Reese Kaplan -- The Dumpster Lid is Open for Diving

Digging in the scrap heap hoping to find diamonds in the rough has been the Mets modus operandi almost as long as I can remember.  Sometimes it works – John Valentin, Julio Franco, Fernando Tatis – but more often it results in the Aaron Altherr, Brooks Pounders and Adrian Gonzalez types. 

On Monday night Major League Baseball enforced its deadline for teams to decide for whom they planned to tender contracts.  The Mets chose to retain everyone arbitration eligible and now use the time between now and February to negotiate or go to the arbiter to decide how much each player in question should be paid. 

Many teams cut loose some fairly prominent names, some of whom could be of interest to the dumpster divers in Queens. 

Kevin Gausman – The longtime starter has shown occasional flashes of competency but is sub-Vargas for his career.  I’m not interested.

Josh Phegley – One name I missed in my catcher search was the cannon-armed Phegley who has been the backup in Oakland for the past 7 years.  Last season he hit 12 HRs and 62 RBIs in 362 ABs.  He would be worth kicking the tires to see if he could back up Ramos.  He last earned a hair over $1 million.

Kevin Pillar – As I’d already recommended, a guy who plays plus defense in centerfield with 21 HRs and 82 RBIs and bats from the right side is most definitely worth a look. 

Addison Russell – After a 40-game domestic violence suspension, Russell lost his job to less expensive alternatives.  The Cubbies said as much in their press announcement.  He is an above average fielder and in 2016 hit 21 HRs with 95 RBIs.  He’s never approached those numbers again.  Considering the log jam the Mets have with infielders, there’s nothing to see here.

Domingo Santana – The big right-handed slugger was cut loose by Seattle after hitting 75 HRs in parts of three seasons.  His defense is awful, so unless the Mets plan to include J.D. Davis in a trade, I don’t see that there’s any room at the inn.

Travis Shaw – Maybe he caught Kevin Maas disease.  The lefty slugger had put together back-to-back 30 HR seasons playing 3B for the Brewers before last year’s embarrassing performance that saw him demoted more than once.  In 230 ABs he hit .157/7/16.  I don’t see a role for him here.

Steven Souza, Jr. – He’s two seasons removed from a 30 HR campaign for the Rays but didn’t do much in a part-time role for the Diamondbacks, then missed all of last year due to knee surgery.  Speed is not part of his game, so that doesn’t worry me, but a righty slugging right fielder who grades out as an average fielder doesn’t seem like a good fit though also would be worth a minor-league invitation. 

Blake Treinen – It’s somewhat understandable that the Oakland franchise wasn’t prepared to see Treinen earn about $8 million in arbitration after the horrendous season he had in 2019.  However, the year before his ERA was an unbelievable 0.78 for the entire season and 2.13 the year before that after coming over as a mid-season acquisition.  His go-to pitch is a devastating sinker which could be a nice weapon to have on a club with some gopher-ball prone relievers.  He did have some back issues last year which could be partially why he fell apart, but could also depress his prices as a free agent.

Taijuan Walker – The former Brave and Diamondback has missed most of 2019 and 2018 due to injury.   Before that he was viewed as a credible pitcher.  At age 27 I’d see if he would bite on a minor league invitation.

The Phillies parted ways with regular infielders Cesar Hernandez (mostly over concerns of cost) and Maikel Franco (over performance).  I don’t see either one as a fit here for the Mets. 

Anyone interest you?  Remember, the Mets are not going after the Anthony Rendon or Gerrit Cole types.