They say that having too much depth is a good problem to have. But a good problem is still a problem and the Mets have been staring down this specific problem ever since Brodie Van Wagenen signed Jed Lowrie back in January.
Once Lowrie came aboard, the Mets featured a roster with eight major league-caliber infielders and only four spots to play them. Actually if you include Luis Guillorme and Adeiny Hechavarria, that number skyrockets to 10 infielders that could have claimed a spot on the Opening Day roster.
This roster conundrum could have been made simple if two things didn’t occur. First, if Lowrie and Todd Frazier didn’t get themselves hurt in Spring Training, forcing them to start the year on the IL. The second being Van Wagenen’s continuous talk of employing a meritocracy where a player’s performance dictates their playing time, rather than their contract status.
If the Mets left Spring Training healthy, there choices would have been made simple. Dominic Smith and J.D. Davis have the options to remain in the minor leagues, so the Mets could have broken camp with an infield core of Pete Alonso, Robinson Cano, Amed Rosario, Jeff McNeil, Lowrie and Frazier.
Instead with Lowrie and Frazier on the IL, Davis and Smith both broke camp with the big league club. After making the team, their play across the first part of the season warranted keeping both Davis and Smith on the roster long-term.
Yet Smith already became the first causality of this roster crunch, when he was demoted in favor of Adeiny Hechavarria last week. Smith, 23, was hitting .333/.459/.400 with two doubles and four RBIs at the time of his demotion. Smith actually found his way back on the roster in short order, as they just recalled him after Steven Matz went on the IL. But since he was already demoted, Smith would be hard pressed to stick on the roster once the next injured Met returns off the IL.
Davis on the other hand, has yet to be demoted and has been one of the Mets top power bats so far this season. Davis has an average exit velocity of 92.7 mph this season, which is the best mark on the team. Across his first 78 at-bats in a Mets uniform, Davis is hitting .269/.360/.436 with three home runs and eight RBIs. In Van Wagenen’s “meritocracy”, that kind of production could warrant the starting third base position to Davis.
This is where Van Wagenen put himself in a corner, because while it sounds great to speak of a meritocracy in a press conference, the former agent should have known that baseball is a business first. The perfect example of this is Todd Frazier’s return from the IL.
Frazier returned to the Mets on April 22 and was immediately inserted into the starting lineup at third base, relegating Davis to the bench. New York has played sixteen games since then and Frazier has started 12 of them. During that span, Frazier is hitting .143/.160/.265 with two home runs and seven RBIs.
Salary dictates playing time and roster spots in professional sports, that is just the way the business works. So when Jed Lowrie returns from the IL, Davis will either be demoted or will get his already limited playing time cut again.
The simplest solution would be to demote Davis and let what could be your future starting third baseman get an extra year of development in Triple-A. Davis does need a lot of work defensively and should be getting consistent at-bats as to not stunt his growth as a hitter.
All of that development could be happening at the big league level though, if Frazier’s $9 million salary didn’t get in the way.
If the Mets decide to demote Davis, you can’t knock the logic behind making that move. But you surely can knock Van Wagenen’s bravado for making it a much more controversial decision than it had to be.
