JD Davis goes elsewhere, Shintaro Fujinami struggles in loss

The Mets are sticking with their guns on Brett Baty and Mark Vientos for the time being

What’s up with the Mets? 🍎

• The Mets lost to the Nationals 7-3 in Port St. Lucie on Friday night (Box)

• Adrian Houser started for the Mets and pitched well until he allowed a three-run home run to Lane Thomas in the fifth

• Shintaro Fujinami had an ugly outing, not retiring a batter while allowing three runs thanks to three walks

• DJ Stewart hit his first spring homer and both Francisco Lindor and Harrison Bader had multi-hit games

• Former Met and 1969 World Champion Jim McAndrew passed away at the age of 80

• JD Davis - who the Mets were targeting - agreed to sign a one-year deal with the A’s (FanSided)

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Spring Breakout Game 🌱

• Mets prospects defeated Nationals prospects 4-2 in Port St. Lucie Friday afternoon (box)

• Dominic Hamel started and gave the Mets two scoreless innings and Calvin Ziegler notched the save with two strikeouts

• Ryan Clifford doubled and scored a run, and Kevin Parada drove an opposite field RBI single as well

• Luisangel Acuña went 0-for-2 on the day as did Drew Gilbert, although Gilbert scored one of the Mets four runs on the day

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Roster Moves 🗞️

• Joey Lucchesi optioned to Triple-A Syracuse

• Reed Garrett optioned to Triple-A Syracuse

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Today’s Game 🗓️

Match-up: Mets (9-9) vs Astros (10-10)

Where: Ballpark at the Palm Beaches - West Palm Beach, FL

Starters: RHP Michael Tonkin (0-1, 0.00 ERA) vs. RHP JP France (spring debut)

When: 6:05 PM EDT

Where To Watch: n/a

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Notes: Rotation clarity, JD Davis and sticking with the plan ✍️

It was a busy day for the Mets in Port St. Lucie as camp has entered its home stretch. Spring Training is at a point where the regulars are going to see some more playing time, the starters are being stretched out, and the major league clubhouse is starting to thin as the roster begins to take it’s final shape towards opening day.

So, as I’ve been doing so often lately due to the numerous things on my mind about this club, I’ll divide today’s newsletter up into a few topics…

Rotation clarity

Yesterday, the Mets optioned Joey Lucchesi to Triple-A Syracuse, eliminating one candidate from the race for the final rotation spot. Lucchesi was behind from the beginning of camp and has only made one appearance this spring, getting jumped for four runs in only 1.1 IP. He probably only had a real chance if Tylor Megill had gotten hurt anyway, especially since he was slow to get ramped up to begin with.

Lucchesi pitched very well for the Mets when he was up last year, pitching to a 2.89 ERA in nine starts for them in 2023. So, he could very well find himself back with the big club in short order. Things happen, especially in the last week of camp.

So, we will see.

But as Justin wrote about yesterday, José Buttó is not making the decision to anoint Megill as their fifth starter easy for the Mets, and that’s a good thing. There’s more than meets the eye to me with Buttó, who is throwing hard, getting a lot of weak swings-and-misses and has a presence and confidence to him right now he hasn’t had to-date. The most important thing for Buttó of course is he’s throwing strikes - he’s allowed two walks in 10 innings. But he just seems to be out there with a chip on his shoulder right now, he looks pretty bad ass on the hill, and I just like to see that in a young, talented pitcher.

He’s showing versatility as well this spring, combining to start and pitch in relief and remaining effective in this role. Maybe he can be a swingman for this club if not a starter?

Fujinami struggled, again

It has not been an easy camp for Fujinami, who had to leave for Japan to deal with a visa problem initially and has come back and lacked a lot of progression on the mound. He got lit up by his own doing last night against Washington, walking three and allowing three runs without retiring a batter. He has allowed four earned runs on three hits in only 2.2 IP with three strikeouts this spring, and with his option-ability to the minors, he could be stamping his ticket down if he doesn’t show some more command and soon.

The thing is, everyone seems to talk about Fujinami’s option-ability as a good thing. But, it isn’t. The Mets signed him to a seven figure contract and his ability to throw strikes and miss bats late in games, to me anyway, is a key to the success of this bullpen. The Mets were charged with unlocking that this spring but unfortunately, that hasn’t seemed to happen yet for Fujinami who is an uber-talented reliever with a ridiculous arm.

But of course, nobody cares how hard a pitcher throws ball four, right?

In Baty/Vientos, we trust

The Mets were reportedly in serious conversations with JD Davis to come back on-board before he ultimately went to the A’s last night.

From JD’s perspective, the move makes way more sense than the situation he would’ve had with the Mets.

For starters, he doesn’t have to move cross-country again since he was cut by the Giants and is just going across the Bay Bridge to play for the A’s (for this season, anyway). Also, he’s guaranteed a job at third base there, whereas he was more or less guaranteed nothing but a roster spot and to serve as a band-aid for the Mets should Brett Baty and/or Mark Vientos flop.

So, this made a world of sense from the player’s perspective.

For the Mets, it’s probably the wise choice as well for a few reasons:

1. It keeps their designated hitter options more diverse, at least for now. DJ Stewart will now likely retain his roster spot and the Mets can still hope to find a spot for Ji-Man Choi, another left-handed power bat that can serve as help from the left side as well. I don’t know where Luke Voit might fit into this at the moment, especially since he has had a less than stellar camp, but all three are here and can be in the mix for the time being

2. Lip service or otherwise, the Mets stated a public commitment to seeing what Baty and Vientos can do without the specter of someone perhaps taking their jobs hanging over them. That’s not to say that if a difference maker wasn’t out there (and, there were earlier in the winter even on one-year deals), they shouldn’t upgrade. But Davis was not that player. As I wrote yesterday, he could probably be a combination of both Baty and Vientos between what he is at the plate and his minus glove, but why block either player in that case?

3. If there’s a good roster move to be made to me, it’s signing JD Martínez. Such a procurement would unquestionably hinder the Mets ability to carry Stewart and/or Choi and it could very well displace one of Baty or Vientos as well, but he’s an actual upgrade, whereas Davis might not be in totality

All-in-all, given where the Mets are as a team and organization, there’s no reason to not to see what Baty and Vientos can do at this point. Yes, they’ve both generally struggled this spring, and at some point one of them will have to get on the horse and ride. But if the Mets were a player away and that player was someone in a higher tier than Davis, of course it would make sense to upgrade.

But that opportunity doesn’t exist for the Mets right now and to me, signing Davis while displacing two players they’ve made a big investment in is a move for the sake of making a move and would be net-neutral at best with two younger and less expensive players on the outside looking in.

Staying the course - at least in this case - is the better choice for the organization.

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Around The League 🚩

• The Astros are in serious pursuit of Blake Snell (Athletic)

• The Pirates have agreed to sign Michael A. Taylor to a one-year deal (ESPN)

• The Cardinals announced they signed manager Oliver Marmol to a two-year contract extension (release)