3 NY Mets who are playing their way out of the team's 2024 plans

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All eyes are on 2024 for the New York Mets. They sold at the trade deadline and have played like a team that waved the white flag ever since.

Parts of the 2024 roster are set in stone. Brandon Nimmo will be the Opening Day center fielder. Francisco Lindor will slot in at shortstop. Francisco Alvarez behind the plate. Kodai Senga will be in the rotation. Other parts aren't so clear.

The Mets don't have much to play for as a team, but individual players have tons to play for. Those who haven't proven to be consistent MLB players are playing for their MLB futures. The way these three players are playing or have played signal that they're trending towards not breaking camp as members of the Mets MLB team.

1) Tylor Megill is playing his way out of the NY Mets 2024 plans

Tylor Megill entered the year as a depth option in the rotation. Injuries to Justin Verlander and Jose Quintana opened spots for both David Peterson and Megill to slot in. Megill wasn't promised a spot in the rotation last year either but earned one due to the Jacob deGrom injury and he pitched well before getting hurt himself. This season was a whole other story.

Megill struggled mightily in his first 15 starts, posting a 5.17 ERA in 71.1 innings pitched. He had just three quality starts out of those 15 and he was walking way more batters than he had before. His velocity had ticked down from what it had been in previous years, and his effectiveness obviously suffered as well so the Mets sent him to the minors.

Once Verlander and Max Scherzer were dealt at the deadline, Megill found his way back with the Mets despite a rocky minor league stint. Since rejoining the rotation he's allowed 11 runs (ten earned) in ten innings of work in losses against the Orioles and Braves. Those are two great offenses and he did only walk one batter while displaying better velocity in those starts, but ten runs in ten innings is just as bad as it sounds.

Megill has done nothing over the course of his brief MLB career to show anyone he's worthy of a rotation spot, and with the way he's pitched he's unlikely to have a MLB roster spot in any capacity.

I don't see the Mets cutting bait entirely with Megill, but it's abundantly clear he won't be a part of any plans. He's nothing more than depth at this point.

2) Luis Gullorme is playing his way out of the NY Mets 2024 plans

Luis Guillorme is what he is at this point. He'll never be a starting-caliber MLB player as much as Buck Showalter wants him to be because his bat is not good enough. He had a .691 OPS in what was deemed as a good offensive year for him.

Guillorme is in the majors because of his glove. He can play second base, third base, and shortstop at a high level, and that doesn't just grow on trees. Last season an argument could've been made for him to have won the Gold Glove for utility players with how awesome he was defensively. This season has been a completely different story.

Guillorme has been been worth -2 DRS and -5 OAA this season. Simply put, he's gone from a great defender to a bad one. The sample is rather small as he only has 50 MLB appearances this season, but if he can't defend, what can he do?

The 28-year-old has slashed .238/.304/.347 with one home run and nine RBI in 101 at-bats this season. He has just five home runs in his MLB career to go along with his career .683 OPS and 94 OPS+. He makes contact, but doesn't hit the ball hard or far enough to make any real impact on that side of the ball.

In addition to his poor bat, Guillorme ranks in the tenth percentile in sprint speed according to baseball savant. This takes him out of any pinch-running role. So to sum up, Guillorme is a subpar hitter, a poor runner, and this season, a bad defender. There's not much else to discuss.

Guillorme might hang around in Syracuse as a depth piece, but there's no way the Mets can realistically plan for 2024 with Guillorme as part of their MLB roster.

3) Mark Vientos is playing his way out of the NY Mets 2024 plans

Premature? Maybe. I'd love to be proven wrong about this. Unfortunately, with the way he's played, Mark Vientos has done nothing to show that he should be a part of any Mets 2024 plans.

Let me get one thing straight. Daniel Vogelbach is not the answer at DH. He's had a miserable year, and Vientos should've gotten his shot at the DH spot much earlier. What's becoming clear to me is that Vientos is also not the answer, at least for 2024 as of this very moment.

Vientos has crushed minor league pitching each of the last two seasons in Syracuse and had been rewarded with frustratingly limited amounts of playing time. Vientos spent weeks barely playing during his first stint of this season.

He was brought back in late July and with the Mets punting on 2023, he's played virtually every day leading up to and after the trade deadline. He's slashed .224/.254/.343 with one home run and five RBI in his 67 at-bat stint.

Vientos is never going to do much defensively. He's playing a lot of third base now with Brett Baty in the minors, but it's pretty clear that his future, if he has one in the majors, is at the DH spot. That spot is wide open for the Mets, but a .597 OPS isn't going to cut it. To make matters worse, since the deadline passed, Vientos has a .427 OPS without a home run in 12 games and 46 at-bats.

When Vientos struggled in his first couple of MLB stints, he had the excuse of getting limited at-bats. Now, there're no excuses with him playing every day. He's struck out at a 30% clip this season, and that's only increased with his added playing time. He also only has six extra-base hits since his recent recall.

A sample this short isn't fair to completely judge a player. Vientos could easily go on a tear and look like the future DH. Until he starts to swing a good bat, assuming the Mets do want to be semi-competitive in 2024, Vientos can't be part of any plans.

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