NY Mets rumors: Brett Baty isn’t the only player the team refuses to give up on

Brett Baty is rewarding the New York Mets for their faith in him. The team apparently still believes he could become a lineup staple. Frequent playing time even before becoming a bit warmer over the last week-plus, Baty remains very much in the team’s short-term plans.

According to some of the recent Mets rumors, so does Jonah Tong. In a story by The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon, the pair voiced how the Mets aren’t interested in trading Tong.

Despite a 6.28 ERA in the big leagues and a 5.90 ERA in Syracuse this year, the Mets are wise to have continued faith in Tong becoming a big part of the organization.

Why the Mets are right to keep Jonah Tong

The Mets would be selling incredibly low on Tong to trade him now. They aren’t even in any position to start selling any controllable and young assets who, only 365 days ago, looked like a budding ace. The fact that it’s even a conversation overlooks more pressing issues like which players under contract for next year they actually should trade.

The Mets should have a very specific mindset when it comes to Tong. Last year should have been spent exclusively in the minors. Only because their big league starters fizzled late was he even in the majors. This year’s less-than-stellar outings were premature, too. He’s still on or ahead of schedule. Tong celebrated his 23rd birthday less than a month ago in mid-June.

The lone top 100 Mets prospect on nearly every list you’ll find, the Triple-A hiccups are the reason why it’s even a thought to give up. It feels as if every starting pitcher not named Nolan McLean or Christian Scott has gone through the same sort of trouble in Syracuse.

If things don’t work out with Tong as a starter, the Mets have the obvious pivot to make him into a reliever. That doesn’t always work out well, but with the team’s failure to develop other relievers in the minor leagues, Ryan Lambert and Dylan Ross as two struggling on the same Syracuse roster this season, it’s a good idea to keep as many eggs in your basket even if the plans have changed. How realistic is it for the Mets to even have a rotation in the near future with three homegrown studs? Somewhere along the line, someone was going to need to work best as a bullpen arm. Maybe that’s Tong.

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