How might the Mets field a team if they unload their roster at the trade deadline?

Plus, the Mets had a clean victory over the Diamondbacks thanks to big nights from Francisco Lindor, JD Martínez

Linda Surovich

May 31, 2024

What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️

The Mets won the series opener against the Diamondbacks by a score of 3-2 (box)
After calling a team meeting on Wednesday, SS Francisco Lindor went 4-for-4 with a HR and 2 RBI. His hit in the seventh inning tied the game. For his career he is hitting .380/.429/.707 in 23 career games against Arizona - this was his second four-hit game of the season and the tenth of his career
DH J.D. Martinez hit the go-ahead home run in the eighth. He has reached base in 25 of his first 30 games this season
RHP Christian Scott got the start and was solid yet again. His final line was 5.0 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, BB, and 4 K. He has allowed three or fewer runs and one or zero walks in four of his first five career starts.
RHP Adrian Houser was good again out of the bullpen. He did not allow a run in two innings of work. He has a 1.80 ERA in four relief appearances so far this season
The Mets have won 20 of their last 24 against Arizona dating back to September 2019
The team recorded their first series opening win since defeating St. Louis on May 6
They are 10-8 in one run games this season, 7-3 when tied after seven innings, 18-5 when leading after eight innings, 7-13 in series openers, and 3-8 in series openers at home

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Who’s Hot 🔥

Francisco Lindor extended his hitting streak to nine games on Thursday - he is hitting .375/.405/.625 with four doubles, two home runs and six RBI during that span
Over his last 21 games, Pete Alonso is hitting .284/.341/.531 with eight doubles, four home runs and 10 RBI

Injury Updates 🏥

LHP Brooks Raley underwent UCL reconstruction in his left elbow with the internal brace, officially putting an end to his season
1B Pete Alonso (bone bruise) is officially day-to-day, although he went 1-for-1 as a pinch hitter during Thursday night’s game
C Francisco Álvarez (thumb ligament surgery) went 1-for-2 with a HR, 3 RBI, 2 runs scored, and a walk in the first game of his major league rehab assignment with Double-A Binghamton

Roster Moves 🗞️

RHP Jorge López designated for assignment
LHP Danny Young recalled from Triple-A

Down on the Farm 🌾

1B Ryan Clifford (No. 4 prospect, Double-A): 1-for-3, 2 RBI, R, BB, K
SS Jeremy Rodriguez (No. 12 prospect, FCL Mets): 2-for-4, HR, RBI, R, BB
1B Luke Ritter (unranked, Triple-A): 1-for-3, HR, 3 RBI
RHP Jack Wenninger (unranked, Single-A): 7 IP, 2 ER, 0 BB, 12 K

BOX SCORES

Single-A STL | Single-A BRK | Double-A BNG | Triple-A SYR

Today’s Game 🗓

Match-up: Mets (23-33) vs. Diamondbacks (25-32)

Where: Citi Field — Flushing, NY

Starters: RHP Luis Severino (2-2, 3.22 ERA) vs. LHP Jordan Montgomery (3-2, 4.69 ERA)

When: 7:10 PM EDT

Where to Watch: WPIX

The team may be sellers at the deadline, but they also need to field a team! ✍️

For the time being, the Mets stopped the slide and managed to walk away with a much needed win against the Diamondbacks on Thursday night.

One day after calling a team meeting, Francisco Lindor backed up his talk on the field with a big day at the plate, going 4-for-4 with a home run. J.D. Martínez - who gave the Mets the lead with a solo home run to center in the eighth - had only positive things to say about the meeting in his postgame comments himself, as did Brandon Nimmo.

But while we hope this is the start of a run, it could also be too little too late for the 2024 New York Mets.

Much of the talk lately has been about blowing everything up and starting fresh. Sure, they can trade Luis Severino, Sean Manaea, Pete Alonso, J.D. Martinez, and perhaps Jeff McNeil but that would also mean this team is most likely not going to contend any time soon.

Not that they’re contending with any of them of course, but going down that road means there’s even less to work with heading into 2025, thus the franchise would likely be in for a lengthy rebuild.

Many of their top prospects - those David Stearns was probably hoping could help the big league team in 2024 - are either hurt or underperforming in the minor leagues. Luisangel Acuña has been better lately, but is still not close to being a major leaguer and both Jett Williams and Drew Gilbert have been hurt with Williams possibly facing wrist surgery. Hopefully, Ronny Mauricio will return next season but what can reasonably be expected of him after losing a full season due to injury?

The Mets also have to figure out where Mauricio fits on the field, that being after he tore his ACL.

Both Brett Baty and Mark Vientos have not shown much at third base. For now, the Mets need to roll with one or the other, and that is fine for the rest of the year but its pretty clear as of this date the Mets will need to find a solution at third in the marketplace. If anything, Vientos has been very good at the plate in a small sample, so it’s at least conceivable to see him as the team’s DH next season.

José Quintana is also a free agent at the end of the season, Sean Manaea will opt out if his season continues along this path if he isn’t first traded at the deadline, and again, Severino is a free agent and could be traded as well. So the team is likely going to need to replace 3/5ths of the rotation, and that’s assuming they know what Kodai Senga’s deal is by the end of the year as well.

For now, assuming they move Manaea, Severino and Quintana this summer, the team can always slot in David Peterson, Tylor Megill, and Joey Lucchesi for the rest of the season, and perhaps Senga will return at some point. If Senga shows he’s healthy and effective at some point in 2024, they can add Christian Scott to the solution, perhaps one of Peterson or Megill and then go out to the market and find two primary starters for the rotation.

But it is still asking a lot to remake a team in one offseason no matter how much money Steve Cohen has. Also - free agents have to want to come here and this cannot be an attractive landing spot right now, which means they may have to overpay to attract talent to the Mets.

There’s a lot of work to do here.

There are some free agents that could be added. Obviously, Juan Soto fits like cinderella’s slipper and his market will be small given his likely price point. So the Mets have an obvious chance with him. But it is a big ask to fill so many positions from the outside and the team just doesn’t have the quality of prospects the Mets need coming up from the minor leagues yet.

And there’s no predicting what these prospects would be when they arrive anyway. Hopefully, three of them are hits but most of the time in this game, they’re misses.

The Mets can’t simply spend a ton in free agency and expect their problems to go away. They just did this in 2022 and 2023 and, well, here we are.

They can blow up the team but they have to field a team too. David Stearns was brought in to make tough and perhaps unpopular decisions - this will be one of his toughest of his young Mets career.

Around the League 🚩

Arizona RHP Zac Gallen exited the game against the Mets after just six pitches with a right hamstring strain
Yankees RHP Clarke Schmidt was placed on the IL with a right lat strain and won’t throw for four to six weeks
Aaron Judge’s 18th home run of the year paved the way for the Yankees 8-3 win over the Angels
Detroit RHP Jack Flaherty did not allow a hit until the seventh inning in the Tigers 5-0 win over Boston