Reese Kaplan -- The Waiting Remains the Hardest Part

As bad as the pitching appears to be in both the rotation and in the bullpen, things are even poorer as it stands right now with the batting order.  Let’s have a look and see how there are quite a few things that feel a bit less than solid for the upcoming 2025 Mets.

First Base

Right now it’s a big question mark with no contract given to and accepted by Pete Alonso.  Most other star quality first baseman are already off the board and it leaves the Mets with no solid Plan B if there is no reunion in the near future happening with the Polar Bear.

Second Base

For now it would appear to be a toss-up between two straight down years of Jeff McNeil or unproven youngsters Luisangel Acuna and recovering Ronny Mauricio looking to see if they can prove they belong in the majors.

Shortstop

Here the Mets are solid with team leader Francisco Lindor.

Third Base

As bright a light that Mark Vientos was for the Mets during the regular season and into October, people are still questioning his ability defensively and wondering if he can repeat and grow as a middle of the order bat the second time around.  Many advocate moving him to first base if a hole continues to exist there.  Brett Baty is still around and showing good home run power but it came at the expensive of his AAA batting average.  Is he more valuable on the team or as a trade chip?

Catcher

Francisco Alvarez is showing himself to be a rock solid defender after arriving with major question marks concerning his ability in the field, but his power was missing for most of the 2025 season to accompany a poor batting average.  People do realize he’s still quite young and have faith he will continue to improve on the offensive side of things, but for now he’s a bottom third of the order hitter.

Left Field

Brandon Nimmo had a good run production year in 2024 but his batting average shrank drastically.  The team needs to decide if he is an on-base machine or a power hitter who drives in runs.  For now he’s worth supporting either way but it’s unclear what type of player he’s going to be in his 30s.

Center Field

As charitable as people can be about the defense of 4th and 5th outfielders Tyrone Taylor and Jose Siri, the fact is that Taylor is a career .241 hitter which is fine for a substitute but not sufficient for a contending team’s starter.  Siri is even worse at a career mark of just .210 and is coming off a .187 campaign.  He has more power and speed than does Taylor but not enough to warrant penciling in his name for half the games (particularly since both Taylor and Siri are right handed). 

Right Field

Cringe sometimes on how Juan Soto plays the field but rejoice with what he can do with his left handed bat.  He’s thrice eclipsed the 100 RBI mark and shown great home run power to accompany his lifetime .285 batting average.

What Still Needs to Be Done

It would seem that the Mets could again live with Brandon Nimmo in center field if they could turn up another slugger to play left field.  They need to make a commitment to younger players like Acuna, Mauricio and/or Baty, or they need to trade them away to reinforce the infield’s offensive production. 

The other area where they can address deficient offense is at Designate Hitter.  Some are anxious to see a return of Jesse Winker while others are advocating Mark Vientos move into that role to concentrate on hitting alone but that move probably can’t be done with no one penciled in at first base and no one solid tapped for third either. 

Any way you slice it, if the season started today the offense from the 2025 version pales next to what worked mostly well in 2024.  The clock continues ticking and the game of chicken with Pete Alonso appears not to have winners emerging on either side.