4 Mets players most likely to be off the roster by September 1

September roster expansions will allow the New York Mets to keep two extra players with them for the final month of the season. However, before we get there, the return of Sean Reid-Foley as well as Starling Marte will force some bodies out.

Who’ll be the next casualty? The Mets don’t have a whole lot of room. It’s these four who should, at least temporarily, shake in their boots a little bit about the potential of losing their spot on the Mets and maybe for good.

1) Ben Gamel

Let’s get the easy one out of the way. Ben Gamel will get DFA’d when Marte returns from the IL. He earned his chance to play in the majors this season, but the Mets don’t really have much of a need for him. Quietly putting together an acceptable .235/.409/.294 slash line in 22 plate appearances, his lack of minor league options will have the Mets parting ways.

Gamel hasn’t had any of those big moments off the bench or in a start like many part-timers seem to do. Only one complete game for the Mets since his promotion tells us what they think about him.

The Mets have an abundance of other choices sitting in Triple-A to potentially call up in September. More versatile players capable of manning the outfield as well as infield could be mixed and matched based on the opponent. Gamel could always survive the waiver wire and stay with the organization off the 40-man roster. The guarantee is that if the rest of the outfielders are healthy when Marte gets the greenlight, he’ll be the one packing his bags.

3) Reed Garrett

Welcome back, now here’s a ticket to Syracuse. Don’t underestimate the eject button getting hit on Reed Garrett. He began the year in the minors. Striking out all 3 batters he faced in his return on Saturday bodes well for staying put on the roster. Let’s not strap him in too quickly.

We saw two sides of Garrett regularly this year. While he does get to sleep inside at night, several blowups on the mound do have fans a little more timid to put a lot of trust in him. After missing a full month of action, Garrett is now on a Mets team that has restocked itself with Phil Maton and Ryne Stanek to take over innings Garrett would’ve otherwise gotten.

A demotion for him could come out of a temporary necessity or the far worse scenario, he isn’t playing well.

Fans previously took note of what has allowed Garrett to perform at a high-level. It’s rest. A 4.76 ERA when pitching back-to-back and an even worse 9.00 ERA with one day of rest, it’s everything beyond that has turned up the dial for Garrett. He has ERAs in the 1.50s with 2-4 days of rest with an identical .200 batting average against him in those games, too. 

So far, so good for Garrett upon his return. How else will the Mets clear a spot for Reid-Foley?

4) Huascar Brazoban

Sending trade deadline addition Huascar Brazoban to the minors instead of Danny Young makes more sense simply because the loss of the latter removes all lefties from the bullpen. Although Brazoban has pitched well aside from his second appearance, a first-time visit to Syracuse could always take place due to the roster crunch.

This wouldn’t be anything more than the Mets trying to sort themselves out. The one awful outing might still ache, but he has thrown 4 hitless innings and struck out just as many ever since.

The beauty of adding Brazoban, along with his talent and ability to throw more than an inning at a time, is the 3 minor league options he has left. The latest of bloomers who at 34 suddenly looks like he can have more than a pit stop with this club, sending him down wouldn’t be popular with the fans. It would, however, be a necessary move if the team isn’t ready to cut ties with Ottavino.

The Mets will need all of the pitching help they can get and unfortunately this could involve allowing Ottavino to remain. He hasn’t been as bad as his ERA says and with few satisfying choices in the minor leagues, letting him at least get to September isn’t such a bad plan. Will Brazoban suffer because of it?