Mets shuffle the roster, send Baty and Scott down, Narváez DFA'd

The Mets appear to be temporarily demoting Christian Scott, they're bringing up a backup middle infielder, and Brett Baty could be at a crossroads with the Mets

The Mets are shuffling the deck with their roster ahead of their game on Friday against the Diamondbacks, and appear to have made a decision about who their third baseman is for the foreseeable future.

The club will be designating C Omar Narváez for assignment. In addition, the Mets will be optioning RHP Christian Scott and INF Brett Baty to Triple-A Syracuse.

They will select the contract of INF Jose Iglesias and recall RHP Dednial Núñez from Triple-A Syracuse. They are also acquiring C Luis Torrens from the Yankees to replace Narváez on the 40-man roster.

The Mets were operating with a dysfunctional roster during much of their 11-25 stretch since April 21. They had gone through Joey Wendle and Zack Short as their backup middle infield option and held off bringing Iglesias up to the big leagues until today, leaving the middle infield without any depth on the active roster since.

Enter Iglesias, a 34-year-old veteran shortstop who has a .751 OPS in 175 plate appearances with Triple-A Syracuse this season with seven home runs and 29 RBI in 42 games. Iglesias hasn’t appeared in the big leagues since 2022 with the Rockies - he is a lifetime .279/.319/.382 line with 47 home runs in 11 big league seasons.

Iglesias will serve as the primary backup middle infielder to both Francisco Lindor and Jeff McNeil, both of which are due for a much needed reprieve on the field.

As for the club’s decision at third base, it should come as no surprise the Mets chose the offense-first solution in Mark Vientos to Baty, who has struggled mightily after a solid start to his season. One his last 19 games, Baty has hit just .146/.242/.218 with seven walks and 23 strikeouts in 63 plate appearances, a 37 percent strikeout rate.

In addition, the Mets can use Vientos at first base to give Pete Alonso a reprieve at times as well as use Vientos as their designated hitter to give JD Martínez rest when he needs it as well.

Regarding Baty, the Mets may soon have to decide how he fits into their short and long-term plans. He has not been able to consistently put things together at the plate over parts of three big league seasons, although he is vastly improved defensively. That the Mets would choose to sacrifice run prevention for more offense in Vientos (along with his versatility) could be a telling sign of things to come for Baty.

As for Narváez, the 32-year-old catcher was signed by the Mets before the 2023 season to a two-year, $15 million deal (player option for 2024, which he exercised in November) and was largely disappointing during his tenure with the club. He posted a .513 OPS in 77 games between 2023 and 2024 and suffered a calf injury last season which held him out of action for a bulk of the season. He also struggled defensively behind the plate with -6 defensive runs saved this season.

Torrens, 28, will serve as Narvaez’s replacement. Torrens has not played in the big leagues this season. He is a light-hitting journeyman catcher who hasn’t shown much defensive prowess behind the plate during his six-year big league career. He came up with the Padres, spent some time in Cubs organization in 2023 before joining the Mariners briefly in the same year. He has a lifetime .643 OPS in 269 major league games, but has posted an .807 OPS this season with Triple-A Scranton-Wilkes Barre.

Scott allowed two runs and four hits in five innings to the Diamondbacks on Thursday. The 24-year-old rookie has acquitted himself well in the big leagues over his first five starts allowing just six walks with 25 strikeouts and 12 earned runs in 27.2 IP. This seems likely to be a strategy to manage Scott’s innings while at the same time, not needing a sixth starter for the rotation over the next couple of weeks.

As such, the current construction of the Mets rotation has José Quintana, Sean Manaea, Luis Severino, Peterson and Megill.