Ronny Mauricio gave the Mets one more loud reminder of why his name still matters, even if the rest of the season has long since drifted into the background.
In game 161 of the 2026 season, Mauricio hit a pair of home runs against the Washington Nationals to help the Mets win their 74th game. It was only his second game in September and his second appearance since the break, but the damage he did at the plate didn’t change the bigger picture much. The Mets are staring at a roster decision, not a feel-good finish.
Mauricio, once a top 100 prospect and for a long stretch the most prominent name in the Mets’ system, now has 106 major league games behind him and all of his minor league options gone after next year. That puts him in a Luisangel Acuna-type spot: the Mets will either need to keep him on the active roster or risk losing a player who still has real talent, even if the fit has become murky.
Andy Green laid out the issue on Friday, and the message was clear. Mauricio can still flash impact, but the chase has to come down if he’s going to stick.
"He continues to show an ability to impact the baseball. He can defend the field. His impact has to exceed his chase or his chase has to be reduced if he wants to be a productive big leaguer for a long time."
That said, a contract tender would not lock anything in. It would only keep the Mets from losing him for nothing, and that matters here. Mauricio is arbitration eligible next year, and while the Mets can absolutely decide to move on, letting him walk without getting anything back would be the roughest ending to his time in New York.
The numbers tell a mixed story. In Triple-A, Mauricio hit .261/.302/.493 with 18 home runs in 305 plate appearances.
In the majors, though, he barely got a runway, appearing in just 19 games in 2026. An injury shortly after he took over at shortstop for Francisco Lindor cut off what could have been a much bigger look.
The Mets’ ideal outcome is probably a trade, but the market won’t be simple. Their best-case replacement might be a player in the Luis Robert Jr. mold - expensive, injury-prone, and the kind of bet that comes with a lot of “just needs to stay healthy and maybe…” attached to it. With Marcus Semien, Jorge Polanco, and Sean Manaea already on the books, that kind of move feels hard to square with the payroll.
The CBA expiring on December 1 only makes the situation more delicate. The smartest path, as things stand, is to tender Mauricio a contract if a trade doesn’t come together before the lockout, then keep looking after the lockout ends.
If that goes nowhere, he can fight for a bench job. He can play multiple infield spots, and that alone gives him a shot at buying some at-bats.
Even if he ends up as a late preseason cut, the Mets should probably keep the door open for now. His trade value is sitting at the level of “get anything you can,” and with the shortstop market thin, there may still be a team willing to take a shot. JP Crawford is viewed as maybe the best option in free agency, while Bo Bichette, if he opts out, is a tougher fit because he has shown this year with the Mets that he’s probably better at third base.
Mauricio’s strongest major league defense came at third base in 2025, and that market doesn’t look much better.
Somebody is going to get him at a low price. The Mets just have to decide whether they want that team to be them long enough to cash him in before the yard sale sign comes down.
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