home runs, 57 RBIs, and a strong walk rate. He tied the Cal Poly Division I single-season home run record, set the school record for putouts (546), and earned major recognition:

• Big West Co-Field Player of the Year
• NCBWA third-team All-American
• ABCA All-West Region first team
• Buster Posey Collegiate Catcher of the Year midseason watch list
• Strong postseason performances (including regional honors)

He showed solid receiving skills, mobility, blocking ability, and game-calling, though his arm strength and accuracy were considered below-average for a catcher (he threw out roughly 22% of attempted basestealers in college). Offensively, scouts noted he punishes fastballs well and generates power (especially pull-side), while being more vulnerable to chasing off-speed pitches.

amazinavenue.com

Professional CareerThe Mets signed him shortly after the draft (around July 20, 2026). He began in the Florida Complex League (FCL Mets) and was quickly promoted to Single-A St. Lucie Mets on July 28. 

2026/A-St. Lucie: 

Tayman is still very early in his pro career (currently with the St. Lucie Mets in the Florida State League) and profiles as a potentially solid defensive catcher with legitimate power upside at the plate.

Tom Brennan - Roll Those Dice; And Can Everyone Ease Up On Trashing Tong?

JARED YOUNG, THE CHEAP, ONE YEAR GUY 

Baseball has increasingly tied up enormous amounts of dollars in high profile candidates.

One such rich fellow is Vladimir Guerrero Jr, whom the Mets courted but who ultimately signed an VERY LONG extension with Toronto. 

What an extension. 14 years, $500 million through 2039.

Well, VG II did have 48 HRs, 111 RBIs, and .311 at age 22 in 2021.

But what has he done in this 2026 season, so very early on in that multi-generational-length contract, thru September 23?

141 games, 9 HRs, 56 RBIs.  .263/.336/.359. In 596 plate appearances.

No sweat, Blue Jays, there are only 13 years left after this year. 

He will do SO much better at age 40.

Now, let’s take another current player you may know, for comparison. 

Let’s boost this player’s stats up to Vlad’s 596 PAs, for an apples-to-apples comparison:

16 HRs, 68 RBIs, .263/.330/.429. Numbers Vladi surely wished he had.

Who is this 2nd player? 

Jared Young. 

Salary? One year, $1.15 million.

How would you as the Blue Jays owner feel to have Vlad under contract for well over a decade longer, after putting up numbers this year that he basically could have gotten out of Jared Young or Brett Baty.

Mets’ fans moan all too much at times about Juan Soto and his long deal. 

And he has 27 HRs in 453 PAs.

Mets fans would be all over Vlad this year. Screaming bloody murder.

THE NEXT TIME GRUMPY FOLKS WANT TO TRASH JONAH TONG:

Consider the great and mighty Paul Skenes. 

This season, a very mortal 10-11, 3.82 ERA.

Even great talents, you see, can scuffle. So…

Give Jonah Tong a real chance.

If Tong pitches well, but gives up a 3 run homer, remember:

1) that it was just one pitch, and 2) these are the best hitters in the world.

Heck, Bert Blyleven gave up 430 HRs, in a less power-laden baseball era.  

HOF Tom Glavine, his first 2 years?  9-21, 4.80. Mets fans would scalp him.

And…let’s not forget…

Four expensive Mets guys (2 now gone) did this in 2026:

 - Kodai Senga as a Mets starter this year? 0-7, 9.66.

 - David Peterson as a Mets starter this year? 1-6, 7.71.

 - Freddie Peralta as a Mets starter this year? 5-9, 4.99.

 - Sean Manaea as a Mets starter this year? 5-6, 4.51.

That’s 11-28 with an ERA well north of 5.00 for the fraud-some four. 

Fraud? Yes. They pitched like frauds.

So…back to Tong…

Like Skenes, he too has a 3.82 ERA, in his 31 MLB innings this year.

With a strong 1.24 WHIP. 

SO…

Ease up on Tong, “for Tong’s sake”. 

(I’ve expunged “for Pete’s sake” from my vocabulary, so this is now its replacement. Mack hates when I bring up any Pete stuff).

Or just criticize Tong all the way out of town, so he can be a star starter somewhere else.

Tong kicked the crap out of the Nationals on Saturday after I pre-written this article, proving my point. 

5 IP, 1 run, 9 Ks. “Yeah, but…” No yeah but’s.  How about OH YEAH!

NO LOCAL CHAMPIONS? 

AU CONTRAIRE

I hate to break it to you, but the Mets’ ENTIRE ORGANIZATION had zero playoff games in 2026.

Eight teams, zero playoff games.

The LI Ducks however won their independent league championship this year. 

Islip NY’s finest. 

In a much finer ballpark than that hitters’ neutron bomb dump in Brooklyn.

SAVAGE VIEWS – MY VISIT TO CITIFIELD

HERE I GO AGAIN!   SAVAGE VIEWS

Each year I try to do a father-son trip with one of my sons. This year Ken and I decided on a four-day trip to NYC culminating with catching the Orioles playing the Mets.

DAY ONE – SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 12^TH.

Flew into Laguardia from New Bern, NC. After settling in our AIRBNB, took the subway to Greenwich Village. 

First stop was Bleeker Street Pizzeria where we dined al-fresco and were able to watch a parade of women, young and older, wearing barely enough clothing to cover the essentials. 

Then onto Terra Blues Café for an evening of great music.

DAY TWO – SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13^TH

An easy day, brunch followed by watching the Ken’s team, the Jets play, Then dinner at Peter Luger’s Steak House and then back to catch my Giants play the Cowboys. A very satisfying day.

DAY THREE – MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14^TH

Another busy day as we spent an afternoon at the Museum of Natural History. Had dinner at the Russian Samovar Café followed by a magic show called “Amaze”. An expensive day but worth the price.

DAY FOUR – TUESDAY, SPETEMBER 15^TH

Ken insisted we need to go to Canal Street to purchase a genuine imitation Louis Vuitton handbag for his wife. After which we were able to get a table at Rubirosa Restaurant, one our favorite Italian spots in the City.  

We eventually made our way to Citifield arriving just as the gates opened. We had front row seats in Section 109 along the first base line. I was wearing my Gil Hodges jersey and a Brookly Dodger cap. 

I was expecting a visit from Steve Gelbs, however he never showed. I had emailed him earlier to let him know that I would be attending the game. I thought he might be interested in interviewing the possible last surviving witness who was actually at the game when Bobby Thomson hit the “shot heard around the world”.

However, we did get to see Peter Alonzo hit number 300. Unfortunately, our own Mr. Lindor did not. Since the subway trip to our apartment would take north of an hour, we did not stay for extra innings.

DAY FIVE – WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16^TH.

Back home to New Bern, NC, totally exhausted.

Ray

September 27, 2026

Tom Brennan - A Very Different Syracuse Mets Recap; Draft Day

Syracuse’s Ryan Clifford Probably Wishes He Stayed in Binghamton 

The Syracuse Mets did not make the playoffs in 2026.

They used an absolutely remarkable number of players.

Pitchers? 

If you guessed 64, five of whom were position players, you win the prize.

Hitters?  

They got screwed, by comparison. “Only” 43 hitters were used.

That makes their W-L record irrelevant to me. 

You can look it up if you want to.

I can’t imagine any full season baseball team using more players, frankly.

Who’s on first, what’s on second, I don’t know is on third, or something like that.

A finely lubricated revolving door.  

They probably had almost as many players as fans this year lol.

Mark Vientos (briefly) and Cristian Morel were their to best hitters, which shows that AAA is not nearly equal in caliber to the major leagues.

The most notable pleasant surprise was Kevin Parada, who hit .307/.386/.466 in 30 AAA games.

Jorge Polanco? He was 2 for 22 in AAA. Yeah, he didn’t hit there, either. 

He eventually did hit - the surgeon’s table, that is.

Ryan Clifford fanned 174 times in 115 games - not good on the resume. He also hit about .120 from June 1 through August 31. Tough to do.

Ronny Mauricio, in contrast, fanned just 63 times in 71 games, and we have all seen him scuffle mightily at the major league level, so draw your own Clifford conclusions. 

Me? I see that Clifford has a 55 rated arm, so perhaps he should follow strong-armed Nolan McLean and become a lefty power bullpen pitcher. There, the more strikeouts, the better..

On the actual pitching side, only Wenninger and Tong cleared 100 AAA innings, and not by all that much.

Neither put up the overall numbers we hoped for. 

Both oddly ended up with 4.54 AAA ERAs.

Tong in 2025, almost all below AAA: 10-5, 1.43. Dazzling.

Tong in 2026 in AAA: 5-6, 4.54. Fizzling.

Wenninger in 2025, all in AA: 12-6, 2.92. Very solid.

Wenninger in 2026, all in AAA: 5-8, 4.54. Semi-solid, at best.

Memo to minor league pitching hopefuls heading to AAA…

AAA is a BIG step. So is the next step, to Queens.

No greater example of the AAA Wall than Joander Suarez.

 - Career AA? 17-8, 235 IP, 3.29 ERA, 1.03 WHIP. Juan Marichal.

 - Career AAA? 2-5, 29 IP, 11.30 ERA, 2.05 WHIP. Senga as a 2026 starter.

And these next two pen guys, in 2026?

Dylan Ross and Ryan Lambert had Inflation Reduction Act AAA bloated ERAs of 6.34 and 7.71. I didn’t expect that, did you? 

At least Ross the Boss was pitching well over the last month plus.

Some wannabes succeed.

It was good to see the Mets successfully promote several pitchers, such as Thornton, Lavender, Yan, and Duarte. Collectively, those 4 have put up MLB numbers that put high-priced veteran pitchers to shame. 

Through Sunday, September 20, those 4 combined for 10-6, 3.04 in 145 innings, with 136 Ks. Label them Season Savers. Better than Paul Skenes in 2026 were those 4. You can look it up.

THAT IS MY AAA REVOLTING RECAP. 

Hopefully it gets at least a AAAA rating from you readers.

DRAFT DAY

Football exec Kevin Costner (as he starred in the football flick Draft Day) would be rooting for superior Mets draft positioning on this final weekend of the irregular season.

If the Mets haven’t already secured at least the 6th worst record before today’s final season game, here, per AI, is a generalized framework of the draft outlook for the Mets, based on Sunday’s action:

How the MLB Draft Lottery Works

Top 6 Picks: The Major League Baseball Draft uses a weighted lottery system to determine the first six picks of the draft, open to all teams that miss the postseason.
The 7th Spot: Only the top six picks are decided by the lottery ping-pong balls. Once those six slots are drawn, the remaining non-playoff teams are slotted into the draft order strictly based on reverse order of their regular-season winning percentages.
The Worst-Case Scenario: Because the lottery only covers the top six selections, a team with the seventh-worst record cannot fall backward past the 7th pick. If they miss out on jumping into the top six via the lottery, 7th overall is precisely where they land.

As everyone here at Macks’ Mets knows, if the Mets finish with thr 7th worst record for draft purposes, the 10 slot penalty would get tacked on and they’d pick a very disappointing 17th. 

Let me be the FIRST to say it.

If they are in point of fact in the top 6 and their ping pong ball is picked, they conceivably could get the FIRST OVERALL PICK.

Put me in. I’ll pitch - and proudly lose - on Sunday for ya. 

Then, with a great draft pick, the Mets can make a “big splash” on Draft Day.

GETTING THEIR MONEY’S WORTH, SORT OF

Not in the quality they would have hoped, but in the QUANTITY.

The costly Bo Bichette, going into Saturday’s final weekend action, had compiled 629 at bats, only 6 fewer than the major league leader, Trea Turner.

PETE POWER

Sorry, Mack…

The major league leaders in HRs after the ASB, thru Friday?

1) Pete Crow Armstrong - 24

2) Pounding Pete Alonso - 22

46 HRs in 129 combined games. Ruthian, one might say.

MACK – New Met: LHRP Phillip Abner

 

Philip James Abner is a left-handed relief pitcher (throws and bats left).

He currently joined the New York Mets organization after being claimed off waivers from the San Francisco Giants in late September 2026.

Born May 5, 2002, in Charlotte, North Carolina (age 24); 6'1", 230 lbs.

College: University of Florida; also played Cape Cod League (Falmouth Commodores, all-star in 2022).

Drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 6th round (175th overall) of the 2023 MLB Draft.

MLB debut: September 19, 2025, with the Diamondbacks (struck out Kyle Schwarber and Brandon Marsh in his debut).

Teams: Arizona Diamondbacks (2025–2026), San Francisco Giants (2026), New York Mets (claimed Sept. 2026).

MLB stats (through mid/late September 2026): 18 appearances (all relief), 0-0, 6.75 ERA, 22.2 IP, 15 SO, 14 BB, 1.76 WHIP. 

2026 split: 13 G, 7.11 ERA, 19.0 IP, 10 SO.

He has stronger minor-league numbers (career minors roughly 2.93–3.28 ERA range with solid strikeout rates around 25–28% in recent years), including work at Triple-A Reno/Sacramento in the hitter-friendly PCL. The Mets appear interested in the minor-league track record and lefty depth.

Pitch Repertoire

Four-seam fastball (FF): ~55–56% usage, avg. 90.6 mph. Primary pitch; below-average velocity and results so far (higher hard-hit rates allowed).

Curveball (CU): ~18–20.5%, avg. ~81.2 mph.

Slider (SL): ~16–18%, avg. ~80.5 mph.

Changeup (CH): ~7–7.4%, avg. ~83.3 mph.

Sinker (SI): Rare (~0.3%), ~89.5 mph.

In 2025 (limited sample), he leaned more heavily on the four-seamer (~73%) + slider, with less curve/changeup. Overall career mix is roughly 59% fastball (mostly four-seam) and 41% secondaries.

He generates average-to-modest movement and spin on the breaking pitches, with the curve and slider providing the main complementary looks. Whiff rates and overall results have been modest in the majors so far (career K% ~14%, BB% elevated), consistent with the velocity profile. Better control and sequencing of the secondaries (especially the curve) have shown more promise in the minors.

In short: lefty reliever with a lower-90s fastball and a multi-pitch mix (primarily four-seam, curve, slider, and changeup) who relies more on deception/variety than pure stuff. 

The Mets claimed him as organizational depth after his short, rocky MLB stretches with Arizona and San Francisco.

Paul Articulates – The Alvarez Enigma

Francisco Alvarez is out of control. Again.

The former top prospect with undeniable power and a strong arm has now been in the major leagues for four full seasons plus his abbreviated call-up year.  He has also been back in the minor leagues for many injury rehabilitation trips and other remedial tune-ups.

He is that "can’t miss" prospect that always seems to miss.  Why?  He cannot control his passion to make the big play.  Huge swings and misses on balls that he could have driven into the opposite field gap.  Wild throws on the 1-in-100 chance that he can gun down a runner.  This is all hero behavior in a game that much more often rewards patience. 

We have seen him come back from rehab assignments with a fresh new outlook – better appearances at the plate with more selectivity on pitches to swing at; better blocking of pitches in the dirt.  We have also seen that control reversed as soon as success starts creeping in.  

It seems that each big home run is followed by several at bats where he takes mighty swings at balls that cannot be reached.  One caught stealing is followed by unwarranted pick-off throws that eventually find their way into the outfield.  Pitchers exploit his inability to lay off the high fastball above the strike zone and sliders that begin as strikes and dive out of the zone.

The Mets are faced with a tough dilemma: stick with the guy that has immense talent, or part with the guy who has repeatedly shown that he does not have the emotional maturity to harness that talent.  

In his best days, he looks like the player that was projected to be a star catcher for many years to come.  One could use examples of his great games to argue that with a little maturity and the right coaching, he can fulfill the past projections and become a threat in the middle of the lineup and a reliable backstop on defense.

In his worst days, like yesterday’s loss to the Nationals, he hurts the team with poor at-bats in critical situations and costs the team runs with defensive miscues.  One could use the recurring regressions to argue that he should be packaged in a trade and replaced by a steadier influence behind the plate like Luis Torrens.

Either way, Francisco Alvarez will find a way to haunt the Mets.

The Mets’ farm system has shown some very good depth recently, with several promising pitchers like Scott, McLean, Thornton, and Tong coming up.  Their middle-infield depth has soared in the post-trade deadline months.  Similarly, they have developed some very high quality outfield talent like Benge, Ewing, and Morabito.  But the catching progression leaves much to be desired, so there is no heir apparent to Alvarez in the pipeline.  

Yes, we have seen some positive steps by Kevin Parada recently and there have been flashes of brilliance by Chris Suero, but neither seems MLB ready right now.  Hayden Senger is a top notch defensive catcher but despite a better year in 2026 is still not a bat that the team is looking for.  You have to go all the way down to St. Lucie before finding a star-caliber catching prospect in Yovanny Rodriguez but he has years of development in front of him.  There is not an in-house solution for next year.

So the choices are not clear, but the Mets have several months to think about the high stakes risk-reward trade-off with their catching position.

Reese Kaplan -- Long Overdue Progressive Mets Decision Making

Given the steady, sad progress of the 2026 season and the mediocrity of the entire David Stearns reign as part of the Mets organization, it was expected to be a slow and clumsy off season while the club took the many necessary steps to try to right the cellar dwelling ship after the failure of nearly every Stearns move yet again. 

Imagine the surprise, therefore, that the same baseball executive who did absolutely nothing when the wheels came off while it was not yet summer actually instead took progressive action to hire not just an on-the-field manager for the losing ball club but also a front office right hand man to help apply a bit more structure and second guessing personnel moves which thus far have not proven to be one of the current POBO’s skill sets. 

On the former, I felt as if I was standing alone in expressing the opinion that another rookie manager was not the most prudent path for the Mets to take.  Even deeper in that earlier expressed sentiment I felt as if I was standing all alone when I suggested that the early returns on Andy Green were indeed what had been missing since Buck Showalter was pushed out the clubhouse door. 

Consequently when Carlos Beltran was pretty upfront about not wanting to step into a managerial role, the faintest flicker of hope that instead of interviewing every other unemployed managerial candidate for the 2027 team, they instead pushed ahead with the overdue step of pushing Andy Green into multiyear security as the no longer “Interim” designated title of his role for the Mets.  

Saying my reaction was stunned would be underselling the intelligence and shock at the club not only doing the right thing but also taking full advantage of its unparalleled exclusivity of dealing one-on-one with the man who nearly brought respectability back to what David Stearns nearly ruined through a great many roster actions and inactions.

The other side of the coin was the Steve Cohen announcement that the team in recognition of what had gone completely off the rails since Stearns was brought on board was planning to reinforce the caliber of the front office.  At the time it was not announced whether the club was planning to designate someone to assume the role of GM abandoned by Billy Eppler after the faux injury scandal or if they instead were going to construct some kind of committee support system to buttress the many things Stearns kept getting wrong.

A day before the actual hiring, the word slipped out that a former Stearns Cleveland Indians coworker was considered a front runner for the Mets gaping need after having successfully worked the roster for the Minnesota Twins.  Derek Falvey had ascended to the role of Executive Vice President and Chief Baseball Officer before being terminated.  He had the track record and rapport with Stearns that made his possible inclusion a shrewd and understandable possibility. 

As it turns out Falvey has not been named General Manager in the traditional sense despite the glaring need.  His new title is Senior Advisor for Baseball Operations reporting directly to David Stearns.  At this point no one can predict if this change means Stearns will do a deeper and wider dive on roster decisions while Falvey takes over some of the behind-the-scenes activities that someone at this level needs to handle.  

Still, whichever way it goes, it would appear that for a second time Stearns got the wheels spinning earlier than anyone anticipated given his track record of lethargy when the plans he constructed failed to pay dividends.  It seems like a good choice bringing in an experienced young man to help reshape things.

Now going into the 2027 season the primary concern for the team is more likely the expected work interruption than any specific player names to fill the great many vacancies on the failed 2026 roster.  Both issues will surface for sure, but right now many of us who had lost nearly all faith in the Mets organization got a tiny dose of hope return with the unexpected and necessary changes that arrived during the final week of September.  

MACK – Let’s Revisit - RHRP - Saul Garcia

 

MACK – Let’s Revisit - RHRP - Saul Garcia

Saul Garcia is a 23-year-old right-handed relief pitcher in the New York Mets organization, currently with Triple-A Syracuse after a recent promotion from Double-A Binghamton on August 27, 2026.

mlb.com

Background

• Born June 11, 2003, in Naguanagua, Venezuela.
• Height/weight: Listed at 6'0", 180 lbs (some sources note ~6'2").
• Bats/Throws: Right/Right.
• Signed by the Mets as an international free agent on June 12, 2021.
• First cousin of former Mets (and current Giants) infielder Wilmer Flores; the families were close during his childhood in Venezuela.
  viralsportsnews.net

He started his pro career as a starter with mixed results and elevated walk rates in the lower minors (DSL, FCL, Single-A St. Lucie, some High-A). The Mets moved him to the bullpen in 2025, which unlocked his stuff and produced strong results. He has also pitched in the Arizona Fall League (2024) and Venezuelan Winter League (Navegantes del Magallanes).Recent Performance

• 2025 (High-A Brooklyn + late Double-A Binghamton): 1.70 ERA, 76 strikeouts in 47.2 innings across 38 appearances, 6 saves, opponents hit .173. High strikeout rates (well over 30% at points).
• 2026 (Double-A Binghamton): 
  viralsportsnews.net

Career minor-league numbers (approximate through 2026 AA): High strikeout totals relative to innings, with ERA in the mid-4s overall reflecting earlier starter years. He is viewed as an emerging high-leverage/strikeout arm one step from the majors; a strong Triple-A showing could put him in contention for a late 2026 or 2027 big-league look.Pitch Repertoire / ArsenalGarcia’s profile is a classic power-arm bullpen mix built around swing-and-miss stuff in shorter outings:

• Four-seam fastball: Sits mid-90s with late life/ride. Earlier data (as a starter) also showed a sinker around 92–94 mph with armside run (used heavily then). The heater generates the foundational velocity and plays up in relief.
• Slider: Mid-to-upper 80s with sharp downward (vertical) break. This has been his best secondary and generates elite/high whiff rates. Earlier tracking (2023–2024 Single-A) showed it around 80–84 mph with gyro/downer characteristics and solid Stuff+ grades.
• Changeup: Rounds out the mix (used less frequently). Provides a change-of-pace option, often with armside fade.
  viralsportsnews.net

In lower levels (tracked data from 2023–2024), usage leaned heavily toward the fastball/sinker (~55–65%) and slider (~25–35%), with the changeup in the 3–11% range. Stuff+ grades on the fastball/sinker and slider were near or above average in those samples. The move to relief has emphasized the high-velocity fastball + sharp slider combo for elevated strikeout rates (frequently 30%+).

Overall, he profiles as a potential late-inning reliever with missing-bats stuff if the command continues to firm up against higher-level hitters. He remains a developmental prospect but one of the Mets’ more interesting strikeout-oriented arms near the upper minors.

Reese Kaplan - Who Do You Keep?

Where the biggest challenge occurs for the front office is deterimining who is not worth keeping around to be a part of the Mets future.  Obviously the previously run list of disappointments all could migrate to this list, though some of them like Marcus Semien are all but unmovable given the size of his remaining payroll obligation for two years and the substandard performance with the bat the past few seasons.  Others are difficult to move strictly based upon what they have done (or not done) on the diamond.

Then there are the category of other players who look like they could have value but not necessarily as a starter for the Mets now and in the future.  Let’s have a look.

Francisco Alvarez is still just 25 years old and although he’s been around quite a while already many folks have grown frustrated by his lack of consistency at the plate and lack of progress behind the dish.  He’s a career .229 hitter whose greatest attribute is power.  Given a 162-game standard schedule he’d be good for 26 HRs and 71 RBIs.  

The problem is his injury history hasn’t left him available for nearly that amount of time and many express his tendency to try to take every pitch over the fence instead of learning to make better contact overall.  

Defensively he’s uneven to say the least and pitchers have performed to a 4.11 ERA which is not outstanding.  Some feel it is time to move on from him though the uneven but intriguing Chris Suero hasn’t established consistency at the minor league level yet.

Luis Torrens by the naked eye is a far superior defensive player to Alvarez but the results with him behind the dish are not markedly better with a pitcher’s ERA of 3.96.  As a hitter he is less productive than is Alvarez and the question becomes if the club is better off with the better defender and pitch caller at the expensive of a lifetime .230 hitter who would average 12 HRs and 53 RBIs if he played every day as the starting catcher.  

He’s perfectly acceptable in a backup role but wouldn’t be contending for All Star status if he became the number one signal caller.  Already age 30, he’s not likely becoming markedly better mid-career as a hitter.  Some question whether the Mets should deal one of these two catchers away and leave the other as a backup.  Alvarez would likely bring a greater return given his HR power.

Ronny Mauricio has struggled with his health over the past few seasons and although he shows some very good intervals of both power and speed he has never had the opportunity to play regularly for an extended period of time in the majors to see if he can adjust to the higher level of pitching.

Given the age of Semien, the defensive questions about Bo Bichette (if he returns to play 3B), then shuffling off Mauricio in a trade may not make a whole lot of sense.  However, it does not appear at first glance that he has the opportunity to become a regular for the Mets.  You’d expect to see him floated in some prospective trade packages once the World Series ends.

Nick Morabito and A.J. Ewing bring back flashbacks of when the Mets had the legs of Vince Coleman and Roger Cedeno.  They pretty much earn their keep with what they can do on the basepaths to drive opposing pitchers and catchers crazy with their ability to steal bases.  Unlike Mookie Wilson and Jose Reyes who turned themselves into credible hitters who offered up more than strong legs, the question remains about what to expect from this pair of outfielders (or possibly second baseman in the case of Ewing).  

Morabito is in fact a career .281 minor league hitter with modest power who strikes out a bit more than you’d expect from a contact hitter.  Ewing is an even better .290 hitter working is way up to the majors at just age 21 and his initial trial in New York is .254.  With maturity he could improve but he’s got to steal a whole lot of bases to remain in the starting lineup with no power and a lot of strikeouts.  Either one could be moved in the right deals, but it would take a bit of hard swallowing to do so.

Christopher Morel, MJ Melendez and Christian Pache are not going to net anything much in trade and likely would be fringe 26th player types if they make the team at all.

Here comes a tough one.  He would not net a huge return individually, but as part of a package he would most certainly open the eyes of some fellow GMs.  First baseman Ryan Clifford reminds a lot of people of Dave Kingman in that he is an all-or-nothing type of slugger who struggles mightily with strikeouts.  

This past season is highly forgettable for him despite having knocked the ball over the fence 18 times in just over 400 ABs but did so while sitting well below the Mendoza line at .188.  Yes, at age 22 it’s possible he can correct his offensive approach but now with Billy Amick in house and producing significantly more power you in effect have carbon copies of the same problem.  

At this point Clifford would seem to be someone the Mets might dangle to other clubs to open up Syracuse 1B for a full season of Amick.