Reexamining the Mets Lineup Without Carlos Correa

Sep 17, 2022; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets third baseman Eduardo Escobar (10) celebrates with teammates after hitting a three run home run against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the second inning at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: John Jones-USA TODAY Sports

Carlos Correa will ultimately not be coming to New York in 2023 or beyond, after he spurned the Mets for the Minnesota Twins Tuesday following a weeks-long standoff with New York over contract language relating to his physical condition. While it’s a bitter pill to swallow for Mets fans knowing they were teased with the idea of a dominant left side of the infield for the next decade, all is not lost for next season.

Without Correa, the Mets will be trotting out a lineup that looks awfully familiar to the 2022 edition if they don’t make any additional moves before Opening Day. While the Mets offense sputtered to a disappointing finish last season, ultimately failing to win the division or get out of the Wild Card Series, it’s important to remember that the Mets were still one of the best offenses in baseball a season ago.

The 2022 Mets were fifth in the majors in runs scored, sixth in team OPS, and second in on-base percentage. While there are serious questions about whether they have enough offensive juice to compete with baseball’s elite teams, the Mets still project to be an above-average run-producing unit in 2023.

As a refresher, here’s what the Mets lineup is likely to look like next season, at least to start the year.

From 1-5, the Mets can compete with anyone in the majors. The top of the Mets lineup features one of the game’s best center fielders, a two-time All-Star who can hit for average and power, two top-10 NL MVP vote getters last season, and the reigning major league batting champion.

It’s the bottom half of the lineup that will have the most question marks. Vogelbach is a masher against righties, but will see limited if any starts against left-handed pitchers. Unless the Mets want to start the season with three catchers and carry top prospect Francisco Álvarez, as a platoon DH, their only other reasonable right-handed DH options are Darin Ruf, who had a miserable second half after being traded to Queens, or Mark Vientos who had a 58 OPS+ in 16 games in his first taste of big-league action in 2022.

Escobar was hot-and-cold last year, and the Mets will need more consistency out of him or he may lose his job at some point to top prospect Brett Baty. Canha is a reliable if unspectacular presence who will get on base and has some pop. Newly-acquired Narváez and Tomás Nido will try to give the Mets more production than they got last season out of their backstops. when they ranked 28th in the majors in catcher OPS.

If the Mets are to replicate or improve on their production this season, they will need their elite hitters to continue to produce at a high level and get more production out positions like catcher, third base, and DH. Whether that production comes from improvement from last season’s regulars, breakouts from top prospects like Álvarez and Baty, or from other players yet to be acquired, remains to be seen.

While it’s certainly possible the Mets will once again be one of MLB’s top offenses, the task has gotten a lot harder without an All-Star third baseman.