Mets add Marte, Álvarez, Ruf to Wild Card roster

Mets add Marte, Álvarez, Ruf to Wild Card roster Harmed outfielder Starling Marte made the Mets’ Trump card program, however he was in the beginning setup for Game 1 notwithstanding a cracked right center finger that has sidelined him since the beginning of September – – and regardless of the way that he is as yet working at under 100%.

“In a situation like this, you kind of have to suck up the pain,” Marte said through an interpreter.

Marte looked no worse for the wear in his return, going 2-for-4 and making a nice running grab in right field as one of the few bright spots for the Mets in their 7-1 loss to the Padres.

The main concession that director Buck Showalter made to Marte’s finger, which he cracked when Privateers pitcher Mitch Keller hit him with a fastball Sept. 6, was to knock Marte from his standard No. 2 spot in the setup to No. 6. In any case, everything was business as usual for Marte, who opened in as the Mets’ beginning right defender. Before the game at Citi Field, Marte took numerous rounds of batting work on, hitting one ball in excess of 400 feet over the wall in left-focus field. He intends to wear a tight fabric wrap on the finger under his batting glove.

When evaluating Marte, Showalter said he had a frank pregame conversation with the outfielder and ultimately took him at his word.

“I trust him,” Showalter said. “Every time he’s had something similar to this and he’s told me something, there’s a real trust there that we’ve had.”

The Mets had a lot of motivation to remember Marte for their program, taking into account his dynamic season that saw him hit .292/.347/.468 with 16 homers and 18 taken bases in 505 plate appearances. Lifetime, Marte is a consolidated 18-for-47 (.383) with four homers, a triple and two copies against Yu Darvish, Blake Snell, Joe Musgrove and Josh Hader, every one of whom the Mets are probably going to see this end of the week. He additionally has the most grounded arm of any Mets outfielder.

Asked if Marte’s finger is still broken, Showalter demurred, replying: “What’s the definition of broken?” Marte said he last received an X-ray about a week ago, which showed enough inflammation in the area that team trainers forced him to delay his return to baseball activities. But Marte has been swinging a bat for several days, including during a live BP session against teammates Tommy Hunter and Phillip Diehl.

“It means a lot,” Marte said of returning for the playoffs. “This team went out there and battled when I wasn’t around. Now to be able to be here with them and to go into this competition, it means a lot for me to go out there and help.”

Likewise on the program is tenderfoot catcher Francisco Álvarez, who figures to serve the group in a DH job. The Mets hit Álvarez up for the last couple of rounds of the customary season, and following a frustrating presentation end of the week in Atlanta, he bounced back to gather a homer, a twofold and two strolls north of two games versus the Nationals. Álvarez, who gives the Mets a right-given choice close by Darin Ruf, can turn into the most youthful Met to show up in a postseason game in establishment history.

“Francisco showed pretty well,” general manager Billy Eppler said. “[We’re] taking a little bit more of a process-based approach — what he does in the batter’s box, what kind of decisions he makes. He showed pretty well. And he swings with intent. He’s got bad intentions in the batter’s box.”

Left off the roster were Tyler Naquin, a part-time left-handed outfielder, and Mark Vientos, a rookie who played sparingly down the stretch. The Mets also left off Carlos Carrasco, Taijuan Walker and Trevor Williams, three starting pitchers who were unlikely to be of much use in a best-of-three Wild Card Series. All three are eligible to rejoin the roster for the NL Division Series should the Mets advance.

The Mets will carry 14 position players and 12 pitchers, including nine relievers, for the Wild Card Series round.

A while later, the regular line of addressing pivoted upon whether Scherzer, who went on two outings to the harmed list this mid year because of a left slanted issue, was in any capacity genuinely split the difference – – an inquiry that, as would be natural for Showalter, is “ordinary since you have a person that pitches more often than not really well.” Even the supervisor recognized his arrangement to look for proof of injury, however Showalter didn’t be guaranteed to hope to track down anything.

Scherzer, for his part, insisted upon his health, just as he did on the eve of his start. Rather than focus on his oblique, Scherzer chalked his issues up to a lack of ride on his fastball, which he struggled to explain.

“I don’t know why I didn’t have my good fastball,” Scherzer said. “There were several fastballs I had tonight where the fastball almost looked like it was sinking, versus having ride. So yeah, this is going to be a late night for me.”

Scherzer’s presentation concealed other alarming patterns for the Mets – – most strikingly an offense that went 1-for-11 with sprinters in scoring position and, beyond Eduardo Escobar’s performance homer in the fifth inning, neglected to undermine Padres starter Yu Darvish. The 41,621 who stuffed into Citi Field communicated their dismay on endless events, making sufficient clamor for Darvish to say “it seemed like essentially somebody was shouting into my ears.” Yet it was more straightforward for them to coordinate their fury at Scherzer in the game’s most crucial points in time.