Mets manager Carlos Mendoza and president of baseball operations David Stearns held media availabilities before Friday’s 7:10 p.m. game against the Colorado Rockies on SNY. In addition to injury updates, there were comments on catcher Francisco Alvarez’s 2025 season struggles, infielder Ronny Mauricio’s hot Triple-A start and the MLB trade deadline.

Francisco Alvarez will ‘continue to get opportunities’

After Luis Torrens started Wednesday’s 9-4 loss to the Chicago White Sox, Alvarez returns to the lineup in the eighth spot and enters Friday slashing .243/.341/.311 with one home run and seven RBI through 22 games.

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“We saw he was having a hard time against velo, but I’m going to continue to say we need him and I’m going to continue to give him chances,” Mendoza said. “Yeah, Luis is playing well. But Alvy is a really good player, too.

“So, whether it’s lefties, righties, he’s going to continue to get opportunities and he’s in there today.”

The Mets activated Alvarez on April 25 from the 10-day injured list, where he was placed on March 27 due to his hamate fracture. Alvarez returned to the Mets after a rehab assignment that started April 9 with Low-A St. Lucie before progressing to Double-A Binghamton and Triple-A Syracuse.

“A player who made a very significant swing change in the offseason, lost all of spring training — or almost all of spring training — got off to a late start and has probably been fighting himself to this point,” Stearns said. “I think he hasn’t produced at the level he’s accustomed to producing.

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“He’s working really hard to continue to refine his swing, to get it to a place that he feels really comfortable with, and I think we all would expect that we’re going to see better production going forward than what we’ve seen in his relatively brief stint since he’s come off the IL.”

Ronny Mauricio ‘hitting lasers’

Through seven games with Triple-A Syracuse, Mauricio is slashing .560/.586/.960 with three home runs and seven RBI.

What does Mauricio, who missed the 2024 season with a torn right ACL before starting this year with St. Lucie and Syracuse, have to do for a look?

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“He’s doing a great job,” Stearns said. “No. 1 is health and getting him back and building up the volume, and we’re continuing to do that. But any time you see players consistently hitting lasers all over the field, which is what he’s doing right now in Triple-A, you pay attention. We’re paying attention and we’ll continue to monitor that and see where it goes.”

“I think we’re most focused on him getting the reps under him, getting the volume, hopefully continuing to swing a really hot bat,” Stearns added. “Once we get to that point, he gives us something to think about.”

2025 MLB trade deadline

July 31 at 6 p.m. is still two months away, but moves are already being made. This week, the Cincinnati Reds traded 2023 All-Star reliever Alexis Diaz, Edwin Diaz’s brother, to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

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With a good chunk of the big leagues appearing to be unlikely for postseason contention, Stearns was asked about his thoughts on whether the trade deadline could move earlier than normal.

“I haven’t seen anything yet or heard anything yet that makes me suggest that’s going to be an unusually early period, but that can certainly change if one club decides that they want to engage early and could spur action,” he said. “But to this point, it certainly seems that that’s going to be a little bit more of a traditional, later-in-the-process-type deadline.”