QUEENS, NY — The Mets are going to have to keep the center field position afloat for an extended stretch after president of baseball operations David Stearns revealed that Jose Siri would be out between eight and 10 weeks after fracturing his left tibia on April 12.
What that solution will be remains to be seen, and that’s coming from Stearns himself.
“I don’t think we know,” he admitted on Monday ahead of his team’s series opener against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citi Field.
Tyrone Taylor will get the bulk of the playing time, but starting duties will not exclusively be his after he began the season as one half of the center-field platoon beside Siri.
Veteran left fielder Brandon Nimmo becomes a prime option to shift from left field to the position he played every day in 2022 and 2023 as needed, but Stearns is taking a wait-and-see approach with other potential options.
Jeff McNeil is headed to Triple-A Syracuse to play in back-to-back games Tuesday and Wednesday as he completes the rehab of his strained right oblique. Originally tabbed as the Opening Day second baseman, the former batting champion’s versatility will be taken advantage of once again, which includes corner-outfield starts and an opportunity in center field.
McNeil is slotted to play second base on Tuesday and center on Wednesday.
“I think it’s who’s playing well, what pitchers we’re facing, how we want to structure the lineup,” Stearns said. “But we feel confident we have enough people to play there, to cover that position, and cover it well…
“We’ll see how the center field thing goes. I think [McNeil] is excited about that.”
Luisangel Acuna, who has filled in alongside Brett Baty for McNeil at second base, has been getting pregame reps in center field, as well.
“I think it’s a possibility. He’s working out there,” Stearns said of Acuna. “We have to work through what exactly that mix looks like in the next couple days… We’re making some progress, so we’ll get to the point where I think we have confidence of putting him out there.”
Such revelations tip Stearns’ hands on what he will do once McNeil is ready to come back, as Acuna or Baty would be one of the players sent back down to Triple-A. Both young infielders have overcome difficult starts to the season to heat up as of late.
Acuna entered Monday night batting .385 in his last nine games while Baty was batting .304 in his last seven.
“Difficult decisions are a good thing when we have players that we want to keep here,” Stearns said. “As we get healthier, these types of decisions are going to become more and more a part of our thought process. So we’re going to continue to talk about it, and when Jeff is ready, we’ll certainly make a decision to get him back on the roster… They’ve done a nice job, especially over the last week, 10 days, both those guys have played well.”
