Mandatory Credit: John Jones-USA TODAY Sports
Let me knock on wood before I say this. The New York Mets appear to finally be getting their big bats all back in the lineup at the same time.
Javier Baez returned with a bang on Sunday afternoon, doubling twice in the win over the Dodgers. While Francisco Lindor wasn’t quite ready to return from his oblique injury on Sunday, he figures to be back as soon as Tuesday night against the Giants.
The Mets have said they intend to play Lindor and Baez next to each other up the middle, as they should. This will without a doubt make up one of the most exciting middle infield duos in the game.
What happens to everyone else? Luis Rojas said on Sunday afternoon that J.D. Davis figures to spend most of his time at third base and Dominic Smith and Jeff McNeil will split time in left field.
How even will that split be? We’ll see soon enough. For now though, here’s how I think the Mets will lineup on Tuesday night against left-hander Sammy Long, if Lindor is indeed activated.
- Brandon Nimmo – CF
- Francisco Lindor – SS
- Pete Alonso – 1B
- Javier Baez – 2B
- Michael Conforto – RF
- J.D. Davis – 3B
- Jeff McNeil – LF
- Patrick Mazeika – C
- PITCHER
First of all, if the Mets have any hopes of turning things around and getting back into the playoff race, they’ll need Lindor to play like the superstar he is.
Lindor showed signs of life at the plate, posting a .989 OPS and .489 OBP in 12 games prior to his oblique injury. Hopefully, for the Mets’ sake, he will be able to pick right back up where he left off.
If he can, a top three of Nimmo, Lindor, and Alonso could be one of the best trios the Mets have had all season. It would be huge if the Mets could create more traffic on the bases ahead of the red-hot Alonso.
As we saw on Sunday afternoon, the return of the high-energy play of Baez figures to provide a nice spark as well. While the strikeouts will certainly add up, Baez is going to find many different ways to help this team win ball games each day.
Conforto has looked more and more like himself at the plate throughout the month of August, and the Mets are going to need him to build off that success moving forward. The sweet signing lefty has reached base in 20 of his past 21 games.
As Rojas indicated, Davis’ bat should keep him in the lineup most days. While he’s struggled a bit of late, hopefully he can build off his four-RBI performance in Sunday’s win. Let’s also remember he has a .396 OBP, 10 doubles, and five homers over 50 games this season.
Now comes the fun part. Both McNeil and Dom Smith have struggled all season long and haven’t been producing of late. Over their past 14 games, McNeil is hitting just .157 and Smith just .143.
Both guys haven’t looked like themselves at all at the plate. Ultimately, I think McNeil will end up beating out Smith for the bulk of the playing time in left.
Smith recently told reporters his wrist has been bothering him. It may end up being good from him to get a few days off to get himself right. Smith has also had success coming off the bench in the past.
Either way, the Mets need to get both of these guys right, and quickly. Both Smith and McNeil are vital pieces to the Mets’ offensive core, and this team is better when they are both doing their thing. If he gets right, Smith could end up being an absolute weapon off the bench.
Lastly, Patty Mazeika figures to see the bulk of the playing time until James McCann or Tomas Nido returns from the injured list. Both backstops aren’t expected to be on the shelf too long.
While it’s not 100% certain Lindor will be activated prior to Tuesday’s game, (that’s the way it is looking) he figures to return to the lineup at some point this week. When he does ultimately return, this is how I think the Mets may look most days down the stretch.
