There are 22 games left in a Mets season that was basically over before the All-Star break, and the final stretch is less about the standings than the questions hanging over next year. Beginning with Friday’s homestand, the Mets are running out of time to figure out what they really have in Mark Vientos, Kodai Senga, Sean Manaea and Bo Bichette.
Vientos is the clearest case. He came back from a broken right hand Monday and homered right away, but that kind of impact has been the exception, not the rule, for an infielder who now looks like a real non-tender possibility. Interim manager Andy Green made that point plain when he spoke about Vientos’ rehab assignment and the opportunity in front of him.
“I was very forthright with him when he started the rehab assignment that [his playing time with the Mets] would be dictated by how others perform and how he performs,” Green said. “I still think there’s a very bright future out there for him.
If he wants to go grab a hold of it, that’s on him…He has all the talent that he possessed in 2024 when he was hitting close to 30 home runs and didn’t even start the season with the big-league club. It’s all right there.
It’s on him for that to come out. We certainly want to see it come out.
It’s not going to be a perfectly laid path for him when he does come back.”
The frustration is easy to understand. Vientos hit .233 last year and entered the series finale with the Rays on Wednesday hitting just .211.
Jared Young, meanwhile, has seized his chance. He still profiles more as a platoon first baseman, but he went into Wednesday slashing .266/.327/.438 in 90 games and led the team with a .333 average with runners in scoring position.
The Mets are going to need a more dependable answer at first base, and these last games may be Vientos’ final shot to show he belongs in the plan for 2027.
Senga’s situation is more unusual, but just as important. The move to the bullpen has worked.
Since shifting into a high-leverage relief role, he has posted a 1.74 ERA with five saves in 11 appearances over 10 1/3 innings. Devin Williams still wants to pitch again this season despite his shoulder injury, and there is value in getting him back out there if only to give him some peace of mind before the offseason.
Even so, Senga should keep the closer job, because the Mets need as much information as possible before deciding how to build the bullpen next year.
Manaea is the wild card. For a stretch, it looked like he had found something that could matter a lot for next year’s rotation and for how David Stearns fills out the rest of the starting staff.
Then came another rough outing Tuesday, when Manaea allowed five runs on 11 hits with one walk and two strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings. That was his fourth straight difficult start.
The strange part is that it followed a run in which he looked close to his best, putting up a 2.16 ERA over the previous four outings. The concern now is familiar: he looks fine early, then starts taking damage around the fifth or sixth inning, or the third time through the order.
He is back in “figure it out” mode, and the Mets have only a few chances left to see whether he can solve it again.
Bichette is the offseason name worth watching most closely. He has kept his cards close to the vest, but his situation is one of the more interesting ones facing the Mets.
After a rough opening, he has settled in and is finishing the year with numbers close to his usual production. Going into Wednesday, he was slashing .262/.310/.390 and ranked second to Young on the team in batting average with runners in scoring position.
He also has a player option worth $42 million, and there are several moving parts around that decision. Another team is unlikely to top that number, but Bichette could still have reasons to consider something else: whether the early struggles and the team’s awful season leave him wanting out of New York, even at a lower salary, and whether a weak free-agent market could push his value up anyway.
The next few weeks may not provide clean answers. But they should offer some clues. Bichette has fit in well and built an easy connection with the younger players, and those teammates look a lot more promising than the version of the Mets fans have watched this year.
In Other News...
Mets Prospect Elian Pena Is Starting To Justify The Hype
Elian Pena arrived in the Mets system with plenty of attention attached to him, and for good reason. The 18-year-old left-handed hitting shortstop from the Dominican Republic signed in 2025 for a franchise-record $5 million international bonus, a level of investment that immediately put him on the radar as one of the organizations most important long-term bets. After a slow start in the Dominican Summer League, though, Pena has begun to look more like the player the Mets thought they were getting.
His improvement has already earned him a move up to High-A Brooklyn, a notable step for a player still early in his pro career. Mets officials have pointed to his work ethic and defensive progress as reasons for the optimism, and his rise has helped solidify his status as one of the teams top prospects. The next question is how quickly the bat continues to come along, because that will go a long way toward determining just how high his ceiling really is. [Read more 🡒]
Jared Young Just Changed A Mets Problem No One Saw Coming
Jared Young arrived in Queens without much expectation of a major role, but he has spent the season becoming one of the more important pieces on the Mets roster. In 91 games, he has hit .265 with eight home runs and 35 RBIs, production that has made him the clubs primary first baseman and shifted the conversation around a spot that once looked far less settled.
Andy Green and Jeff Albert have both made clear they believe Young has earned their trust, and there is a growing sense the Mets can plan around him going forward. What makes his rise more notable is how little it seemed to be on the radar at the start, with Young now looking like a player who could stay in the mix well beyond this season. [Read more 🡒]
Mets Just Took A Flier On A Pitcher With Little Margin For Error
The Mets made a small roster shuffle this week, designating catcher Shawn Ross for assignment and claiming right-hander Cameron Weston off waivers from the Orioles. Weston was sent to Triple-A Syracuse, giving New York another arm to evaluate while it continues to juggle the 40-man roster and sort through depth options.
Weston arrives with some uneven recent results, including a high ERA at Triple-A, though he looked better in Double-A and gives the organization a chance to see whether theres more here than the numbers suggest. Ross, meanwhile, had been hitting .195 at Syracuse, so the move also reflects the Mets desire to keep turning over the edges of the roster in search of a more useful fit. [Read more 🡒]