“Tough news,” Vientos said. “Annoying. He is in my prayers for a speedy recovery. It’s hard to hear.”
When the public learned that Mauricio could have a completely lost season, the next obvious question was who could take his place. Until Tuesday, the Mets viewed their starting job at third base as an open competition between Mauricio, Baty and Vientos, with veteran Joey Wendle adding to the mix. Now the Mets could look to add another established free agent like old friend Justin Turner. Or they could simply rely on their internal solutions – without Mauricio – and hope that one of them takes up the challenge.
“I don’t know if that will change [anything]“said manager Carlos Mendoza. “We said we had a lot of depth, right? And he was part of that depth. Obviously we've taken a hit and need to think about it again. But we feel pretty good about what we have.”
Vientos and Mendoza both spoke at the Mets' annual Citi Field holiday party for local schoolchildren on Wednesday, with Vientos playing the elf and pitcher José Quintana playing the role of Santa Claus. It's been a busy month for Vientos, a South Florida resident who recently made the six-hour round trip to the Orlando area to train with shortstop Francisco Lindor. The two had discussed an offseason meeting back in September, and when Lindor reached out and offered to spend time with Vientos, the younger player jumped at the chance.
For four or five days, the Mets' two infielders rose at 7 a.m., practiced, went to a nearby baseball field, struck out, ran defensive drills, and did it all again in the afternoon. At the end of each day, they ate dinner together before Vientos retired to a room in the same apartment complex as Lindor's house.
“Honest, [it was] “Everything I expected from Lindor,” Vientos said. “He is a franchise player. He is “Mr. Smile.' Just being with him and seeing all the hard work he does; hard work pays off. And he works his butt off every day. It gave me so much to be there and train with him, learn, just get to know his mentality. The way he runs his business is telling.”
Later this offseason, Lindor wants to repeat that experience with Baty, another young infielder who recently gave up talent status without quite establishing himself as a full-time player in the big leagues.
Therein lies the problem for the Mets: At this point, they were hoping that one of Baty, Vientos or Mauricio would have established themselves as their everyday third baseman. Instead, Mauricio will miss a lot of time recovering from surgery, Baty is coming off a disappointing rookie season in which he posted a .598 OPS and suffered a demotion to the minors, and Vientos is still looking A similarly poor season, which was marked by the operation, remained inconsistent playing time.
At the winter meetings earlier this month, president of baseball operations David Stearns said he expected one or more of those three spots to be the solution at third base. Whether Mauricio's injury changes that equation remains to be seen, but for now all Baty and Vientos can do is work hard enough to prove they deserve a fair shake.
“I’m just focused on what the team wants,” Vientos said. “I'm just asking Mendoza questions and trying to figure out what's going on. I'm just focused on getting better. The little things I want to improve – defense, offense, baserunning – I just want to be [better] Everywhere. I know I can be ever-present and provide the best care I can for this team.”