PORT ST. LUCIE — The Mets have a few candidates for the utility infield role, including Nick Madrigal, Brett Baty and Luisangel Acuña. There is an argument to be made for and against all of them.
Madrigal is injury-prone, undersized and has never played shortstop in the Major Leagues. However, the 27-year-old is a hard-working, gritty infielder with naturally quick hands, and can hit to all fields.
Baty hasn’t played shortstop at any level, coming up as a third baseman and only getting reps at second base for the first time last season in Triple-A. Five-time All-Star Troy Tulowitzki took Baty under his wing a few years ago. If he’s going to learn the fundamentals of the middle infield from anyone, Tulowitzki is the guy. The Mets are happy with Baty’s positional versatility, but they’d like to keep him at third base, even if he’s blocked by Mark Vientos.
Then there’s Acuña, a top prospect who had a strong showing in the Major Leagues late last season, hitting .308 with a .966 OPS in 14 games. It was a small sample size, but he then lit up the Venezuelan Winter League. The brother of 2023 NL MVP Ronald Acuña Jr. is also undersized at only 5-8, but there’s a lot to like between his bat-to-ball skills and speed. However, the Mets have to consider the issue of playing time. At 22, he might need to play every day, and he could do that in Triple-A.
“That’s a discussion we’re going to continue to have throughout camp,” president of baseball operations David Stearns said Thursday at MLB’s spring training media day. “It’s a possibility. He’s in that competition [and] he’s part of that competition, but we’ve got a lot of time to make that decision. We’ve got a lot of things that could happen between now and when we need to make that decision.”
The one person who is not in the conversation is 2024’s popular utility man Jose Iglesias. The veteran is still on the free agent market looking for a contract. The Mets felt it better to give opportunities to young players rather than reunite with Candelita.
“We think it’s important for us to have some roster flexibility with that spot,” Stearns said. “It’s really tough to freeze your entire position player roster. We did that for a portion last year, and we actually kind of got away with it, but there very easily could have been a circumstance where we got stuck with a completely frozen position player roster. S having some flexibility there in that role is frankly probably needed for us right now.”
PAYING UP
Now that the Mets have signed Pete Alonso to a two-year, $54 million contract and Drew Smith to a one-year, $1 million deal, the payroll is, for all intents and purposes, set. The projected payroll is $331 million with an estimated luxury tax bill of $325 million, according to Fangraphs, the second-highest in baseball behind the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“This was certainly a scenario that we discussed and there were other scenarios with lower payroll numbers that that we discussed as well,” Stearns said. “You know, I don’t think as an organization, we want to remain consistently this high, but in this offseason, given the opportunities that were in front of us, we had tremendous ownership support to get there, and I’m really grateful for that.”
Owner Steve Cohen has made no secret of the fact that he would like the payroll to come down in the future. It’s not clear whether that future is in the near- or long-term since right now, the Mets see a window for contention open and want to take advantage. Cohen wants to win and has the resources to spend what deems necessary to do so.
But if there is a chance to improve the team, Cohen will sign off on it. The Mets have not shut the door on a higher payroll for 2025.
“Sure, yeah. We plot out everything and anything,” Stearns said. “In this case, this was probably among the higher of the scenarios we plotted out. I think the general path that this offseason took is one that makes sense for the organization at this time.”
Never say never when Cohen is calling the shots.
GREAT SCOTT
Right-hander Christian Scott was hoping to return late this year from UCL surgery, but the Mets decided against it in an effort to get him healthy for 2026. The 25-year-old took the news in stride. He trusts the medical team to make the right decisions for him.
“I knew that was probably going to end up being the case,” Scott said. “I’m just being as positive as I can about it and controlling what I can. It’ll all work out.”
Scott will start playing catch March 10, taking the biggest step yet in his rehab.