Puttin' down on Ronnie Mauricio and Jose Siri

“People pick up on what I’m puttin’ down now.”

As an easily confused teenager when I first heard this lyric, it wasn’t 100% obvious to me what it meant. Was “puttin’ down” supposed to be taken literally? After a dozen listens, my conclusion was that it was meant for the listener that “puttin’ down” should be heard as an original thought by the artist. Ultimately, it’s slang – for what I’m saying or singing.

Here, many years later, my hope is that some of what gets “puttin’ down” (in the form of writing) here gets picked up. For years, this space put down that giving preference to lefty relievers, ones that pitched by far the fewest number of innings of anyone on the staff, was absurd. Eventually, that was picked up by others.

Another thing put down here was that the best way to run a bullpen was to have multiple pitchers capable of going multiple innings. The idea being that it was better to have a relievers pitch 2-3 innings at a time and then get multiple days off, rather than have everyone pitch one inning in every appearance and then have a pen where multiple players had pitched in three of the last four games, with the hope they’d be effective in game five. And the 2025 Mets have certainly picked up on that.

After the 2019 season, it was put down here that even though he couldn’t hit and it would be a mistake to give him many at-bats, Billy Hamilton could be useful if the Mets just used him as a pinch-runner and defensive replacement. That same argument was used earlier this season with Jose Siri, who ended up getting hurt.

But it seems like the Mets picked up on that idea with another player here in 2025 – Luisangel Acuna. After an 11-game stretch early in the year where he was productive due to a .480 BABIP, Acuna has been a negative at the plate. But he still offers value as a pinch-runner. And while fans overestimate his defensive worth, he’s a better fielder than Mark Vientos.

Acuna started in 29 of the Mets’ first 45 games, or 64.4% of the time. But in the Mets’ last 11 games, he’s made just three starts, or 27.3% of the time. Yet he’s come on as a pinch-runner or defensive replacement four times in those 11 games and has scored three runs without having a plate appearance.

Still, he has gotten to step into the batter’s box in those 11 games. Acuna has a .462 OPS in 14 PA, giving even more evidence that his best usage is as a pinch-runner.

It’s my firm belief that it’s acceptable to carry someone who can run and field but not hit – so long as you look to maximize his strengths while minimizing his weakness. Here’s what was said in the 2019 piece about Hamilton:

“If the Mets were disciplined enough to use him in that way, what would his final line look like? Something in the ballpark of 100 games played, 200 defensive innings and around 50 PA. That would be completely different from anything we’ve seen from the Mets recently. In the last 20 years, the fewest number of PA for a guy who played in at least 100 games in a season was the 143 totaled by pinch-hitter deluxe Lenny Harris back in 2001.”

In his last four games, Acuna has eight innings in the field and two PA. If we multiply those numbers by 25, we get 100 games played, 200 defensive innings and 50 PA – or exactly what was proposed for this type of role by me over five years ago. Man, it’s fun to extrapolate an ultra-tiny sample to pat myself on the back!

It looks like Siri is going to be able to return to the majors this season, with his fractured left tibia not being the season-ending injury some heartless bastard – ok, me – hoped it might be. It’s possible that the Mets activate Siri and have him replace Acuna on the roster, while also filling his pinch-runner/defensive replacement role, except in the outfield, rather than the infield. That wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world for the Mets to do.

However, while you can carry a player on your roster that you know can’t hit, it’s always better to employ a guy who can hit, if you happen to have one of those just hanging around. And the Mets might have that with Ronny Mauricio. It’s been a long recovery from a torn ACL for Mauricio, which caused him to miss the entire 2024 season and the beginning of 2025. But Mauricio has 58 PA in the minors now, with the last 24 coming in Triple-A, where he’s batting .571 with other crazy triple-slash numbers, too.

We know that Mauricio hits the ball really hard when he makes contact. What we’re less sure of is how well his plate discipline will be in the majors. In those 58 PA in the minors this year, Mauricio has 4 BB and 16 Ks, although his numbers are better in Triple-A, with 2 BB and 4 Ks in 24 PA.

Is it smart to promote Mauricio after just 58 PA, considering he missed all of 2024? That’s far from a clear-cut answer in either direction. Is it smart to keep a 23 year old in the majors when you know he’s not ready to hit at the level, like the Mets are currently doing with Acuna? That answer’s a little clearer, at least to me.

My opinion is that the Mets should promote Mauricio in the near-future, assuming he doesn’t revert to a bunch of strikeouts in the interim. He can replace Acuna on the roster. Mauricio offers the same multi-position flexibility that Acuna does, while offering a reasonable pinch-runner option, too, even if he’s not quite as fast. But there’s more offensive upside with Mauricio, who should be given that same starting percentage (64.4%) that Acuna enjoyed earlier in the year. The Mets can run a time share at 3B and DH with Brett Baty, Mauricio and Vientos. Essentially, that trio should play two out of every three games, at least until someone demands more playing time.

And when Siri’s ready to return, he can replace Jared Young, keeping his spot on the roster until the Mets can trade him. Or whenever Jesse Winker’s ready to return, whichever comes first. There’s value in players who can run and field. But that value isn’t as much as with guys who can hit. My opinion is that you’ll win more games with a bench that includes Mauricio and Winker than you will with one that features Acuna and Siri.

However, if you simply must have a defense and speed guy on the bench, you could talk me into keeping Acuna or Siri and opening up a roster spot by cutting Starling Marte.