As I watched the New York Mets mounting a ninth inning comeback against the Washington Nationals in D.C. on Thursday, I held my breath and watched as they loaded the bases with two outs after scoring a pair of runs to make the score 7-6.
The Nationals had their closer Sean Doolittle on the mound while the Mets countered with outfielder Keon Broxton, who was 1-for-23 since April 14th and desperately needed a hit to tie the game or take the lead.
But Broxton, who is 5-for-26 (.192) with 15 strikeouts against fastballs this season, was facing one of the league’s predominant fastball pitchers and Doolittle certainly didn’t disappoint as he blew Broxton away and got him to swing at a four-seamer down the middle to end the game and clinch the series win for the Nats.
It was a heartbreaking loss for the Mets who found themselves falling back to third place in the NL East, two games under .500 and 3 1/2 games behind the first place Philadelphia Phillies.
After the game, Broxton expressed his frustration and disappointment to reporters, telling them that it’s difficult to perform off the bench especially with the Mets reducing his playing time.
“I’m not here to make excuses for anything, but I think everybody in this game knows it’s really hard to come off the bench and do it,” he told reporters.
“Getting one at-bat a week, if that, it’s definitely tough. But I work hard everyday and try to prepare myself everyday like I’m playing. So when I get in there, I try not to think that I haven’t had as many at-bats as everybody else or haven’t had regular playing time.”
Broxton, 29, pulled no punches and is clearly not satisfied with his utility role with the Mets, who have used him mostly in a bench role as either a pinch hitter or pinch runner.
“From the start of the season, I’ve been surprised at why I haven’t been playing as much and why I haven’t gotten as many opportunities,” Broxton, continued.
“It’s not like I started out bad. It is what it is though. They got a plan, they’re working with it. So all I can do is try to be ready.”
Compounding matters for Broxton has been the elevated performance of outfielder Carlos Gomez, who is hitting .373/.431/.686 with four doubles, four homers, and 15 RBI in his last 10 games with Triple-A Syracuse. Additionally, Gomez has a opt-out clause that he will most likely exercise on June 1st to seek an MLB opportunity elsewhere.
The Mets acquired outfielder Broxton from the Milwaukee Brewers last January, sending reliever Bobby Wahl, minor league righthander Adam Hill and minor league infielder Felix Valerio in exchange for him.
And despite coming off a brutal season in 2018, that saw Broxton bat .179/.281/.410 and get demoted to Triple-A, Mets GM Brodie Van Wagenen saw him as a viable alternative to Juan Lagares in center field, and someone who could bounce back offensively. Unfortunately that hasn’t happened yet and Broxton could finally be out of time.
“Every time I get up there, I feel like I gotta do more than what I need to do just to be able to keep playing. It’s tough.”
I can certainly understand where Broxton is coming from but players work their way from a bench role to an everyday role all the time – in fact that’s exactly what Jeff McNeil did and many others before him. And while Broxton says he’s not making any excuses, that sure sounds like one to me.
Now let’s not all go making Gomez out to be the Carlos Gomez of old because he’s certainly not. But at this stage of the season and with Michael Conforto potentially out for a week with a concussion, it would be foolish of the Mets not to call-up Gomez while he’s scorching the ball for their top affiliate.
The Mets have nothing to lose by promoting Gomez because they could simply option Broxton to the minors – and who knows, maybe he gets himself straightened out while he’s down there.
However, if the Mets decide to keep sticking with Broxton, Gomez could simply opt out in 10 days, giving the team nothing to show for him, and if you had no intentions of using Gomez at any point this season, then why did you sign him in the first place?
Now sure, there’s the issue that the Mets gave up three prospects to acquire Broxton, but that’s not Mickey Callaway‘s problem, that’s Van Wagenen’s problem. Best 25 players, right? Come get us, right?
Note: As I was ready to post this, I learned that Carlos Gomez has been told he is being promoted to the Mets for tonight’s game. No word on who is coming off the 40 man roster yet.
