September 8: The Mets officially placed McNeil on the injured list this morning, and recalled outfielder DJ Stewart to replace McNeil on the big league roster. Stewart has slashed .175/.326/.299 in 190 trips to the plate with the club this year.
September 7: Mets second baseman/outfielder Jeff McNeil had to leave Friday’s game after being hit by a pitch on his right wrist, and tests revealed a wrist fracture, as manager Carlos Mendoza told the New York Post’s Joel Sherman and other reporters today. McNeil will be sidelined for the next 4-6 weeks, so he’ll miss the rest of the regular season and potentially the playoffs unless the Mets reach the postseason and make a deep run.
McNeil will be placed on the 15-day injured list at some point today or tomorrow, though the official news of the injury came close enough to the Mets’ 3:10pm CT start time today that Mendoza said the team will play a man short against the Reds. Jose Iglesias figures to take over second base for the remainder of the season, and Mendoza said infield prospect Luisangel Acuna is one of the candidates to be called up to take McNeil’s spot on the active roster.
New York is right in the thick of the wild card race, sitting in a tie with Atlanta for the third and final NL wild card slot but also within three games of San Diego for the first wild position. Passing any of the Braves, Padres, or Diamondbacks will be a lot trickier for the Mets without a lineup regular like McNeil, who has gotten the bulk of time at second base this season while also playing at both corner outfield slots.
McNeil will finish his 2024 season with a .238/.308/.384 slash line and 12 home runs over 472 plate appearances, translating to a 98 wRC+ that matches his seesaw of a year. Hitting just .214/.271/.308 over his first 300 PA, McNeil’s bat finally caught fire in July, and he proceeded to hit .294/.368/.566 in his next 163 PA before cooling off again in September. McNeil has remained one of baseball’s toughest hitters to strike out, though not much his contact has resulted in hard-hit balls, and a .256 BABIP also hasn’t helped his cause.
It is possible McNeil’s numbers could be related to the partial UCL tear in his left elbow that was revealed near the end of last season, though McNeil only received a PRP shot rather than surgery and was able to be part of the Mets’ Opening Day lineup. Or, it could be that a traditionally soft-contact hitter like McNeil is reliant on batted-ball luck to be especially productive at the plate, and it isn’t any surprise that his best seasons have involved BABIPs all north of the .330 mark. When McNeil isn’t finding holes in the field, he has been closer to a league-average bat, as evidenced the 99 wRC+ he has posted since the start of the 2023 season.
This downturn followed the signing of McNeil’s four-year, $50MM contract extension, so the Mets haven’t gotten what they were expecting following McNeil’s All-Star season in 2022. However, as a left-handed hitter who can play multiple positions, McNeil has still been a useful player to have as a regular part of the lineup, and his absence forces New York to fill a couple of holes. Iglesias has been excellent in part-time duty this season and now faces an extra challenge in an everyday role, while Tyrone Taylor and Jesse Winker figure to get more outfield time.
No link to Baseball Reference!!?? What am I paying subscription prices for if I’ve got to move my fingers SEVERAL extra times!!?? Come on Mark you’re better than that!
/s lol…..
Bring up Acuna now?
I don’t think Acuna is ready…..also the Mets are winning so no need to make big moves.
I think if Acuna wasn’t related to Ron Acuna jr he won’t get half the attention as his skill sets don’t flash super star prospect
I agree that Luisangel’s skills don’t flash superstar prospect. But Luisangel plays decent defense, has speed on the basepaths, and his hit tool is average or better. He could become the next Stott, Edman, McNeil, Hoerner or Turang. Or be a marginal utility player.
Steamer RoS projects Acuña for a 72 wRC+.
“Projects”…Projections are like A holes; everybody’s got one and they almost always stink.
I thought that was only for opinions.
mlbf
“Projections are like A holes”
You left out the part where some are much better than others
Your troll is noted, though.
What were their Vientos projections?
Jw.
And DeGrom, if you really want to dig.
I don’t think Vientos projected good on defense. Think if the Mets resign Alonso and Mauricio is healthy in 2025 that Vientos could again be blocked.
I am curious to see what vientos can do in a second full season.
@ Benjamin Not sure where you’ve been all season, but things have changed. Coming into the season, the expectation was that Vientos’ defense would be quite poor – bad enough to keep him from ever starting at 3rd. Instead its been adequate, and his bat more than justifies his presence there.
Suggesting that he’d be “blocked” seems to be without any basis whatsoever. For openers, Mauricio has not established himself as a major leaguer yet. He had five weeks in the bigs, and he struggled to hit in the last two. Second, his defense at 3B was also poor. I think he will overcome that with some reps, but for now, no basis for saying he would block anyone there. Third, he’s coming off of a year-long injury. No way to know how quickly he will come back to full form.
And even if someone else gets the 3B over Vientos, that still does not “block” his as you suggest because the Mets are also losing their full-time DH.
Vientos will be an every day player. He will DH in that scenario.
With his “big bat”, it’s very unlikely Mark Vientos gets “blocked” next year. In the unlikely event it does happen, it’s very good news, because it means the Mets have uncovered another young stud who’s even better than Mark Vientos.
Vientos will be replacing Alonso at 1B, saving the Mets around $25m a year for the next four-five years (hey, if Castellanos can get 4/.80…) and opening up 3B for Mauricio or Baty.
That is all.
@geofftNo idea where you’re getting your info, comrade, but Vientos’ defense at 3B is very, very poor. Statcast, for one, has him among the worst 3% by OAA, and as we know defense peaks in a player’s early 20s, on average.
He’s been playing there for his 7 years in pro ball and he’s still bad. Doesn’t matter—the Mets will have a hole at 1B after not signing Alonso, and despite Vientos’ ten cent head the Mets probably figure that he’ll be less of a problem on defense at 1B. Certainly no worse than Alonso, whose hitting he’ll beat over the next 5 years in any case.
Given how thin the 2025 Mets are going to be, moving Vientos to 1B, opening up 3B for one of Mauricio and Vientos, living with McNeil’s 1.5-2.5 WAR at 2B, where he’s still perfectly okay on defense (until and if Acuna is ready or Mauricio pushes him off if Baty makes it at 3B) is the plan.
They still need 3 and a half fifths of a rotation, half of a bullpen, and two starting-caliber OFers while getting under the LT threshold, after all.
He’s got like a .670 OPS at Syracuse. I don’t know why fans clamor for him to come up. He’s not ready.
To be clear, I’m 100% on the “he’s not ready” side. I’d look beyond projections though
Fans think Ron Acuna jr one of the best players in the game and immediately think super star. When he doesn’t have the same scouting reports for superstar like his brother. He projects to be a good but not elite player
Blessing in disguise
A quick look at their Baseball reference pages (McNeil/Iglesias) seems to suggest this is an upgrade for the Mets. McNeil has been league average at second by DRS and is 3% below league average at the plate (OPS+) while Jose has been 28% better then average at the plate and has a +3 DRS at 2nd.
Obviously, Iglesias can still regress to career norms, but for right now, he might be the better option anyways.
Actually it was the other way around. McNeil started off slow and has been hitting well while Iglesias started hot then cooled. But we are getting better Defensively w/ Iglesias.
@ChrisMonte Iglesias is a joy to watch out there. How the he!! was he not employed somewhere?? His transactions page reads like Typhoid Mary’s.
@ Canuck While you were in Iglesias’ Baseball Reference page, a quick look at his splits would show you that he has already regressed: .596 OPS over the last 28 days.
Canuck
McNeil projected (by FG) for a 109 wRC+ and 2.4 fWAR per 600 PA
Iglesias projected for a 91 wRC+ and 1.8 fWAR per 600
Rounding caveats apply
I would have taken McNeil to pip Iglesias by WAR over the rest of the season, but with the Mets’ weak OF, giving Iglesias plenty of time at 2B while playing McNeil in the OF as needed, which would be often and might even let Nimmo hit the pine for a much needed week of R&R, was probably the way to go if Squirrel hadn’t gotten hit.
At least it would have obviated the ‘need’ for DJS.
McNeil has like a 150 OPS+ since the All Star break. Plus he plays solid defense at 2B and the corner outfield. You don’t know what you’re talking about.
Blessing in disguise.
Acuna has not been that good…
Correction: Acuna has not been good at all this year.
When has he been good at all? Before being traded to the Mets, he was not all that well regarded. Then after the trade, all of his ratings went up.
He was a top 100 prospect, that’s why the Mets paid all of max scherzers contract
“after the trade, all of his ratings went up.”
I wonder what “ratings” SBSD is talking about
Even the ‘resurgence’ some here are extolling has only seen Acuna with a .295 OBP and 400 SLG in 61 PA, despite a healthy BABIP..
With no walks. In 61 PA.
I’ll bet some coin that the inability to walk just before an MLB call up is a significant indictator of how that call up will go.
Luke Ritter should be the first man up. Acuna at this point would be the 2020 version of Sam Haggerty. Hit tool is not major league ready yet
Idk why its taken the mets so long to bring Ritter up to the Majors he plays the infield and i think RF last time i checked his fielding metrics.. plus he hits for power.. if he can hit in the majors that’ll lengthen the lineup and maybe you can push alonso to hit 8th
Idk why someone who says, “Idk why” doesn’t take a minute to look into why by eyeballing something as simple and obvious as his strike-out rate. Ritter’s is over 30% and has been throughout his minor league career. Since late last season, he’s shown the ability to bring that down into the mid-to-upper 20’s at times, but only for a month or so. And that is usually followed up by a worse-than-normal month where it soars to the mid-30’s.
The Mets already have Pablo Reyes on the bench who can play second base in a pinch. Maybe time to bring back DJ Stewart to have an extra LH bat on the bench, and can play OF..
@Biggavelli It’s because Ritter is a professional minor leaguer who was still hitting just .247 at age 26 in AAA, and K’s 29.6% of the time there. He’d K 240 times in 650 MLB PA, meaning he won’t put the ball in play enough to have any positive value. Where would you put him, anyway, in his MLB debut and in the middle of a hot wild card race? All of 1B, 2B, 3B, and DH are taken.
Fwiw he’s played one game in the OF in pro ball.
@ LFGMets Agree that Acuna is not ready. And thats exactly why he wasn’t called up on Sept 1st. But….. no reason to think Ritter is ready either. We’ve been down this road before: his strikeout rate is still major problem. Its not the rate itself that bothers me as much as the fact that he never improves it. He’s 28 now. He also looked absolutely terrible at the plate in spring training, and his numbers do not indicate that he’s done much differently or better in triple-A this year than he did last.
That said, the Mets are down to choosing the lesser of two evils. But the cold hard reality is whichever one they call up won’t start much and won’t get many ABs. So how are the Mets better served? With a speedster who plays good defense – including CF, or a strike-out-prone power hitter whose IF defense is adequate, but is limited in the OF?
@geofft the issue is, Ritter’s offensive stats are major league level. Joey Gallo strikes out a lot and still has a job. There is no one else in Triple A that deserves a call up. Even if hes Schwarber lite, its still better than anything Acuna or Reyes can do
@ LFGMEts First, stats don’t prove major league readiness. Plenty of players put up big stats in the minors and are useless in the majors for another two or three trips back & forth. You are assuming that Ritter would be another Gallo or Schwarber light. But a look at their minor league stats has them reaching AA at younger ages than Ritter did (20 & 22 vs. 25) and posting better HR numbers than Ritter at that point.
Second, Ritter won’t hit because he won’t get the ABs. Reyes has been up for a week and has played in only 1 game and had zero plate appearances.
Given how often the current lineup strikes out, I don’t think Ritter’s K’s are factoring into the decision to leave him in AAA. If K’s were a real concern, DJ Stewart, and his allergy to hitting the ball this season, would not be the guy being called up to replace Squirrel..
That & the fact that he isn’t on the 40 man roster. LFGM is hell bent on screaming for guys who aren’t on the roster to be called up. It’s a pretty big factor as to who gets the call and who doesn’t. The Mets seem to love Stewart for some reason. I guess they want a lefty bat. But he can’t hit for average, can’t run, and can’t throw. He walks a lot and has some good power. He’s just a slightly better version of Vogelbach.
Haven’t heard Sam haggerty in a while
Maybe if the pitcher had to sit out as long as the injured batter is out this would make the pitchers stop throwing inside so frequently. We might get more offense in the game as well. These batting averages are terrible.
It’s baseball, not batting practice.
It has and always will be part of the game.
Do you really want to incentivize teams bringing up scrubs to get hit by the other team’s ace?
Jose Iglesias is 2.3 bWAR in just 65 games? Man Baseball Reference is terrible….
Degaz
1.6 fWAR per FG
@Degaz Yeah, the nerve of the guy to hit to a 131 OPS+ with GG-caliber defense this year, and a position notorious for its light hitting.
Kind of random but every time I see a serious HBP injury it makes me think of Cal Ripken He’s iron man streak and how insane it is that not one time in that stretch he didn’t take a day after getting hit by a pitch. Just mind boggling
Probably helped that Ripken didn’t crowd the plate or dive in toward pitches like so many hitters do today. Rizzo practically stands with an elbow in the strike zone.
@Gmen777 Incredibly selfish by many accounts. Look at Ripken’s numbers after turning 30 and tell me he wouldn’t have been helped by taking a dozen games off each year.
I don’t feel it’s selfish, in fact I think it’s pretty selfless of him to try and play every single game for his teammates but I get your point. I think if he did take a normal amount of rest he’s probably the undoubted best SS of all time. I
Jose Iglesias- the most under appreciated man in MLB
Jose was supposed to be a complete joke as a hitter. But here he is, with 12 MLB seasons under his belt, 232 doubles and a .280 career batting average. So much for the doubters.
Letit
Career 89 wRC+. 11% worse than an average hitter
16 fWAR in 4245 PA (2.25 WAR per 600 PA). Roughly a league average player for his career
Scouts had him pegged as plus fielder with only 2 – 2.5 vocal octaves in his repertoire. So much for projections, amiright?
SUOTUS
“Scouts had him pegged”
You mean “so much for scouting”?
Bold opinion
Was supposed to be a centerpiece deal for detriot when they had verlander and were winning. Immediately got shin splints.
McNeil has been excellent lately. Dang it.
Speedy recovery to Jeff. Awesome player who deserves better. Acuña is the most similar player to McNeil that we have in the system. Will be interesting to see if he gets the call.
Met fans are hilarious, so excited to make the playoffs, and will likely be the worst team of the bunch.
Trade Luisangel?
And if the Mets make the wildcard, it will be because the Braves had too many injuries to overcome and Snitker overused his bullpen.. Mayeb the worst of the bunch but may the hottest team going in. Think Phillies WC run…….
@Eastern: He’s talking about Ronald Acuna, not his brother. TradeAcuna masquerades as a Braves fan. He’s been a Ronald Acuna hater since before he changed his screen name from NoMadBumNoNLCS. He spends most of his time on Braves articles espousing his odd opinion that the Braves need to trade Acuna, Albies, Olson, and other Braves starters so they can rebuild.
Nashville
In saying “Trade LuisAngel,” maybe Eastern was trolling the troll?
He may have been Manny. Still had to take a shot at TradeAcuna, lol.
TA
Why is that hilarious?
Why shouldn’t fans hope for their team to make the playoffs?
Anything more to your comment than just trolling?
People who have their political crushes as their profile pics without realizing how insanely ridiculous or ridiculously insane (take your pick) they come off as are hilarious.
Acuna time
Just a guy.
Just when he had become his old self offensively, this happens. Bad break.
Maybe the lunatic fringe of NYM fans should stop questioning Stearns? Think there’s sufficient evidence he kinda knows what he’s doing. And knows the farm and 40 man roster management better than you do
@10centBeerNight Eh. Definitely plusses and while he effed up the bullpen for four months (and all three of his $4m RP buys this offseason tanked) at least he churned the he!! out of the damned thing rather than watch it keep imploding with the same cast, waiting for Yohan Ramirez and Josh Walker to figure it out.
For the love of god, though, what was The Joey Wendle Experience all about?
And he’s still giving PT to DJ Stewart!!
Bad players will cost the Mets more than 8 wins by the end of the year. That’s bad for a contender, especially for a team with money to burn on the margins. That’s exactly where a wealthy club with a good GM should be holding it to 4-6 WAR.
Orioles fan here, was always a fan of DJ Stewart when we had him and was always pulling for him. The reason being, he was one of the Orioles prospects that wasn’t allergic to a walk and had a great OBP. He also has pop in his bat, and some speed.
That hasn’t really translated out so much in his MLB career. Sure, he still does work the walk and get on base. His speed didn’t really translate up to this level, but he can still swipe a few bags. The power is there if you can afford to keep him in the lineup for a while and can suffer through the low batting average.
What really shocked me was how crazy he looked in the field. Everybody makes errors, but they rarely make them as bad as he does, and not consistently as weird. You Mets fans have already seen him dive after a ball, whiff on it and land on his face. Well, while he was an Oriole he went after a fly ball and tripped over one of the bullpen pitching mounds and injured himself. There was another play where he dove after a fly ball, missed it, and the ball hit him square in the face and injured him again.
Still, I will root for him to do well for you guys and hope he can make something of his new opportunity. Maybe only let him DH?
Mets need to bring up someone who can fly in the bases for late game close game steals.
Mets have been in a lot of close games and a close playoff race never know when an extra run or a stolen base could be the difference
Angry head hunters this time of year. Haspened to chipper jones & Astro’s biggio. Wear those wrist guards.
DJ Stewart is this year’s Vogelfat
MrLM
Your fatphobia is noted
Here’s the negative attention you crave
Now, muted
Maybe it’s not phobia—maybe he just doesn’t like fat people?
Unfortunate either way, but I think ‘blankphobia’ is overused.
If you eat like Babe Ruth you better hit like Babe Ruth not Mendoza. DJ Stewart no way in hell are you 210 lbs like baseball reference says, that a good 240+
whit was right
Hopefully a quick recovery for McNeil but he may have played his last game as a Met. Acuna or Jett Williams will be the Mets 2B in 2026. The real question is will it be Acuna in 2025?
@Seaver rules Please, comrade. Neither Acuna nor Williams is remotely ready, the latter has scarcely played in 2024, has all of 23 games above A ball, and the Mets aren’t even giving Jett games at 2B, where he’s barely played—ever.
Even if either was ready for 2025, McNeil would be one of the better backup 2B/4th OFers in baseball, when you’d have to eat salary to dump his $16.75m in 2025 and 2026. Why would you take a loss to do that when he’d be an excellent bench player whom you’d just have to replace right away, with a lesser player?
There shouldn’t be a comma after “or.”
Best not to be a stickler. There are times when a writer wants the reader to take a brief pause despite what the AP Style Manual declares.
Commas aren’t necessarily for that purpose. One uses it in a situation like “or, if reports are to be believed, the game could be rained out” because it’s interrupting the sentence’s flow. Not when the statement is “or the game could be rained out, if reports are to be believed.” Zero reason for a pause, and the comma works both ways. When it’s not introducing a separate statement from the main thrust of the sentence, it shouldn’t be there.