These Mets could garner BBWAA Award votes

This story was excerpted from Anthony DiComo’s Mets Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

NEW YORK -- Francisco Lindor’s massive game-tying homer to break up a no-hit bid in the ninth inning Wednesday rekindled the conversation regarding his National League MVP candidacy. And while we’ve covered that story many times over the past two months, it’s worth noting that Lindor is not the only Met likely to garner awards attention.

The team has a few other players worthy of support for the four major Baseball Writers’ Association of America Awards in the NL: MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year and Manager of the Year. Here’s a closer look:

MVP
Past Mets winners: None
Top 2024 candidate: Lindor

Shohei Ohtani’s consistent excellence makes this a continued uphill climb for Lindor, but the latter still has a real chance to become the first MVP in Mets history if he keeps coming through with clutch September hits. Those stumping for Lindor rightfully like to point to his defensive prowess, which makes him a near-lock to finish no worse than second in the race. Only Tom Seaver, Keith Hernandez and Darryl Strawberry have finished that high for the Mets.

One quick reality check: Lindor does have several major factors working against him: the fact that Ohtani could produce the first 50-50 season in MLB history; the fact that Ohtani’s lead over Lindor in bWAR is larger than Lindor’s lead over Ohtani in fWAR; the fact that the two most credible defensive metrics on the market disagree about the value of Lindor’s work at shortstop; and the fact that Ohtani has added more win probability to the Dodgers than Lindor has to the Mets, to name four.

But a few more signature performances against the Phillies and the Braves could sway voters to Lindor’s side of the argument, if they’re not already there.

Cy Young
Past Mets winners: Seaver (three times), Dwight Gooden, R.A. Dickey, Jacob deGrom (twice)
Top 2024 candidate: Sean Manaea

Manaea won’t win the Cy Young -- not with Chris Sale and Zack Wheeler duking it out in what’s increasingly looking like a two-player race. But it’s worth taking a moment to recognize the big left-hander, who is a solid bet to earn some down-ballot votes. Manaea ranks sixth in the NL in ERA (3.35), which is naturally the most predictive stat when it comes to Cy Young balloting. That’s due mostly to the fact that he’s 8-2 with a 2.79 ERA since June 14.

If the Cy Young ballot had 10 voting slots like the MVP, Manaea would likely land on most of them. But voters can only select five on the Cy ballot, which may limit his exposure.

Rookie of the Year
Past Mets winners: Seaver, Jon Matlack, Strawberry, Gooden, deGrom, Pete Alonso
Top 2024 candidate: José Buttó

The Mets don’t have a Rookie of the Year contender this season. Christian Scott would have been an obvious choice here had he stayed healthy. Alas, Scott won’t wind up pitching enough to make much noise.

Moving on …

Manager of the Year
Past Mets winners: Buck Showalter
Top 2024 candidate: Carlos Mendoza

Much like Lindor, Mendoza is an extremely deserving candidate whose biggest problem is his competition. Fellow rookie manager Pat Murphy is running away with the NL Central title despite his Brewers having lost Corbin Burnes to the Orioles and Brandon Woodruff to injury. As such, Murphy is the favorite to win.

But Mendoza is clearly on a short list of other skippers likely to receive votes, along with Mike Shildt of the Padres and Rob Thomson of the Phillies. Like it or not, this award tends to go to the manager whose team best outperformed preseason expectations -- arbitrary as those expectations may be. Mendoza absolutely qualifies and will receive a boost if his Mets make the playoffs. It wouldn’t be difficult to make a first-place argument for Mendoza.

Other awards: Regardless of whether he wins MVP, Lindor has a strong chance to earn his fourth Silver Slugger at shortstop. Because Mookie Betts missed so much time to injury, that race is basically between Lindor and Elly De La Cruz. Mark Vientos could likewise win a Silver Slugger at third base, despite not having enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title. Pound for pound, he’s been that much better than every other NL hitter at his position.

Lindor is also a candidate for his third career Gold Glove, though he’ll need to beat out a tough pool in that race. And if the Mets make the playoffs, you can bet David Stearns will be up for Executive of the Year.