Mets Monday Morning GM: Terrance Gore doesn’t feel necessary right now

In order to be eligible for the postseason roster, the New York Mets needed to have Terrance Gore on their 40-man roster before the calendar flipped to August. Not only did they add him there, they also made him one of their two promoted players when rosters expanded in September.

The Mets have used Gore sparingly since his call up with a lot of his appearances coming over the weekend against the Pittsburgh Pirates. We all know the drill with him. He’s a pinch runner they can turn to and maybe occasionally a glove. He has somehow managed to already grab a couple of at-bats while warming the bench far more.

Despite being with the team for more than two weeks now, the Mets are not using Gore often. This begs a question—is he even necessary at the moment?

The Mets seem to be saving Terrance Gore for the postseason

Gore has one of the most unique reputations in the sport. He travels from team to team each season with the lone purpose of being a candidate to carry in the postseason for pinch-running purposes. It’s a little silly considering how he hasn’t appeared in more than a single postseason game during a series post-2014.

Gore appeared in two regular season games for the 2020 championship Los Angeles Dodgers but no games in the postseason. He did the opposite for last year’s Atlanta Braves. He didn’t play in any regular season games but did make a single appearance in the NLDS.

The Mets are an oddly built ball club with essentially three DHs on the roster at the moment—Darin Ruf, Mark Vientos, and Daniel Vogelbach. Their best backup outfielder is their starting second baseman. During the absence of Luis Guillorme, they had even less flexibility with the defensive depth chart.

The lack of playing time Gore is getting right now is peculiar. Certainly, there have been opportunities to play him. Even as a late-inning defensive replacement to give a guy a few extra innings off his legs could be useful. Instead of working his way into games often, Gore has a loose pair of hamstrings New York may be confident enough in waiting to unleash him in the postseason.

By committing to Gore now and for this long, it’s pretty much a given he’ll travel with them into the postseason. He was promoted ahead of Vientos at the beginning of September. Rather than even have a more flexible defender like Travis Blankenhorn on the roster this month, they’ve gone with the one-weapon outfielder.

As we get closer to the actual playoffs, maybe we do see Buck Showalter use Gore a little more often. Now is definitely a chance to test things out. Gore doesn’t need to appear in every game but there is always room.

Maybe the problem is the guys he’ll pinch run for most, the DHs, just aren’t getting on base enough.