Latest NY Mets roster move is overthinking unless it comes with another daily change

Jorge Polanco has finally landed on the IL after a lengthy stretch of being day-to-day. He hasn’t played first base since the second game of the year. His Achilles’ injury is making him one of the biggest questionable additions the New York Mets made this offseason.

Ahead of Saturday’s game, they placed him on the IL and replaced him on the roster with catcher Hayden Senger.

They bypassed Ronny Mauricio battling Brett Baty for playing time. They didn’t think about giving Nick Morabito a shot. None of the other players who were in contention to make the club out of camp if Francisco Lindor wasn’t ready were added to the 40-man roster and recalled in place of Polanco. The Mets will, at least for now, stick with a roster of three catchers. It’s overthinking things unless they stick with Luis Torrens behind the plate more often than not and give Francisco Alvarez significant at-bats as the DH.

There’s no reason for the Mets to have three catchers unless Francisco Alvarez is your DH

The Mets aren’t going that route on Saturday, keeping Alvarez behind the plate and Torrens on the bench. Fair enough. But by Sunday, they need to.

Alvarez has been up-and-down as a defender. There are moments where he has looked secure. At other times, he’s a passed ball machine. No one will say the team is in a better alignment with Alvarez behind the plate and Torrens on the bench. In fact, with the way Torrens has hit at times in the clutch, you could even argue he’s a better bat than some of the others the Mets are trotting out there regularly.

Interestingly, the Mets already had a way to make this work before the Senger recall. MJ Melendez has catcher experience and in a pinch would’ve been a third catcher candidate. The risk with having one of your two catchers DH is if someone gets hurt or you want some added in-game flexibility, you risk losing the DH. The Mets did this earlier in the year without actually having to face the consequences of a pitcher’s spot in the lineup coming up. What's odd is Melendez has hit in his limited at-bats and is actually the team's best DH choice at the moment, especially with mostly righties going up against the Mets over the next week. So, why the choice of Senger instead of several other options?

Senger has actually hit well in Triple-A, homering 5 times already. He has a .257 batting average and .316 OBP. The Mets can’t possibly be fooled into thinking the 29-year-old has found his inner Johnny Bench at the plate.

Carlos Mendoza now has a limited bench to work with. In this game he’ll have Torrens and Senger as well as Tyrone Taylor and Tommy Pham. The recall of Senger may always be temporary and meant to get them through the series vs. the Chicago Cubs. If not, the Mets appear to be wasting a roster spot.

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