Reese Kaplan -- How to Manage the Mike Tauchman Injury

Well, at the eleventh hour of Spring Training the injury happened that will affect the decision making on who travels north from Florida to start the Mets season.  By now pretty everyone has seen the video clip of spare outfielder Mike Tauchman pulling up lame while attempting to jog out to his defensive position.  

He has a knee injury and as of Saturday night results have not been announced regarding how severe it is.  Knee injuries usually take quite a bit of time to heal properly with rest and physical therapy, so this situation for minor league NRI Tauchman who appeared to have secured a substitute role on the club now opens up some new analysis on how best to use this spot.

First of all, if there was indeed any doubt about Carson Benge being promoted to the majors, that door has closed, locked and he’s now pretty much guaranteed his chance to begin his fight for the 2026 Rookie of the Year.  His combination of strong defense, offense and base running skills surprised some and validated others.  Now any caution about allowing him to begin the season in Syracuse is out the window.

So if you step back and take a look at the roster allocation, it would appear that after your starting squad left to right of Juan Soto, Luis Robert, Jr. and Carson Benge is set.  After that, however, it is less clear.  Obviously front office favorite Tyrone Taylor is in line to be outfielder number four.  After that, however, it gets rather murky.

One approach is to allow newly minted outfielder Brett Baty would stand in as the 5th outfielder should the need arise.  It’s not an ideal situation, but other than major slumps or injuries it is not something that would result in much playing time out there.  It is kind of how Jeff McNeil morphed into an outfielder out of positional versatility though McNeil was still hoping to be a starting player.

Another approach would be to revisit the already dismissed alternatives available like MJ Melendez who had a decent spring and is on a split contract.  He’s purely an outfielder with a terrific glove so having him available as the 5th outfielder makes some sense.

Next would come players who have some outfield experience like Jared Young.  The 30 year old lefty swinger has nearly 200 games of outfield experience between the majors and the minors.  As a short term solution he could work.

A compromise would be to add another infielder like Vidal Brujan to the roster which would then make it more possible to move Baty into an outfield role if necessary.  Brujan also has 200+ games of experience in the outfield as well as around the infield.  As a major leaguer he’s sub Mendoza with the bat but has done better in foreign and minor league ball to the tune of a .280 average. 

Right now the decision really depends on how severe the Tauchman injury turns out to be and whether or not the Mets are uncomfortable with Brett Baty having an outfielder’s glove in his locker as a spare part.