The New York Mets and their fans know Juan Soto is going to be out for a few weeks with an injury. It’s certainly not ideal for a team that faces a lot of pressure to get back into the postseason, but this is a setback the team would rather see now than in the middle of September.
However, it’s the corresponding roster move that is the most puzzling decision. Soto is officially on the injured list, and the organization decided to call up infielder Ronny Mauricio to fill his spot.
This wouldn’t be a problem if the Mets had five outfielders on the active roster, including Soto, prior to the move being made. Instead, Soto was one of four outfielders at the big league level. Now, manager Carlos Mendoza is down to three outfielders: Tyrone Taylor, Luis Robert Jr., and rookie Carson Benge.
New York is now going to have to rely on these three to play every single game until Soto returns, or David Stearns does what he should have done before and call up another outfielder.
Despite what Stearns and the Mets think, there isn’t a large enough sample size to determine if Brett Baty is capable of playing a corner outfield spot for more than a game or two as needed. He has played a grand total of 16 innings in the outfield throughout his career, and 15 have been this season. Baty hasn’t made a mistake yet, but he’s only appeared in two games outside of the infield.
For an organization that has a plethora of outfielders at its Triple-A team, this decision is questionable to say the least. Even with Tommy Pham on the development list, M.J. Melendez and Nick Morabito are right there as 40-man roster options to utilize. If they want someone with more experience, then make a move to get Mike Tauchman on the 40-man roster and then promote him.
Promoting Mauricio and relying on Baty is a huge risk, and it’s only a matter of time before this experiment blows up in Stearns’ face.
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