The injured Mets player the team could really use right now

The New York Mets miss Kodai Senga but with the pitching they’ve gotten from Luis Severino, Sean Manaea, Christian Scott, and even Jose Butto, we can’t really say the absence of their ace is what has held this team back. The big issue for the Mets right now is their lack of offense. To combat this, they’re throwing a Hail Mary pass and promoting Mark Vientos to the major league roster to mash against a couple of lefty starters—or so they hope.

The decision to call up Vientos and DFA Joey Wendle gives the team zero replacements up the middle defensively. It should only be temporary. The Mets are thinking short-term with some of their roster decisions.

Coming back to haunt the Mets yet again is an injury that happened way back in the fall. Losing Ronny Mauricio in the Dominican Summer League stung and right now it would be really good to have him available.

The Mets could really use Ronny Mauricio as an option right now

We’ll be lucky if Mauricio sees any big league action at all in 2024. The ACL injury put his season debut on hold indefinitely. And with a single minor league option remaining, burning through it this year would be wasteful.

The Mets had some serious plans for Mauricio this year. After a successful 26-game stint with the club in 2023 albeit with a major fall-off in the final weeks, the Mets seemed destined to have Mauricio in the mix for some starts at third base. Fighting alongside Baty and Vientos for innings at the hot corner, the three-man competition quickly became a two-man one.

The Mets’ signing of Joey Wendle came before the Mauricio injury and probably never would have happened if the young infielder was hurt. Wendle removed the opportunity for the Mets to pursue other infielders. They were stuck with him, at least for the time being.

Now in mid-May, the Mets have a uniquely constructed roster where they have two young third basemen with some major holes in their game. They have more outfielders than they know what to do with. Their DH is as true of a designated hitter as you can find in today’s game.

There’s no telling how good or bad Mauricio might be performing for the Mets at the moment. Undoubtedly, he would have been a better choice for the Opening Day roster than Zack Short. He might have even won the third base job over Baty by this point.

Another Mets roster move is coming

New York can only wait so long to truly replace Wendle on the roster with a middle infielder. Jose Iglesias makes the most sense from the Triple-A roster with others like Rylan Bannon, Mike Brosseau, and possibly even Luisangel Acuna if they feel so inclined to go bold. The unanswered question is who comes out on top between Baty and Vientos.

If Vientos hits well against lefties and struggles against righties, it doesn’t exactly offer the Mets much of a solution. Baty hasn’t been good against anyone lately so it’s not just a matter of sitting him against southpaws.

Mauricio would have given the Mets the positional versatility their roster lacks on the bench. Alas, they flip the script on the mission statement of building a team around good defense in favor of trying to get anything from the offense.