Mets Monday Morning GM: A Mark Canha or Tommy Pham reunion is unnecessary

Will the New York Mets bring back some exes next year? Taking a look at some reunion candidates recently, I came to a couple of conclusions about who could come back, who won't, and one guy who's a bit more iffy.

In response, some fans asked about two other former Mets who'd be a conceivable fit. The left field situation for the Mets is empty and both Mark Canha and Tommy Pham could be available. Canha has a team option that the Milwaukee Brewers should consider given how well he played for them.

Regardless of whether or not the Mets can call upon Canha and Pham or just the latter, they shouldn't. It's a step in the wrong direction for what the team needs. It’s a little too much like bringing back Jay Bruce a second time.

Mark Canha and Tommy Pham are too temporary of left field solutions for the Mets

The romanticization of a player reunion can get exhausting. Bringing back players a year later is rarely the best action to take with few exceptions. Canha and Pham were good temporary pieces for the ball club. They fit into the plan for 2023. In 2024, those more minor solutions won't cut it. Next season is one to build upon. No pit stops, please.

These two former Mets outfielders are a hunk of steel wool shoved into a hole in the foundation to keep out bugs and mice. The Mets need a whole new cement block to solve their problem if they want to go outside of the organization.

With Canha, it's interesting how much more popular he seemed to become after the Mets traded him. Even in 2022 when he was playing well, fans were willing to see him sit a little more. He wasn't all that productive for New York in 2022 and fell behind Pham on the depth chart. Canha saved his best baseball for the Brewers.

Pham is a bit different. He had to earn his way into the starting lineup. After his departure, he commented on how the Mets position player group was the least hard working he had been around. It's a bridge burning type of comment that is sure to carry friction if he re-entered the locker room. The rumored toxicity of the Mets clubhouse doesn't need him to come back even if he was correct in his observation. 

What should the Mets do in left field?

Go big or go small. Canha and Pham are too middle of the pack at this point. Neither should be a guy the Mets are looking to sign for more than a year. They mine as well move Jeff McNeil into left field and see what Ronny Mauricio can offer them regularly or give a lot of at-bats to DJ Stewart in right field with Starling Marte over in left.

The big move would be to bring in Cody Bellinger to play center field and shift Brandon Nimmo over or make the blockbuster trade we’re all waiting for and put Juan Soto out there.