Calling up Luis Guillorme was the understandable yet uninspiring roster move to make

As Pete Alonso sits out and watches the next couple of weeks of New York Mets baseball unfold, the team will have to get as much offense as they can from his teammates. The list of players who need to step up in his absence includes every single player on the roster. Francisco Lindor may need to do the most, but it’s everyone who must perform at their highest ability in order to make it through.

The open roster spot for the Mets ended up getting handed to Luis Guillorme. He was down in the minors because the team was hoping to get an offensive spark out of Mark Vientos. Lack of performance but also lack of playing time has made Vientos a mostly non-factor for the ball club.

The Mets had a chance to promote Mauricio with Alonso out. Instead, they chose Guillorme. It’s understandable. It’s just uninspiring.

The Mets have bungled the handling of Mark Vientos so badly it has us questioning simple roster moves

Guillorme is a good fit for the Mets roster in a limited part-time role off the bench. The ability to play all over the infield has value. In the past, he has been a solid contact hitter and someone who can knock a base hit. He’s not going to determine whether or not the Mets win a championship. He’s as much the 26th man on the roster as anyone in baseball.

The problem is the Mets haven’t gotten much at all from Vientos during his time with the team. The Alonso injury will allow him to start more regularly. He needs to be in the lineup at first base or DH as much as possible. Otherwise, what’s he even doing here?

The bold roster move was for the Mets to call up even an incompletely built Mauricio to essentially take on the role Guillorme would have but get his bat into the lineup more frequently. Mauricio is a switch-hitting infielder with much more speed than Guillorme. He could play second base for the ball club sometimes and move Jeff McNeil into left field while pushing Mark Canha over to first base. The Mets could make it work and get everybody a lot of playing time while having Vientos and Mauricio both on notice. If Vientos continues to slump, keep Mauricio around and exchange him for Guillorme.

It’s a ridiculous argument to make right now but an impossible one to completely shove aside. It doesn’t matter much what the Mets planned to do in Alonso’s absence. Promoting Vientos and essentially benching him cooled the kid off. 

Next we’ll be arguing over whether they should’ve called up Zach Muckenhirn or keep Stephen Nogosek. It doesn’t really matter. This team has bigger problems.