Mets considering 'every scenario' to get Jeff McNeil on NLCS roster
Jeff McNeil of the New York Mets celebrates with his teammates after defeating the Philadelphia Phillies in NLDS Game 4 at Citi Field on Wednesday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The possibility of Jeff McNeil joining the Mets for the next round of the playoffs is more real than ever.
McNeil was scheduled to play at least seven innings and get four at-bats both Friday and Saturday in the Arizona Fall League, manager Carlos Mendoza said earlier Friday, just five weeks after he broke his right wrist.
If that goes well, the Mets will consider McNeil an option for their NL Championship Series roster, which is due Sunday, a few hours before Game 1.
“We are considering every scenario,” Mendoza said during a video news conference.
Here are the Mets’ primary options:
- Add McNeil, drop a pitcher. Neither Adam Ottavino nor Danny Young pitched in the first two rounds of the playoffs. Excluding another reliever would leave the Mets a tad short in the bullpen, but in a seven-game series with two days off, that might not matter. The Mets also have starter Tylor Megill available in relief to help eat innings in case of a blowout.
- Add McNeil, drop Luisangel Acuna. Acuna made it to the majors in September in part because of McNeil’s injury. With McNeil back, the Mets wouldn’t necessarily need Acuna. But he still could be valuable as a defensive replacement or pinch runner. He has appeared in six of the Mets’ seven postseason games.
- Don’t add McNeil, keep everybody else. This seems unlikely. McNeil’s lefthanded bat would be an obvious improvement for the Mets, who don’t have many of those, and his defensive versatility keeps their options open. If McNeil is game-ready, he makes them better.
“He’s in the conversation. We have to make some decisions as far as our roster goes,” Mendoza said. “There’s a lot of different routes here that we could go. We’ll continue to have those dialogues here pretty soon.”
McNeil not starting at second base over Jose Iglesias — no matter the handedness of the opposing pitcher — would be a significant change, if it happens.
“We’re all going to be asked to do our part. He is ready to do that as well. That willingness to do your part is going to be the biggest thing here,” Brandon Nimmo said. “Anything we’re asked to do, we do. That’s kind of the team motto right now. Excited for him and feeling better and possibly being able to add to this lineup and this team.”
Down time
With three days between series, the Mets took Thursday off before getting back to it with a full team workout — defensive drills, batting practice, etc. — at Citi Field on Friday.
The Mets will do that again early Saturday before flying to California to face to winner of Friday's Game 5 between the Dodgers and Padres.
“It’s nice to be able to have these off days. You can reset and map [the pitching] out as much as you want,” Mendoza said. “But I think it’s more just the rest for our guys, our position player group, our bullpen guys and the whole team in general. With all the back and forth, the traveling, the intense games that we’ve been playing — to be able to have these couple of days to reset and guys can get treatment and things like that is huge.”
Nimmo said: “The part you have to be careful with, with that time off, is not letting that little break create this sense of relaxation . . . Keeping the rust off is the biggest thing.”
Pitching plans
Mendoza said the Mets had not committed to a Game 1 starter.
Their options, in approximate order of likelihood: Kodai Senga, Sean Manaea, Luis Severino. Each would be on regular or extra rest.
Senga had been lined up for a potential Game 5 of the NLDS, which the Mets made unnecessary by winning the series early. Manaea, the Mets’ top starter on the season, would be going five days after his most recent start.
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
