What we can make of the Mets holding on to Daniel Vogelbach all year

One of the more controversial moves among New York Mets fans that the Billy Eppler regime has made, has clearly been the addition of DH Daniel Vogelbach prior to last year's trade deadline. The Mets were in need of an additional bat or two and while Vogelbach caught fire briefly for the Mets after his arrival, the results have largely been uninspiring.

Mets fans all season long have been clamoring for the release or trade of Vogelbach as he's been ineffective with the bat for most of the season while continuously batting fifth in the Mets lineup. Vogelbach's lack of power and strikeout-prone ability left Mets fans with their hands in the air wondering why he was constantly being thrown in the Mets' starting lineup with a batting average barely hugging the Mendoza line.

It had gotten so bad that even former Mets shortstop Jose Reyes had something to say about it on Twitter one night. But there has to be a reason why he is being run out there night in and night out despite the struggles, and despite the Mets having young talent who can step into that role such as Mark Vientos, right?

There is a genuine curiosity among Mets fans as to why Daniel Vogelbach has lasted on the roster as long as he has

I believe a big part of the Mets running Vogelbach out there nightly has more to do with Billy Eppler trying to net up and salvage a positive result after last season's disastrous trade deadline he had. When looking at the other players he acquired such as Darin Ruf, Mychal Givens, and Tyler Naquin, none of these players had much success with the Mets and aren't even on current big league rosters. The Mets are already on the losing side of each of these trades.

Vogelbach was traded for a reliever in Colin Holderman who is finding immense success with the Pittsburgh Pirates. If Billy Eppler were to wave the white flag as early as he did with the previously mentioned players, it would look worse than it already has for his trade deadline class of 2022. The Mets had shorter leashes with many of the other players they traded away at this year's deadline who were signed in free agency this offseason as well as last offseason.

I believe Billy Eppler will try to salvage any type of productivity he can get from Vogelbach over the final month and a half of the season to ride out his failed trade at last year's deadline. While it can be argued having Vogelbach hitting continuously in the middle of the Mets lineup did more harm than good to this year's team, the hope is that the Mets front office moves on from Vogelbach this winter by finding a new DH.