The battle for the New York Mets job in right field has been fierce, but losing Mike Tauchman to a knee injury hurts.
The New York Mets have been slow-crawling their final decision on the competition for the right field job, but that decision may have gotten a lot easier yesterday when Mike Tauchman had to leave yesterday’s 7-5 road loss to the Houston Astros due to some obvious issues with his left knee.
The injury first appeared when Tauchman tried to run out a ground ball in the third inning, according to Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. He had trouble trying to chase down a double by Yainer Diaz the next inning, and finally Tauchman had to take himself out of the game in the fifth.
Tauchman underwent an MRI after the game to assess the extent of the damage, but manager Carlos Mendoza had no information beyond that update.
"We've just got to wait and see what we're dealing with and go from there," Mendoza said.
Tauchman has been battling top prospect Carson Benge and infielder Vidal Brujan for the final spots on the Mets roster, and there’s been speculation that the Mets might keep both Tauchman and Benge and go without a true backup shortstop for the first few weeks of the season.
Tauchman showed plenty of power early in spring training, but his numbers have declined in the last few games, so it’s fair to wonder if this injury has been an emerging factory.
It also complicates the final roster decision, and it’s also an especially tough break for Tauchman. The outfielder also has a recent history of lower-body injuries, according to DiComo, with the most recent one being a torn right meniscus that required surgery last September.
"Anytime you send someone for an MRI, obviously there's a little bit of concern," Mendoza said. "But we've just got to wait and see what happens. I've been saying a lot can happen before we make the final decisions, and here we are, dealing with an injury."
Tauchman also has an opt-out clause in his contract that he could activate on Wednesday, but that clause was based on the possibility of a roster cut that would have allowed him to find a spot with another team. According to DiComo, that clause becomes moot if he ends up going on the injury list, which seems likely given the MRI.
Losing Tauchman would give New York the roster space to carry both Benge and Brujan if the Mets choose to go that route, and another transaction is also possible going forward.