Reese Kaplan -- Mets Roster Stagnation and Future Roster Changes

Occasionally I will have somewhat heated conversations with fellow Mets fans about the front office inertia during the horrific April start.  Now I don’t blame the injuries on anyone.  These things happen.  However the judgment in who should be a part of the roster and the lineup are indeed things that can be controlled instead of ignored.

Now that the club has won a few games in a row the rose-colored glasses crowd are coming out with vitriol about how they were right all along and how negativity somehow sends “bad vibes” and is responsible for the ongoing losing.  Not being a person of great faith I dispel such notions of negativity as readily as I do positivity.  Games are won by hitting, pitching, fielding and baserunning, not by feelings.

That being said, it’s curious to see how the roster will change in the near term given a few current developments.  Let’s look at the situation at hand with AJ Minter.  Most folks were salivating over the prospect of him becoming a part of the bullpen as soon as late next week.  Lots of conversations flowed back and forth about who would lose their current major league job to make room for his arrival.  It was expected and an understandable discourse.

Then, of course, the news arrived that Minter was yanked due to hip discomfort on the same side where he had his torn labrum issue.  

While people are certainly reasonable to feel disappointed with this interruption in the expected timeline, it is prudent not to rush things and take a chance on another injury IL stint related to that decision. 

Consequently there won’t be any roster revamping done in the short term but the conversations most certainly should still be taking place.  David Peterson has been better in relief with a 2.45 ERA than his over 8.00 ERA as a starter, so we’ll give him a pass for now.  Given his pending free agency at year’s end all we can hope is he keeps upping his trade value so that in July he can be flipped for something that will be around in 2027.

On the polar opposite end of the spectrum is David Stearns’ 3 year mistake, Sean Manaea.  

Last season he missed nearly all of it with injuries.  Again, that’s not Stearns’ fault, but the end results of the 2025 season did not at all resemble what he had achieved as a Met in 2024. 

Over a dozen starts and three relief appearances he finished at 2-4 with a 5.64 ERA.  There’s no way to sweep those numbers under the rug except to say he was working his way back from a physical malady and it reflects that transition.

In 2026 it went from bad to far, far worse.  First he was bounced from the starting rotation where they hoped he could right himself as a long reliever giving them innings as he readjusted to be more like the 2024 version.  

It is almost impossible to explain the 9th inning on the Wednesday game in Colorado where he was inserted to protect a 10-5 lead in the 9th inning in a game with a wide enough margin that even a diminished southpaw former starter shouldn’t be able to trip things up.

Well, that did not go as expected. He loaded the bases while the dugout did nothing.  He somehow wrangled a single out but then the first Rockies run came in and the gap was now 5 runs instead of 6.  I actually had someone try to tell me that he could give up a grand slam and the Mets would still be in the lead but fortunately slow-acting manager Carlos Mendoza finally had seen enough and Devin Williams arrived to whiff the opposing hitters and secure the victory despite what Manaea had done.

This development comes to a head with the question arising if perhaps Manaea and his overpriced contract are in danger of getting the Frankie Montas treatment when lefty AJ Minter is deemed healthy enough to return.  Ask yourself if you would entrust Manaea with a starting assignment or even as a mop up reliever?  Anyone???