Just Mets

The Mets middle infield defense has been nothing short of a disaster lately, so something had to give to improve the quality of play up the middle.

In an effort to do so, the Mets have recalled 2B Dilson Herrera from Triple-A Las Vegas.

The Mets will announce a corresponding roster move tomorrow.

In 19 games for Las Vegas, Herrera has hit .375 with a .919 OPS with eight doubles, a home run and 11 RBI.

It seemed inevitable after Thursday night something was going to happen. The question is, where does Herrera fit?

If Herrera is here, he has to play everyday. That means the Mets will likely move Daniel Murphy to third base and play Herrera at second base everyday until David Wright is ready to return.

This would relegate Eric Campbell to bench duties, which is where he’s most valuable. While he filled in admirably in his first week, he has clearly been overexposed playing everyday over an extended period of time.

It’s logical to expect the Mets will cut a relief pitcher to make room for Herrera assuming everyone is healthy. That would restore the bench to five and re-balance the bullpen as well. Jack Leathersich or Erik Goeddel seem like possible candidates to go back to Las Vegas.

As for Wilmer Flores, it appears the Mets will continue to run him out there and give him an opportunity to right the ship. They have committed to this at least for the short term, and with Matt Reynolds not on the 40-man roster and limited flexibility there, it makes it difficult to make changes at this time.

However, if Wright is a week away, it will be interesting to see what the Mets decide to do at short should Flores not make strides by then. They’ll have to move Murphy back to second for sure, meaning Herrera could go back to the minors. But since it’s clear their patience with the middle infield defense is now growing thin, the clock could very well be ticking on this experiment…