The lineup platoons we could see regularly in 2023

Platoons were the bread and butter of past New York Mets teams that went on to win the World Series. The lefty/righty pairing of two players at a single position makes it easy for the manager to decide who starts. Last year’s Mets only instituted this in a traditional fashion after the trade deadline when we got the ill-fated pairing of Daniel Vogelbach and Darin Ruf.

We’ve all concluded the Mets won’t give us precisely this same duo at the DH. However, we can expect Vogelbach and another righty to share the DH duties in one of three potential platoons the club could institute.

1) NY Mets platoon: Daniel Vogelbach and Eduardo Escobar at DH

This won’t be a strict platoon as I can see Eduardo Escobar getting into the field occasionally. While we remain in limbo about what will happen with Carlos Correa, his exact role remains undefined. Assuming the Mets and Correa do come to a deal, it pushes Escobar off of third base and to the bench where he can give the Mets depth there, second base, and at DH when they face a lefty.

Escobar had a decent year versus lefties in 2022. Slashing .259/.299/.519 in 174 plate appearances, he showed that, if nothing else, he can hit for great power and put up other acceptable numbers against southpaws.

This won’t be a strict platoon, however, we should expect the Mets to find ways to get Escobar into the lineup regularly if he continues to rake versus lefties. This was a problem for the team in 2022. Improvements from him in a more limited role can keep him active and on the lineup card.