3 Mets who’ve struggled to start the season and won’t recover

2) Omar Narvaez

No one expected much from Omar Narvaez. The positive spin to put on him coming into this year was that less exposure and some clever planning to have him face only right-handed pitchers could benefit the lefty-swinging veteran. In the absence of Francisco Alvarez, the Mets needed Narvaez to step up. He hasn’t. And frankly, the biggest reason why he won’t turn things around is because the organization will not allow him the opportunity. As soon as Alvarez is cleared to come back, Narvaez should be gone.

The only award Narvaez wins this year is “Most Unplayable on Both Sides of the Baseball.” Tomas Nido shouldn’t be a starting major league catcher and yet his ability to at least battle to hit .200 and throw out runners far exceeds what Narvaez can give the club.

Narvaez is now batting .164/.193/.200 through 58 trips to the plate. Comically, he was awarded his first caught stealing on Sunday despite not touching the ball when Jake Diekman and McNeil did all of the work. Hitless all season at Citi Field, Narvaez won’t even get a chance to turn his season around because the moment Francisco Alvarez is back, the Mets need to DFA him.

It’s unfortunate the Mets gave him the player option for 2024. A puzzling decision at the time when the thought was Alvarez would be ready by now, it should hopefully come to an end once the young stud is back.