Travis is back ...

[metirish]

Travis Jankowski that is , signed to a minor league deal

[kcmets]

You got me on this one, I was sure it someone d'ifferent.

[Edgy MD]

Yeah, I was thinking d'Arnaud. Maybe a smidgen of me was thinking Blankenhorn.



Taijeron was right out.



The Mets seem really worried behind the scenes about having enough flycatchers, and wondering if centerfield is the link that will break the chain. With an extended outage for José Siri, an extended slump by Tyrone Taylor, Marte and Nimmo seemingly no longer trusted in the middle of the field, and McNeil kind of faking it, they probably don't want to get caught with their pants down.



I think they see McNeil in center the way they saw HoJo and Mitchell at short in 1986 — it's a good way to get the guy his at-bats as long as we are winning, but we'd hate to have him on defense out there with the season on the line.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Have they tried Acuna there? He's gonna lose his job to Mauricio (switch hitter and a better hitter) and can come back as a center fielder

[Edgy MD]

Acoonie got one or two mopup innings in center about two weeks ago.

[Frayed Knot]

And he played a bit in the minors but -- like Edgy talks about with Nimmo/McN/Marte -- deploying a work in progress out there in late innings or during a stretch run/playoff series probably isn't where they want to go right now. Next year might be a different story re: Acuna.

[Edgy MD]

Or, maybe, if and when he gets sent down (perhaps when Winker is ready), he starts getting a crash course.

[cal sharpie]

It's probably Young that gets sent down once Winker is back. Acuna might get sent down when Vientos is back.

[MFS62]

They've also played former #1 Jett Williams in center when he isn't playing shortstop. He's currently hitting around .280 in Binghamton.

But the regular Bingy center fielder, Nick Morabito is also hitting around .285 with about 20 steals.

I'm not sure if either will be ready for the majors this year.

Later

[Edgy MD]

The Syracuse Mets now have two Traves, with Travis Swaggerty already in the outfield, so now any line drive into the gap puts them at risk of an inter-Travis collision.

[MFS62]

Thank you, Neil Degrasse Tysons for predicting the risk of that cataclysmic event.



Later