Reese Kaplan -- Filling a Scrap Heap Taxi Squad

These 60-man rosters (30 in the majors and 30 on the minor league taxi squad) are offering up multiple options to each of today’s baseball teams to fill out the numbers.  Some are promoting their best minor league prospects to that group of 30 on the taxi squad.  Others are interested in finding ready-to-play folks whose starting days in the majors may be behind them, but who could play regularly for a spell if the need arose.  Then there are the clubs who seek to keep the best prospects on the minor league rosters where they won’t be playing at all in 2020 and seek to fill out the 30-man taxi squad with the graybeards of the game.  Does that latter approach sound familiar to Mets fans?

This week we heard that the team signed a few early 30s players to their 30-man squad in Erasmo Ramirez and outfielder Ryan Cordell.  These moves were not unanticipated as both players were on the spring training rosters when there was a pre-season to play.  

The 30 year old Nicaraguan hurler has never done too much at the major league level, sporting a 32-39 record with a career 4.40 ERA.  While that’s not eye popping, it’s probably better than some of the sorry lot who have started for the Mets the past few years.

The decision to retain the 28 year old Cordell is a little more puzzling.  Yes, in the minors he has shown enough power to wallop 19 HRs in a season but his parts of two seasons in the majors have been pretty awful.  Considering how deep the Mets are in outfielders right now with Brandon Nimmo, Michael Conforto, J.D. Davis, Dom Smith, Jake Marisnick and Jeff McNeil capable of playing there, hopefully they wouldn’t have to dip deeply enough to rely on a Cordell.  Remember you also have recovering Yoenis Cespedes, too, plus a Jed Lowrie who could man the infield to free up McNeil.  

No, the typical Mets moves were the decisions to sign Melky Cabrera, Gordon Beckham, Hunter Strickland and Jared Hughes.  Of this quartet, Cabrera is showing that he can still hit the ball, though with a bit less power than in the past.  What he can’t really do is play defense, so at best he’s a DH opportunity.  He’s also turning 36 this year, so his best days are likely behind him.

Gordon Beckham is in the same age bracket, but he’s not even been a league average player for quite some time.  There’s something to be said for versatility, but in his best year ever he hit two HRs and stole seven bases.  His career average is just .237, so he’s simply a warm body in the case of emergency.  

Pitcher Hunter Strickland is the most interesting option of these four.  He’s turning 32 this year and coming off an awful campaign in 2019 with the Mariners and Nationals.  However, just two years ago he pitched beautifully for the Giants and for his career he sports a 3.16 ERA.  The option of having him pitch in Queens is infinitely more appealing than more of some of the younger relievers who have served up home run hitting floaters to the opposition.  

The last of these four is reliever Jared Hughes.  It’s understandable when you look at his health history and his recent performance that no one was lining up to grab him.  Still, for his career he has an ERA of just 2.88 and if he’s healthy, he’s another veteran who is more appealing as a bullpen option than what they’ve had in the minors in the recent past.  

What came to mind with these transactions was the scrap heap mentality shown by the Mets over the past several years when they grabbed players like Rick Ankiel, James Loney, Adrian Gonzalez, Carlos Gomez, Rajai Davis, Joe Panik, Jose Bautista and Austin Jackson, guys who at one time seemed like credible major leaguers but by the time they reached Citifield that was all a set of distant memories.   

Yes, there are indeed reputable players still looking for jobs.  Some will make major league squads and others will be on the 30-man taxi squad.  What Mets fans probably want to see are more high-potential types like Hunter Strickland than over-the-hill guys living on long distant reputation.  Some folks are suggesting the Mets reunite with Rajai Davis or explore other baseball senior citizens for their 30-man group of extras.  I’d rather see them look at younger players who might have something of a future beyond whatever the 2020 season becomes.