This Week in Mets: What info have the Mets gathered on their future? (2024)

“Yes, summer is almost here. Funny, ain’t it? I’m always kind of surprised to find that things get on about the same, spite of us. I guess old nature does too much of a wholesale business to ever be surprised at us, let alone worrying if we ain’t quite the fellows we think we ought to have been.”
—“Soldier’s Pay,” William Faulkner

On SNY Friday night, president of baseball operations David Stearns mentioned the runway the New York Mets still have between now and the trade deadline, when real decisions must be made.

“We’re in information-gathering mode,” he said.

The trouble for Stearns and the Mets is that the 2024 season’s main priority, ahead of contending for the postseason in the here and now, was gathering information for the future. And at one of the season’s traditional checkpoints, little of the information the Mets have gathered is positive.

The most positive developments for New York have tended to surround veterans brought in on short-term deals: Luis Severino looked great again Saturday, Harrison Bader came through again in the clutch Sunday. But the longer-term pieces the club is aiming to build around? They’ve been less encouraging and that’s what makes New York’s rough start more troubling. Taking a step back in 2024 to better position themselves for 2025 is one thing. But the path the Mets are on could leave them in a similar spot this fall, unsure of how aggressively to pursue major free agents without having a solid handle on what their younger players can produce in the majors.

What have the Mets learned about their core?

Coming into the year, the Mets’ core could be broadly defined as Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil, Francisco Lindor, Brandon Nimmo, Francisco Alvarez, Kodai Senga and Edwin Díaz. Except for Alonso, those players were all signed through at least 2026.

It’s not been a great year for that group. Senga hasn’t thrown a competitive pitch and Alvarez has missed most of the season. Díaz lost his closer role and blew his first save when reinstated Saturday, and McNeil is in the midst of a third season in the past four with an OPS below the league average. Until recently, Lindor’s batting average still started with a binary number. Nimmo’s numbers, especially his batting average, are down even accounting for the dip in offense across the league, and Alonso’s resemble 2023’s production more than he or the Mets would like.

Alonso, of course, is the player on this list for whom 2024 matters most. The Mets will not jettison Lindor, Nimmo, Senga or Díaz based on what happens this season; they’re locked in for too long. But how Alonso performs will inform the Mets’ interest in re-signing him long-term and the market for those services. Both sides reiterated into spring training that there was a win-win possibility ahead of them, in which Alonso has an excellent year to propel the Mets to the postseason. Neither part of that equation has happened.

What have the Mets learned about their unestablished big-leaguers?

The Mets were conservative in the winter precisely because Stearns and the front office wanted a better idea of what the club had in Brett Baty, Mark Vientos and even some older pitchers like David Peterson, Tylor Megill and José Buttó.

Given the third-base job out of spring, Baty has ceded some of that playing time to Vientos. While he’s been much better with the glove, he again hasn’t been up to par with the bat, and the ground-ball rate he worked on lowering all offseason is actually higher than it was a season ago. Vientos has been impressive in a limited sample in the majors, providing some confidence he can be a contributor somewhere in 2025, be it at third, first or DH.

Peterson is slated to come off the 60-day injured list and make his season debut on Wednesday, and the Mets are excited about how his rehab has gone. Megill has made just two starts because of his injury. That opened a door for Buttó, who pitched well over seven starts and continues to present himself as a back-end option.

What have the Mets learned about their prospects?

Christian Scott has been an unadulterated positive, looking like a bona fide big-league rotation piece. I found his start Friday, in which he lacked his best stuff much of the night but limited the Giants to two hits over six innings anyway, especially impressive. In his first month in the majors, he proved he could be competitive against a major-league lineup without his A stuff. That’s good.

Behind Scott, though, it’s been a rough year for New York’s best and most proximate prospects. Neither Drew Gilbert nor Jett Williams has played in May. Luisangel Acuña has rebounded from a tough start to the Triple-A season — he had four hits Saturday — but still carries an OPS below .700. Mike Vasil and Dominic Hamel have struggled for Syracuse, though Blade Tidwell had a solid debut at the level this past week.

What have the Mets learned about what their 2025 roster can be?

In an ideal world, Baty would have locked down third base, Vientos would be pushing J.D. Martinez for at-bats, and players like Gilbert, Acuña and Williams would be following Scott’s example by pushing for a promotion sooner than later, positioning themselves to be legitimate everyday options for Opening Day next season. That hasn’t happened.

One-third of the way through it, the long-term picture for the Mets is muddying more than it’s clarifying.

The exposition

The Mets flipped the script from their first two games against the Giants, coming back from the verge of defeat themselves to avoid another sweep. New York, however, has lost five consecutive series and 12 of its past 16 games. At 22-30, it sits fourth in the National League East.

The Dodgers have lost five in a row after being swept by the Reds over the weekend. Los Angeles still sits 5 1/2 games clear in the NL West with a 33-22 record.

The Diamondbacks undid last week’s series win in LA by dropping two of three at home to the Marlins. Arizona’s 25-28 record is good for fourth in the NL West ahead of a two-game series at Texas this week.

The pitching possibles

v. Los Angeles

RHP Tylor Megill (0-2, 3.00 ERA) v. RHP Gavin Stone (4-2, 3.60 ERA)
LHP Jose Quintana (1-4, 5.13) v. RHP Tyler Glasnow (6-3, 3.09)
LHP David Peterson (3-8, 5.03 in 2023) v. LHP James Paxton (5-0, 3.49)

v. Arizona

RHP Christian Scott (0-2, 3.97) v. RHP Zac Gallen (5-4, 3.12)
RHP Luis Severino (2-2, 3.22) v. LHP Jordan Montgomery (3-2, 4.69)
LHP Sean Manaea (3-1, 3.16) v. LHP Blake Walston (0-0, 2.16)
RHP Tylor Megill v. RHP Brandon Pfaadt (2-3, 4.05)

Injury updates

Red = 60-day IL
Orange = 15-day IL
Blue = 10-day IL

• Brooks Raley opted for Tommy John surgery. He’s done for the season.
• An MRI prompted by continued soreness in Senga’s right shoulder revealed inflammation, which led to a cortisone shot. Senga will be shut down for a couple more days before being re-evaluated. If all goes well, he can return to playing catch, which is a step back from where he had been. A return before the All-Star break is probably less than a 50/50 proposition.
• Alvarez took batting practice on the field on Saturday, his first time doing so in rehabbing his thumb. He could be back within the next month.
• Drew Smith threw an inning for High-A Brooklyn on Sunday, restarting a rehab assignment that had been paused by soreness in the back of his shoulder. Smith could be back by the end of the week.

Minor-league schedule

Triple-A: Syracuse v. Buffalo (Toronto)
Double-A: Binghamton v. Harrisburg (Washington)
High-A: Brooklyn at Jersey Shore (Philadelphia)
Low-A: St. Lucie at Dunedin (Toronto)

Last week in Mets

• The trade deadline uncertainty around Pete Alonso is mounting …
• … while the uncertainty around the Mets’ eventual direction at the deadline is vanishing
• The Mets haven’t yet responded well to taking a shot to the face
• What Kodai Senga’s latest setback means for his contract status
• The Mets need more from their core
• The Mets’ little mistakes are adding up
• What should we take away from the struggles of Edwin Díaz, Francisco Lindor and Jeff McNeil?
• A decision at third base looks imminent
• Looking at Lindor’s legacy in Cleveland upon his return
• TWIM: What’s up with Díaz?

Another note

This Week in Mets is going on hiatus, along with any writing from me, for the next six weeks or so. I’ll hopefully be spending that time teaching a new member of the family the beauty of a properly executed front-door changeup.

Trivia time

Saturday marked the 15th anniversary of the first major-league game I ever covered, a 5-2 Mets win over the Nationals at Citi Field. (Mets fans were still buzzing about Omir Santos’ big home run at Fenway that weekend.) I think back to my comprehensive confusion about what this job entailed, how baseball was played, how a big-league roster was constructed and managed, and I’m amazed and eternally grateful I was permitted to cover a second game, let alone close to 1,500 now.

So, which Mets starter earned the win that night in 2009? It was his fourth of the season and 37th of his career. He’d win just four more big-league games despite appearing in the majors as late as 2013.

(I’ll reply to the correct answer in the comments.)

(Top photo of Christian Scott: Luke Hales / Getty Images)

Tim Britton is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the New York Mets. He has covered Major League Baseball since 2009 and the Mets since 2018. Prior to joining The Athletic, he spent seven seasons on the Red Sox beat for the Providence Journal. He has also contributed to Baseball Prospectus, NBC Sports Boston, MLB.com and Yahoo Sports. Follow Tim on Twitter @TimBritton