5 major "wild cards" that can define the 2023 season

2) NY Mets wild card: Continuing with a DH platoon

It’s going to be another DH platoon at Citi Field this year. Daniel Vogelbach is the guy to start against right-handed pitchers. Someone else will get the nod when they face a lefty.

Darin Ruf’s presence on the roster makes it look like he’ll be an early favorite for those at-bats. However, the team did also sign Tommy Pham this offseason. We can consider them the two most likely to get the start over Vogelbach. Each will need to stay warm every night anyway. The moment the opposing team summons a southpaw from the bullpen is the time when Ruf or Pham receive a tap on the shoulder to take their hacks at the plate.

A DH platoon isn’t the most exciting plan of attack. Scars from how poorly it worked for the Mets last year, even prior to Vogelbach and Ruf, are too fresh to think any differently.

The Mets do have Mark Vientos, Brett Baty, and Francisco Alvarez down in the minors as future options in this role. Baty could potentially push Eduardo Escobar there if he gets off to a hot start. He may even be a viable candidate if Vogelbach underperforms or gets hurt.

When you study the analytics, a platoon of Vogelbach and a righty who hits lefties well should work out. We’ve already seen it fail. Raise a glass to some different results.

3) NY Mets wild card: Everything about the catcher spot

A few things about the catcher spot have wild card written all over it. The team traded James McCann this offseason after already adding Omar Narvaez to the roster through free agency. Narvaez will split time behind the plate with Tomas Nido to begin the year while Francisco Alvarez does everything in his power to find playing time in the majors.

It doesn’t seem as if there is much room for Alvarez on the Mets other than after an injury. He could be a right-handed DH option. Even then, his playing time would be far too limited.

The Mets will be counting on Narvaez to have a much better season than he did in 2022. The lifetime .258/.343/.386 hitter slashed just .206/.292/.305 last season with the Milwaukee Brewers. It was a disappointing follow-up from his previous two full seasons—one with the Seattle Mariners in 2019 and with the Brewers when he was an All-Star in 2021.

Has Narvaez hit a low point in his career he cannot climb out of? His sharp decline last season would be burdensome for the Mets. Although they aren’t counting on much offense from the catcher spot, we’re all hopeful for improvement.

Nido is what he is and that’s an occasional clutch hitter whose best asset is how he works with pitchers. He’s not so much a wild card. Narvaez’s performance and timing or even finding a way to promote Alvarez is.

4) NY Mets wild card: Carlos Carrasco’s gas tank

What’s left in the gas tank for Carlos Carrasco? He turns 36 in March and heads into 2023 off of a successful sophomore season with the Mets. Carrasco was 15-7 with a 3.97 ERA last year. He made 29 starts and gave the Mets 152 innings.

Far from brilliant, Carrasco was a more than acceptable fifth starter. It was the role he was meant for. He lived up to it.

As positive as it was, we all remember his shakiness throughout his 12 starts the year prior. Carrasco came off an injury that sidelined him for the first few months of the year only to go just 1-5 with a 6.04 ERA. Which version shows up in 2023?

Regression should be a reasonable expectation for Carrasco. His amazing July, going 3-0 with a 0.90 ERA, is what helped to give him much better numbers last season. Paired with the brilliance of May when he was 4-0 with a 3.60 ERA, we see a somewhat streaky pitcher who is capable of getting hot. The Mets will just have to hope this wild card is hot at the right times and scorching enough for the starts where they need him most.

Carrasco could end up as the third best pitcher in the Mets rotation or a guy bumped out of the picture. Fans should be able to imagine each scenario.

5) NY Mets wild card: Eduardo Escobar’s bat

The position player version of Carlos Carrasco might be Eduardo Escobar. Year one wasn’t great in New York. Escobar batted .240/.295/.430 and didn’t get real good until the final month of the season. Momentum doesn’t usually carry over through an entire offseason. However, he could build some confidence and get him back to where he has been in recent seasons.

Escobar wasn’t a complete bust of an addition by the Mets. He did hit 20 home runs. His batting average, OBP, and slugging percentages weren’t too far off from his career numbers. Escobar may have been outshining his own abilities in some of his recent campaigns. Most notably, his monster 2019 season that included 35 home runs and 118 RBI appears to be a major outlier in his career.

The Mets could use a slight uptick in performance from Escobar. Exactly what he produced in 2021 would be more than welcomed. Escobar batted .253/.314/.472 with 28 home runs and 90 RBI for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Milwaukee Brewers. Having that kind of power in the middle of the lineup would make a major difference.

A slow start from Escobar could quickly become a call to promote Brett Baty for the starting third base gig. Equally as possible, Escobar starts strong and becomes one of the more relied upon bats in the order. Either feels realistic. Which do the Mets get?