Just Mets

Wilmer Flores committed a brutal error on a routine double play ball in the fourth inning of Thursday night’s 8-2 loss to the Nationals.

It was Flores’ sixth error in 21 games this season, which doesn’t include several other double plays he has failed to turn in the early part of the year.

Mets shortstops have now committed seven errors this season, and the middle infield is responsible for 11 of the 17 errors the club has committed this season.

As the losses mount and the team’s defense continues to sag, here’s a look at the club’s immediate options to help mitigate their problems up the middle:

Ride it out for a while longer.

The options on the 40-man roster (which is full, by the way) are as follows:

Ruben Tejada
Daniel Muno
Wilfredo Tovar

Tovar is arguably the best solution from a defensive perspective the Mets could turn to, but he’s shown in small samples his bat is not big league caliber. So, while he may offer an improvement behind the pitching staff, he could water down a lineup which is already struggling.

Muno could conceivably be an option, but he is viewed more of a utility infielder and not considered an everyday shortstop. He’s a switch hitter with a little pop who gets on-base, but is really an unproven commodity, and his limited exposure to shortstop recently might not serve as an acceptable solution for an extended period of time.

Because of the limited options internally and externally, the Mets may be forced to ride Flores out for a little longer. Obviously, the ineffectiveness of their defense up the middle cannot continue, but they’ve committed to this for the time being, so they can only hope he begins to improve for now. Clearly, the design of calling up Dilson Herrera is to upgrade the defense up the middle, which should theoretically lessen the pains that come with Flores’ defense.

We will see if it does, but there’s no question this quality of play simply cannot continue.

Turn to Matt Reynolds.

Reynolds struggled at shortstop last year, but he showed improvement during spring training with good range and a strong arm. That has apparently carried into the early part of the year at Triple-A, and he has been impressive once again at the plate. He definitely caught the eyes of Mets decision makers during camp despite not having a realistic shot at making the team.

Here’s the problem: Reynolds is not on the 40-man roster yet, and the 40-man roster is currently full. The Mets have shown a willingness to maneuver players early this season based on needs, and they could conceivably move either Cesar Puello or Jerry Blevins to the 60-day disabled list to accomodate another addition. But, in the case of Blevins, it’s unclear if he needs that amount of time to recover from his broken arm, and the Mets don’t want to handicap themselves anymore than they already are with these injuries.

Make a trade?

There’s always the chance the Mets could make a deal to shore up the middle infield defense, but Sandy Alderson has said this is a difficult time of year to explore external options.

Markets typically open up starting in June, but the Mets need an improvement of some kind well before then, either from Flores, Reynolds or a combination of what they have in-house. For now, it seems the Mets might exhaust what they have here first.

What do the Mets do when David Wright is activated?

To me, this is the big wild card in the scenario.

It’s clear with the move to bring Herrera here to play second everyday the club is not happy with the way the middle infield combination of Murphy and Flores has evolved. For now, Murphy will play third base everyday, but he will obviously not play third everyday when Wright is activated, whenever that is.

But based on the decision to have Herrera at second now, would they reinstall Murphy as Flores’ middle infield partner when Wright gets back? Or, would they move Murphy back to second and bring Reynolds up to play shortstop? Or, do they execute a trade somehow to get a shortstop?

Time will tell, but it’s clear the Mets are thinking about the alternatives after recalling Herrera…