When the Mets demoted both Brett Baty and Mark Vientos to Triple-A Syracuse on Saturday, it sent shockwaves through a fan base that proceeded to spend most of the night ruminating over the moves.
Granted, the Mets’ incredibly passionate fan base has a tendency to overreact. But fans being angry over Baty and Vientos being sent down had every right to be. That’s because the decisions and the reasoning provided afterward made very little sense.
And with Darin Ruf being designated for assignment on Monday morning, the choice to enter the season without either Baty or Vientos on the roster seems even worse.
Rewinding back to Friday, it felt that the presence of Ruf on the roster could block Baty or Vientos.
Basically, if Ruf was the right-handed DH option, Vientos wouldn’t have much of a role. And if Ruf was taking up a roster spot and the Mets wanted to carry Baty, they would’ve likely had to take only seven relievers instead of eight to make the math work.
But even without Ruf, the Mets are still keeping Baty and Vientos down, and instead turning to speedy outfielder Tim Locastro, a career .227/.325/.331 hitter who hasn’t hit above .200 since the 2020 season.
As is noted above, not turning to Baty or Vientos is curious — and we’ll delve deeper into that in a bit. But the reasoning given by Billy Eppler and Buck Showalter about it was strange, disjointed, and very difficult to take at face value.
Showalter, while discussing Baty and Vientos getting more seasoning at Triple-A, said it shouldn’t be “unknown” if you can handle Triple-A before you come to the majors.
To listen to Eppler tell it, there were “markers” Baty and Vientos didn’t hit that they still need to. That rings hollow, especially as it pertains to Baty.
Baty has played just six games in Triple-A. But the Mets’ concern earlier in spring training was his defense. And bench coach Eric Chavez, a former third baseman, recently said publicly that Baty’s defense is ready. Baty’s bat also appears to be ready.
In the case of Vientos, he spent quite literally his entire minor league season at Triple-A in 2022. One hundred and one games worth, where he slashed .280/.358/.519…