3 members of the Mets roster playing their way out of next year’s plans

3) DJ Stewart

The things that made DJ Stewart an important part of the Mets roster have fizzled. He’s no longer walking as much and the strikeouts are piling up. A limited player already, his presence on the Mets roster is far less important with J.D. Martinez present. The Mets have had more trouble getting him into games since their free agent DH addition returning from his minor league ramp up.

Stewart could be playing his way off the roster. The Mendoza Line is above his forehead. Defensive skills not on-par with several others on the roster, including McNeil, have him at his most useful in a very limited capacity. Able to offer competitive at-bats against right-handed pitchers, he’s not very useful at all whenever the Mets face a lefty. Flashbacks of Daniel Vogelbach aren’t in full effect but the two aren’t too different.

The Mets were interested in upgrading Stewart’s roster spot heading into Opening Day. We should expect them to explore alternatives more thoroughly in the offseason. If sent down at any point this season, he’ll lose his final minor league option. As a result, he’ll be in a spot where he’ll need to be on the Opening Day roster coming out of camp or get designated for assignment.

Unfortunately, Stewart hasn’t seemed to perform well in his more limited role off the bench rather than in a platoon. As streaky as any part-time player we’ve seen on the Mets in recent years, there just isn’t going to be any room for him at the inn in 2025. Leave the DH spot for a rotation of players and not a guy more interested in walks than anything else.

We love the idea of Stewart more than we love the actual performance.

Honorable Mention: Starling Marte. More on him tomorrow.