Prospect plans an Amazin’ mystery
PORT ST. LUCIE — Part of the decisionmaking process this season for the Mets involves their four close-to-majorleague-ready position prospects: How to use them? When to use them? Where to use them?
“When” is not now for Francisco Alvarez. On Wednesday he was optioned to the minors. So barring a late- spring injury to Omar Narvaez or Tomas Nido, Alvarez will open his season March 31 in Polar Park in Worcester against the Red Sox’s Triple-A affiliate rather than a day earlier in Miami with the Mets.
He will be joined by shortstop Ronny Maurcio, who was optioned Saturday. Still unclear is whether the reunion will include Brett Baty and Mark Vientos. The Mets have scheduled staff meetings this weekend to further discuss the season-opening roster.
This mainly has been a strong calling-card camp for the quartet. Alvarez, Baty and Vientos all have left positive defensive impressions — a must to convince the club of their long-term viability. Baty and Mauricio, in particular, have hit terrifically. But when does the future become now? A case could be made that any of the four would be a better use of a roster spot on March 30 than Darin Ruf. Or that Alvarez is superior to Nido. Or Baty would be more productive than Eduardo Escobar. But Billy Eppler and his staff can’t just strategize for March 30. They have to think about a full season.
Eppler acknowledged the honor of making the Opening Day roster, likening it to unwrapping presents on Christmas. He then added, “But the toys you are playing with on December 28 aren’t the same as December 25.”
Translation: Don’t overemphasize who is in Miami. The Mets, after all, have used 64 and 61 players the past two seasons — the highest totals in their history. They used the injured list 27 times last year, losing 1,255 games (Baseball Prospectus). Thus, doesn’t want to rob depth now and regret it later. Nido, for example, is out of options and would almost certainly be lost on waivers if the Mets paired Alvarez and Narvaez and took Nido off the 26man roster.
In addition, the Mets envision Alvarez eventually catching 100 games and D-Hing 40-ish to maximize his bat. They don’t want to stunt his catching growth as just a regular DH.
Eppler said the determination when to call up one of these players revolves around several evaluation points, including hitting benchmarks concerning swing decisionmaking and showing a consistent ability to make at least slightly above average plays defensively.
“You want that all in place because there is no bigger test than New York City,” Eppler said. “You want to make sure they are ready in every way for the high expectations in the city that never sleeps and is always watching.” Alvarez batted just .107 in 31 spring plate appearances without an extra-base hit. Buck Showalter acknowledged Alvarez probably was pressing trying to make the team, because the organization (and opposing scouts) have little doubts about offense. Showalter continued to rave about Alvarez’s defensive upgrades — a difference-making arm and improvement in finer detail within game-calling and pitcher-catcher relationships.
I will take this as sincere and not just boosting Alvarez’s value, though it sounds a lot like Gerrit Cole early in his Yankees tenure — unsolicited — raving about Gary Sanchez’s defense, up until the moment Kyle Higashioka was his personal catcher.
Showalter’s bigpicture most vital point, though, was about overall roster decisionmaking: “When you are trying to win, everything is on the table.”
That is why Baty and Vientos are still in camp. Ruf’s roster spot is tenuous — he’s no certainty to be subjected to the home-opener crowd April 6. The Mets like Vientos’ loud contact and dislike his swing-and-miss quotient. Is he the righty DH complement to Daniel Vogelbach? The Mets have become more confident at this camp that Baty will stick at third. Can he do that from Day 1 with Escobar mixing at-bats there and as the righty DH?
If not March 30, then at some point injuries will open doors for the quartet. But as Showalter cited: The Steve Cohen, $350 million Mets have to win. So, at some point, is it decided that Alvarez is ready to catch or that Mauricio should be considered for a position switch to left field over Mark Canha? Or do any figure into trades?
The how, when and where are still being worked out.