How the Mets should replace injured Jeff McNeil on the roster

Jeff McNeil left Friday’s game early and unfortunately a wrist fracture will eliminate him from the rest of the regular season. The timetable for a return is 4-6 weeks which means unless the New York Mets make the postseason and win a series, the 2024 campaign is over for McNeil.

It’s a tragic turn of events for McNeil who had become increasingly important. No one was hitting hotter out of the All-Star Break. His ability to play multiple positions had him regularly in games at second base or a corner outfield spot. It fit well with Carlos Mendoza’s love of defensive replacements.

The obvious choice to replace McNeil in the lineup is Jose Iglesias. What about on the roster itself? The team might be on the verge of calling up DJ Stewart instead of speedster Luisangel Acuna.

Just because the Mets call up DJ Stewart to replace Jeff McNeil doesn’t mean they’ve muffed the decision

Instead of thinking of this as a tattoo, consider the likely decision of calling up Stewart as something less temporary. Make this roster spot about the matchup. Stewart fits one need—not that they truly need him much. A player like Acuna addresses another.

Fans were disappointed to see Acuna remain in Syracuse on September 1 when the team instead decided to call-up Pablo Reyes. Not nearly as fast of a player, perhaps it was his MLB experience and better bat, at least this year in Triple-A, that had them thinking otherwise. Acuna gets the opportunity to play much more than he would in the majors. However, with Syracuse’s season winding down, a mid-September promotion for him might not be off the table especially with McNeil on the shelf.

Stewart’s at-bats will be limited on the Mets. There is no reason to play him in the field. An occasional pinch hitting opportunity perhaps? Maybe only against a tough righty on a day when Luis Torrens starts behind the plate. Even that would be showing too much faith in Stewart whose .190 batting average against righties this year is only in front of Ben Gamel, Omar Narvaez, and Zack Short. If we look at OPS, we can only add Joey Wendle ahead of him.

What will become a spot on the bench won’t make or break the Mets’ season. Iglesias is going to play as much as possible at second base now and the other outfielders will see their playing time increase slightly with McNeil no longer available. No official move has yet to be made, but we can all already see what’s coming.

Acuna hasn’t done himself much favors, batting only .217/.217/.261 in his first 23 plate appearances in September. The Mets infield will have only one available replacement with Reyes on the roster. Once the Syracuse season ends after next weekend, the excuse of giving Acuna as much playing time as possible wears out.

The same goes for Luke Ritter whose awesome power from the right side should have him as a consideration for the Mets. Eligible for the Rule 5 Draft this winter, the only difficulty with him is he wouldn't be available for the postseason and calling him up would require a separate 40-man roster move. And if being too right-handed is a concern for the Mets, we can write him out of the picture. He might never dirty his uniform.