The Mets are down to their last 22 games, and with the season already long past the point of rescue, the next few weeks are less about the standings than the questions they’ll leave behind. What happens now could shape pieces of this roster going into next year.
Mark Vientos is at the center of one of those questions. He came back from a broken right hand on Monday and homered right away, but that kind of impact has been rare lately.
For a player who now looks increasingly like a non-tender possibility, the leash is getting shorter. Interim manager Andy Green made that plain last week.
“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 around Vientos is easy to understand. He hit .233 last year and entered Wednesday’s series finale with the Rays at .211.
Meanwhile, Jared Young has given the Mets a different kind of production, even if he’s still viewed mostly as a platoon first baseman. Young went into Wednesday hitting .266/.327/.438 in 90 games, and he leads the team with a .333 average with runners in scoring position.
The Mets are likely going to need a more dependable answer at first base, and these final games may be Vientos’ last shot to show he belongs in that picture.
Kodai Senga has created another fascinating subplot, and this one has gone in a far better direction than anyone might have expected. The move to the bullpen has worked.
Since shifting into a high-leverage, late-inning role, Senga has posted a 1.74 ERA with five saves in 11 appearances over 10 1/3 innings. There have been some tense moments, but the numbers tell the story.
Devin Williams still wants to pitch again this season despite his shoulder injury, and there’s value in giving him that chance for peace of mind heading into the offseason. Even so, Senga should stay in the closer role so the Mets can keep building a better picture of what their bullpen should look like next year.
Sean Manaea, on the other hand, has become harder to read. For a stretch, it looked as if he had found something that could matter not just now but for the rotation plans ahead, even influencing how David Stearns fills out the rest of the starting staff.
Then came another rough outing Tuesday, when Manaea gave up five runs on 11 hits with one walk and two strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings. It was his fourth straight shaky start.
That said, it came after a run in which he looked close to his best, putting up a 2.16 ERA across the previous four outings. The concern now is the same one that keeps showing up: he starts well, then gets knocked around later in the game, usually around the fifth or sixth inning or the third time through the order.
He’s back in the “figure it out” phase, and the Mets still need to know whether he can solve it again.
Bo Bichette is the last major question on this list, and maybe the one that will linger longest. He hasn’t said much about what comes next, but the offseason decisions around him could be tricky.
After a rough start, Bichette has settled in and is ending the year with numbers close to his usual production. Going into Wednesday, he was hitting .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 while it’s tough to imagine another team matching that number, there are still plenty of moving parts. Did the ugly first few months, and the team’s miserable season, change how he feels about New York, even if it means taking less money?
And does a thin free-agent market create a path to a bigger payday than he might have expected?
Those answers may not come quickly, but there are signs to watch. Bichette has settled in well and built an easy connection with the younger players around him, a group that makes the Mets’ future look a lot more promising than their present.
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 🡒]