With so many injuries at the start of the season, the Mets have avoided making decisions ahead of time about how to utilize replacement players when the injured ones return. However, with Francisco Alvarez and Jeff McNeil set to return later this week, decision time has finally come for the Mets.
If all goes well, Alvarez (hamate surgery) and McNeil (oblique strain) will complete their rehab assignments this week. The Mets have them scheduled to play all nine innings Tuesday with Triple-A Syracuse, and one game of a doubleheader Wednesday (seven innings).
“I think at this point it’s just more building up volume for them,” manager Carlos Mendoza said Monday ahead of the start of a series against the Philadelphia Phillies. “Getting [them] used to playing full games back to back and things like that.”
While rookie catcher Hayden Senger understands his fate with Alvarez returning, the Mets have a tough call to make with infielders Luisangel Acuña and Brett Baty. Both have filled in admirably at second base in McNeil’s absence and have turned it on offensively as of late.
Complicating the matter is Jose Siri’s fractured tibia. President of baseball operations David Stearns said Monday he expects the center fielder to be out 8-10 weeks. The Mets have had McNeil play in center field during his rehab assignment and Acuña, who has played there in the minors, is working out in case he’s needed there as well.
The debate between Acuña and Baty has been going on for weeks. With each game, the choice becomes tougher.
“I think difficult decisions are a good thing,” Stearns said. “We have players that we want to keep here. As we get healthier, these types of decisions are going to become more and more a part of our thought process, so we’re going to continue to talk about it. When Jeff is ready, we’ll certainly make a decision to get him back on the roster.
McNeil will play second base and outfield, and could also spell Francisco Lindor at shortstop late in games.
“I imagine Jeff’s going to do what he always does,” Stearns said. “He’s going to bounce around, he’s going to play some second and fill in on the corner outfielders when needed.”
The Mets have yet to see how Alvarez’s revamped swing plays at the big league level. The catcher was injured so early in camp that he was short on Grapefruit League at-bats. Luis Torrens has been enjoying a great start at the plate, so the Mets will likely ride the hot hand and play the matchups when it comes to determining their starting catcher every day.
“I Think we have two catchers who we feel really good about,” Stearns said. “Mendy is going to decide who plays every day and will give us the best chance to win, and we certainly think Alvy is going to be a huge part of that.”
Right-handed reliever Dedniel Nuñez is built up to the point where he can get more than three outs out of the bullpen, but the Mets still want to see him respond to back-to-back outings and longer outings. With the way the bullpen has performed to start the season, Nuñez may not get a chance to pitch in the big leagues until a reliever gets hurt.
“We think Nuñez is going to be a big part of this bullpen going forward, part of this is just ensuring that he has completed his ramp-up, which he has at this point,” Stearns said. “The Syracuse weather didn’t help him on some of this, so we had a couple of false starts in terms of trying to get into two-out-of-threes and just making sure the volume was where we needed it to be, but he should be there now. Now it’s just need, it’s when do we have the need?
“We know he’s going to be able to help us at some point this year, and probably some point soon.”
