How the Mets can get Francisco Alvarez onto a playoff roster

Francisco Alvarez's call to the majors yesterday gave a jolt to the New York Mets fanbase amidst a big series against the Atlanta Braves, but there are fans wondering how the Mets can get baseball's top prospect onto a postseason roster should the Mets want to do that with him. Even though he is not automatically eligible, he can be. 

The Mets must file a petition to the commissioner’s office to get Francisco Alvarez onto a playoff roster. 

Players who are on a team’s 40-man roster or a 60-day injured list at 11:59 p.m. on August 31 are automatically eligible for the playoffs. But that doesn’t mean players who are in a team’s organization and stay in that organization are ineligible, as is the case for Francisco Alvarez. 

However, Alvarez’s contract was selected only yesterday, so a petition must be filed for MLB commissioner Rob Manfred’s office for approval. But it can only be filed if Alvarez takes the place of an injured player on the roster who has served the minimum amount of time on that designated injured list, whether it is 10 days (for position players), 15 days (for pitchers), or 60 days (for anyone). 

The Mets have several options for whom they can have Alvarez replace. 

The Mets currently have four players on the 40-man roster that are on the injured list; they are Brett Baty, Starling Marte, Tommy Hunter, and Bryce Montes de Oca. Brett Baty and Starling Marte have already served their minimum times on the 10-day injured list (Baty since August 29 and Marte since September 7) and de Oca has done the same on the 15-day injured list (since September 11). Hunter will complete his minimum on Sunday. 

The Mets have three players on the 60-day IL, all of them are recovering from Tommy John surgery in John Curtiss, Joey Lucchesi, and Sean Reid-Foley, and one who is on the COVID list (Mychal Givens). 

This callup is also basically another way in preventing Alvarez from being eligible for the Rule 5 draft in December, and the Mets were going to select his contract for the roster by then, anyway. 

Alvarez, of course, will have to perform for the Mets to consider him as a bat-first player for the 2022 postseason rosters over Darin Ruf and Mark Vientos, but the seriousness of the Mets toward winning a championship this season is on full display with Alvarez’s callup yesterday being the latest example of it.