As Exhibit A, I will present something that I have said in the past. After he signed with the Cubs, I heard a rather long and interesting interview given by Dansby Swanson. He spoke of the Braves as a team pushed their stars to play as much as possible. In fact, most years they are playing 160+ games. This will minimize the plate appearances given to marginal players. While your point about wearing them down may come into play, the problem with the Braves is they have concentrated so much on the pitching side in the minor league system that there isn’t anything coming up on their hitting side to replace injuries to Acuna, Riley, etc.
Still, I believe Lindor and Alonso set the pace. A pace Soto can keep up with. A pace Nimmo cannot handle. And then you have vacated positions or CF, 2B and DH…. It would be wonderful to have solid players in every position and let bench players (Winker, Siri, Taylor, just be bench player).
1. If players like Siri or Winker don’t get any or too much time, will they be happy productive teammates and will they be willing to sign with your team as free agents? If they aren’t willing to sign, how will you effectively replace an injured player?
2. Regarding the trades of Ryan and Otis. Have any of these trades ever worked out for the Mets? The same can be said lately in the stupid trades for Baez and Ruf? Have any of the trades where they unload young talent for reaches worked out? I know that I’m a prospect hugger, but how many of these guys are worth it?
Before anyone tells me that you have to “give to get” or reminds me of the Piazza trade, I will say that I will trade for legit stars, not band-aids or SS in their walk year hitting .224 and striking out 35% of the time. If Tatis becomes available, I’ll open up my system to the Padres, like Stearns did to the Marlins when Yelich became available.
1. Winker, as the strong side of the DH platoon, as well as a contender for a handful of OF starts, should top 300 PA. And Winker was one of many players who wanted to sign with the Mets as a free agent. If you win and are willing to pay money - free agents will gladly sign with you.
And there are always guys available to fill a bench slot, if your minor league system doesn't have someone ready to step in. Jose Iglesias had to sign a minor league deal this offseason, just for the latest example.
2. Trades where the Mets traded prospects for veterans that paid off:
Donn Clendenon - World Series MVP
Ray Knight - World Series MVP
Juan Uribe, Kelly Johnson, Tyler Clippard, Addison Reed and Yoenis Cespedes all played key roles on the 2015 World Series team
Jay Bruce and Marcus Stroman provided value to the Mets
Huascar Brazoban and Ryne Stanek have been good additions
I'm sure there are others - these are ones off the top of my head
I remember the Uribe and Johnson and some of those other trades. But, too prospects were not used as those players would be backups…. Same for Stanek and the other reliever from the Rays…. Giving something is ok, giving a top prospect is stupid.
I think a lot of what you say makes sense. I don’t mind the stars playing 150, but not expecting that to happen absent injury.
Ultimately this discussion seems to be about exchanging Taylor for Siri. I was shocked which the Mets signed a guy with bench-level numbers this off season when we already had exactly that person in Taylor. I think Stearns imagined his magic wand turning Siri into more than he really is (pretty much like Canning and Holmes are heading for), which has resulted in two bench guys dooking it out for CF. Im not sure there’s much there there in the end. Maybe Taylor gets some more time, but he already has more PA the. Siri by a bit, and both have appalling numbers. Seems like 6 of one, half dozen of another.
Rest is so important. You, me and ball players need a day off every week. The major leagues schedule accommodates ball players because they usually have one scheduled off day each week. There are only six times that the schedule doesn't do that in 2025 so manager should incorporate the rest when the schedule dictates. Therefore no player should play more than 156 games in a season.
My initial reaction was surprise that there were only six weeks without a day off. But thinking about it more, it makes sense. There are essentially 26 weeks in the regular season, meaning that 77% of the time players get a day off.
I realize that one game is an incredibly tiny sample size
However
Baty did really well defensively at 3B (during Mets 8-0 win on 4/11/25), whereas his previous 2025 work at 2B appeared potentially dangerous
I can claim -with reasonable certainty - that the Mets are stronger defensively with Brett Baty at 3B, Luisangel Acuña at 2B and Mark Vientos at DH - call this setup A
Compare that to Mark Vientos at 3B, Brett Baty at 2B and whoever/whatever at DH - call this setup B
Now if either Brett Baty or Luisangel Acuña is able to escape their current offensive black hole, then setup A will become comparable offensively to setup B
The point is that moving Brett Baty to 3B, installing Luisangel Acuña at 2B, and tossing Mark Vientos into DH will drastically improve the defense
The question is whether they can weather this change
As Exhibit A, I will present something that I have said in the past. After he signed with the Cubs, I heard a rather long and interesting interview given by Dansby Swanson. He spoke of the Braves as a team pushed their stars to play as much as possible. In fact, most years they are playing 160+ games. This will minimize the plate appearances given to marginal players. While your point about wearing them down may come into play, the problem with the Braves is they have concentrated so much on the pitching side in the minor league system that there isn’t anything coming up on their hitting side to replace injuries to Acuna, Riley, etc.
Still, I believe Lindor and Alonso set the pace. A pace Soto can keep up with. A pace Nimmo cannot handle. And then you have vacated positions or CF, 2B and DH…. It would be wonderful to have solid players in every position and let bench players (Winker, Siri, Taylor, just be bench player).
Here are Nimmo's games played for the past four years, along with how many the Mets have played:
2022 - 151, 162 - 93.2%
2023 - 152, 162 - 93.8%
2024 - 151, 162 - 93.2%
2025 - 14, 14 - 100%
What? Brandon Nimmo? How many of those were DH? No way….
In his career, Nimmo has started 9 games as a DH, 4 of which came last season and 5 in 2023. He pinch-hit for the DH once in 2017.
But, I have two questions for the writer:
1. If players like Siri or Winker don’t get any or too much time, will they be happy productive teammates and will they be willing to sign with your team as free agents? If they aren’t willing to sign, how will you effectively replace an injured player?
2. Regarding the trades of Ryan and Otis. Have any of these trades ever worked out for the Mets? The same can be said lately in the stupid trades for Baez and Ruf? Have any of the trades where they unload young talent for reaches worked out? I know that I’m a prospect hugger, but how many of these guys are worth it?
Before anyone tells me that you have to “give to get” or reminds me of the Piazza trade, I will say that I will trade for legit stars, not band-aids or SS in their walk year hitting .224 and striking out 35% of the time. If Tatis becomes available, I’ll open up my system to the Padres, like Stearns did to the Marlins when Yelich became available.
1. Winker, as the strong side of the DH platoon, as well as a contender for a handful of OF starts, should top 300 PA. And Winker was one of many players who wanted to sign with the Mets as a free agent. If you win and are willing to pay money - free agents will gladly sign with you.
And there are always guys available to fill a bench slot, if your minor league system doesn't have someone ready to step in. Jose Iglesias had to sign a minor league deal this offseason, just for the latest example.
2. Trades where the Mets traded prospects for veterans that paid off:
Donn Clendenon - World Series MVP
Ray Knight - World Series MVP
Juan Uribe, Kelly Johnson, Tyler Clippard, Addison Reed and Yoenis Cespedes all played key roles on the 2015 World Series team
Jay Bruce and Marcus Stroman provided value to the Mets
Huascar Brazoban and Ryne Stanek have been good additions
I'm sure there are others - these are ones off the top of my head
I remember the Uribe and Johnson and some of those other trades. But, too prospects were not used as those players would be backups…. Same for Stanek and the other reliever from the Rays…. Giving something is ok, giving a top prospect is stupid.
I think a lot of what you say makes sense. I don’t mind the stars playing 150, but not expecting that to happen absent injury.
Ultimately this discussion seems to be about exchanging Taylor for Siri. I was shocked which the Mets signed a guy with bench-level numbers this off season when we already had exactly that person in Taylor. I think Stearns imagined his magic wand turning Siri into more than he really is (pretty much like Canning and Holmes are heading for), which has resulted in two bench guys dooking it out for CF. Im not sure there’s much there there in the end. Maybe Taylor gets some more time, but he already has more PA the. Siri by a bit, and both have appalling numbers. Seems like 6 of one, half dozen of another.
FTFA - "And right now, there’s more evidence than not that our trio of Acuna, Baty and Siri can’t hit at an acceptable level."
So, it's certainly about Siri. But he's not the only one this piece is about.
Rest is so important. You, me and ball players need a day off every week. The major leagues schedule accommodates ball players because they usually have one scheduled off day each week. There are only six times that the schedule doesn't do that in 2025 so manager should incorporate the rest when the schedule dictates. Therefore no player should play more than 156 games in a season.
My initial reaction was surprise that there were only six weeks without a day off. But thinking about it more, it makes sense. There are essentially 26 weeks in the regular season, meaning that 77% of the time players get a day off.
I realize that one game is an incredibly tiny sample size
However
Baty did really well defensively at 3B (during Mets 8-0 win on 4/11/25), whereas his previous 2025 work at 2B appeared potentially dangerous
I can claim -with reasonable certainty - that the Mets are stronger defensively with Brett Baty at 3B, Luisangel Acuña at 2B and Mark Vientos at DH - call this setup A
Compare that to Mark Vientos at 3B, Brett Baty at 2B and whoever/whatever at DH - call this setup B
Now if either Brett Baty or Luisangel Acuña is able to escape their current offensive black hole, then setup A will become comparable offensively to setup B
The point is that moving Brett Baty to 3B, installing Luisangel Acuña at 2B, and tossing Mark Vientos into DH will drastically improve the defense
The question is whether they can weather this change