Even in win, Mets’ roster shows its limitations. Is a trade inevitable?

NEW YORK — Even a wild 10-8 win over the Minnesota Twins on Thursday night revealed some of the limitations the Mets face with their current makeshift roster.

The good news was an offense that lived up to its considerable potential, hanging seven runs on Joe Ryan and scoring as many runs in eight innings as they’d scored in their previous six-game road trip. Bo Bichette delivered his biggest swing with the Mets, producing a two-out, three-run double to break a 7-7 tie in the eighth. Carson Benge hit a homer and a double off the wall, and Brett Baty crushed a three-run homer in the first to start the scoring.

The bad news, besides the severity of Francisco Lindor’s calf strain, is how difficult it was to win that game anyway.

A bullpen with three long men meant that the only set-up men manager Carlos Mendoza had at his disposal on Thursday were Craig Kimbrel and Huascar Brazobán. Handed a four-run lead in the eighth, Kimbrel loaded the bases, and Brazobán served up a game-tying grand slam to Ryan Jeffers.

It raises a prominent question for the Mets during as significant an April homestand as they’ve played in some time: How long can they go with a roster full of square pegs? And might a trade be necessary sooner rather than later?

The main issue right now is the pitching staff. With the call-up of Christian Scott to start Thursday’s game, the Mets’ 13-man pitching staff currently includes seven or eight starters, depending how you count Tobias Myers. New York has maneuvered through nearly the first month of the season with Sean Manaea as a long man out of the pen, and the Mets have added David Peterson to that group this week.

That’s three starters-turned-relievers, two of whom are left-handed. The Mets have Brooks Raley as a lefty out of the pen, and A.J. Minter should be back in the next couple of weeks.

Mendoza said the team’s plan is to keep Manaea and Peterson stretched out; that would permit the Mets to slide either into the rotation if the need arises.

“That’s the plan,” Mendoza said, “but if we need to shoot for high-leverage, we’re going to do it. There’s a balance. If you start doing that frequently, you lose pitches there. The game will tell us how to deploy them, and we’ll adjust accordingly.”

Mendoza said the Mets would also like to keep Myers stretched out, though in his case, that means more for 30 pitches than for 50-plus.

That plan worked Thursday. In his first big-league start since undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2024, Scott lasted all of four outs, issuing five walks and hitting a batter within the first 10 Twins he faced. Myers entered to get seven outs and Peterson 10, getting the Mets all the way to the eighth inning.

“They did a great job of picking me up,” Scott said.

However, having three long men in an eight-man bullpen can leave it lacking in late-game options. Luke Weaver had thrown 30 pitches to save Wednesday’s win. The Mets are on the record in preferring to avoid back-to-back appearances for Brooks Raley.

And so it was left to Kimbrel and Brazobán in big spots in the eighth, which didn’t work out.

Christian Scott wasn’t long for Thursday’s game, putting the bullpen in a precarious spot. (Heather Khalifa / Getty Images)

For now, the Mets are in a wait-and-see approach with their starters. They’re so keen on keeping Peterson stretched out because of their uncertainty with Scott and Kodai Senga.

After two ugly starts early in the season, Peterson has looked better in his last few outings, including allowing a run on four hits in 3 1/3 innings Thursday night. That’s one run in the last seven innings for Peterson, whose stuff has also looked better in that span.

When the Mets made the decision to promote Scott, the plan was to give him more than just a single start. Mendoza said postgame that Scott is in line for another start next week “as of right now,” but that bullpen considerations could force the Mets to make a move.

Senga was in line to start Thursday, until Scott’s promotion pushed him to Saturday. Senga has allowed 13 runs (and four home runs) in 5 2/3 innings over his last two starts. The Mets are anxious to see whether he’s figured out how to bounce back.

At this point, the Mets are less eager to move Manaea back into the rotation, as shown by their pivots to Myers and Scott first. Though Manaea has found some decent results while pitching in low-leverage length, he has yet to unearth his prior velocity.

The presence of all that starting pitching — and starting pitching that can’t easily be sent down to the minors — could hint at an eventual trade. It’s hard to do that sort of thing in April: Few teams have seen enough of their current roster to believe it merits that swift a change. But president of baseball operations David Stearns has made a significant move in May before, back when he traded for Willy Adames with the Brewers in 2021.

Dealing a pitcher for some offensive help, especially given the expected absence of Francisco Lindor for some time, could eventually make sense for New York.

The roster dynamics add urgency to an already crucial time for the Mets, whose series win over Minnesota was their first since the second week of the season. Although their 9-16 start is their worst through 25 games since 1993’s 103-loss season, the upcoming schedule presents opportunity. New York hosts the Colorado Rockies and Washington Nationals over the next week before a road trip to Anaheim, Denver and Phoenix.