5 former Mets players still in MLB the team gave up on too early and whether it was justified

When is the right time to give up on a player? The New York Mets have made their fair share of mistakes. They’ve traded a ton of studs too soon. Plenty of talented players have been allowed to walk away in free agency.

The funny thing about quitting on certain players is that when we look back at many of them it’s easy to understand why in certain circumstances the front office did move on. There does come a point when enough is enough and you have to cut ties.

Looking exclusively at active players, it’s these five former Mets who stand out the most as players the team gave up on too early on.

1) The NY Mets gave up on Travis d’Arnaud too early

Travis d’Arnaud is one of those players the Mets probably should have gotten rid of when they did. This one affected me personally because I was on the other side of the world when the Mets designated him for assignment in early 2019. After missing all but 4 games in 2018, d’Arnaud got off to a bumpy start in 2019 going just 2 for 23. He’d leave New York and slowly begin to resurrect his career elsewhere.

After a very short stop with the Los Angeles Dodgers for a game, d’Arnaud ended up with the Tampa Bay Rays where he’d hit .263/.323/.459 while tying his career high of 16 home runs. He has now spent the 2019-2023 seasons with the Atlanta Braves where he won the 2020 Silver Slugger and was an All-Star in 2022. Despite sharing playing time with Sean Murphy in 2023, he got off to a strong start prior to landing on the IL with a concussion.

It’s almost tough to blame the Mets for giving up on him. In parts of seven seasons in the Big Apple, d’Arnaud batted .242/.303/.401. He was not the star we thought he would become. It just stinks that he ended up with the Braves and won a championship with them in 2021.