Reese Kaplan -- A Nice Few Days But Roster Is Still Uneven

With the recent sweep of the Detroit Tigers many Mets fans are already declaring that the awful start has officially ended and everything will be coming up roses from this point forward.  Surely there were some excellent things in this last game including 5 HRs and Nolan McLean coming back from an early 3-0 deficit to shut down the Tigers for the remainder of his stint on the mound. 

Even with the sweep the Mets still stand at a less than impressive 18-25, still sitting alone at the bottom of the NL East.  For people trying to put a red ribbon on the recent three game winning streak they did move ahead of the records of the Colorado Rockies and the San Francisco Giants.  Remaining seven games under .500 it is hard to must enthusiasm until they at least pull up to an equal number of wins and losses at which point they can declare it’s a new season from that point forward.

Many people are spending time pondering who the club will move off the roster as the multitude of injured players eventually return to action.  Some decisions are easy with Vidal Brujan an obvious cut when Francisco Lindor is healthy enough to play regularly.  AJ Ewing has already been promoted and error-prone Andy Ibanez was recently told to hit the road, Jack.  The other recent personnel change was the end of Mets days for Eric Wagaman.

With AJ Minter ready once again to resume preparatory work for his return to the major league roster from multiple injuries the question is who goes to make room for him?  If the season was just beginning the answer would likely have been Austin Warren who was never a frontline option for the roster but who has been pitching pretty much lights out since his arrival.  Huascar Brazoban has been solid.  Brooks Raley, Luke Weaver and Devin Williams are all going nowhere from the major league bullpen.  Tobias Myers has certainly been more good than bad although has had a few tough outings lately.  That leaves former starters David Peterson, Sean Manaea or Cooperstown-bound reliever Craig Kimbrel as the likely candidates.  Given the salaries of the first two it would seem that Kimbrel may be the one on thin ice.

A similar question arose about who the Mets might move to create room for Jorge Polanco when he returns.  With Mark Vientos leading the club in HRs it is unlikely he’s coming out of the lineup, though a move from 1B to DH could happen, just as it could for Polanco.  It would seem that the likely casualty is Austin Slater who is hitting a combined .220 during the 2026 season though even worse is all glove and no bat Tyrone Taylor who is under .200. 

With no clear timetables for Robert and Francisco Alvarez, it is entirely possible that other personnel moves may be a bit hard to make.  Alvarez has an expectation after surgery of eight or more weeks and there is no timeline associated with Robert that anyone will state publicly.  AJ Ewing might be an adequate center field option but no one is suggesting seeing more of Hayden Senger is going to help the club correct their losing ways.