Mets Monday Morning GM: Tanking any Mark Vientos trade value

One of the shot-callers within the New York Mets organization isn’t a fan of Mark Vientos. There’s no other explanation as to why he sat as much as he did following his promotion.

Vientos hit a home run in his season debut on May 17 against the Tampa Bay Rays. It was the peak of the season as they rattled off two straight against the Rays before sweeping the Cleveland Guardians.

The Mets continued to hand Vientos starts on an irregular basis through the rest of May and into June. Sadly, the infrequency of playing appears to have completely slowed him down. The Mets sent him back to the minors on Sunday after 16 games, 49 plate appearances, and zero extra-base hits after the home run in his season debut. The move came alongside the unexpectedly early return of Pete Alonso from the IL which should have us feeling good about the Mets even if they completely tanked any of Vientos’ trade value.

The Mets blew the Mark Vientos promotion and tanked one of their better trade assets

Vientos’ struggles at the big league level this year fall mostly on him but also partly on whoever decided to promote and sit the kid. The Mets are back to where they were before he was called up. Luis Guillorme is on the MLB roster. So is Pete Alonso. Vientos will be in Triple-A slugging it out alongside Ronny Mauricio until the next injury, DFA, or sudden change of heart.

His place within the organization and its future outlook has been in question for a few years. Once Brett Baty arrived and appeared to be the more talented third base prospect, Vientos looked like trade fodder. The case is the same now but who’s going to want a guy who has shown very little at the plate in the big leagues?

If the Mets didn’t believe in Vientos, why would anyone else?

More of a first baseman or DH at this stage, Vientos’ trade value has gone into the toilet. Would playing him more consistently have made much of a difference? We’ll never know now because he wasn’t allowed to have any rhythm.

Responsibility for Vientos’ poor play falls on him. However, it’s hard to deny the fact that management failed to give him the proper chance. Why was he even promoted to sit half of the time? It’s one of those perplexing roster moves the 2023 team has made that doesn’t have a good explanation.