3) NY Mets have mishandled Daniel Vogelbach by handling him at all
There are players you use in the wrong situations. There are those you don’t use enough or incorrectly. And then there are players like Daniel Vogelbach where there’s no winning at all if you decide to handle him. Vogelbach must know all of the inner secrets of the Mets. There is no reason why he should have remained on the roster this long. Furthermore, why is he continually batting as high in the lineup as he does?
The trouble with this year’s Mets lineup is they aren’t getting a whole lot from anyone. Pete Alonso is barely doing anything other than hitting home runs. Jeff McNeil is a shell of last year’s self. Starling Marte, 34, is playing like you should flip the numbers in his age.
Nobody has experienced more time as the scapegoat for this team’s problems than Vogelbach. It’s understandable. He is a terrible fit. Who needs a DH-exclusive player who cannot hit against left-handed pitchers? Vogelbach hasn’t so much underperformed this year as much as the Mets seemed to and continue to think he’s better than he is.
It might actually make more sense for the Mets to carry three catchers rather than one Daniel Vogelbach just so they can keep Francisco Alvarez’s bat in the lineup every day.
The mishandling of Vogelbach isn’t carrying a baby by the ears. It’s picking up the baby at all when it doesn’t belong to you.