11/30/24

Reese Kaplan -- Still Lots of Space on the 40-Man Roster


The Mets still stand with several vacancies on the 40-man roster along with some who are there that face tenuous holds at best.  Bear in mind there will be some movements made once the 2025 season approaches as players get cut, traded or move onto the 60-day IL.  Given those facts, David Stearns has quite a task ahead of him trying to figure out how to build out the remainder of the top 40 players to be a part of the New York Mets organization.  Please bear in mind that Stearns inherited both the major and minor league rosters.  Yes, he’s made some additions already, but as witnessed by the fates of several players he picked last year, he’s not blindly loyal to what his thinking was at the time the newcomers arrived.

Let’s take a look at a the possible fate of a rocky eight:


Players on the Trade Bubble

Brett Baty — What can you say about the job done by Mark Vientos last year and the 2023 season produced by Ronny Mauricio which make Baty’s best efforts look fairly weak by comparison?  Yes, he was a high draft pick but as evidenced by countless examples all over baseball the most highly regarded players don’t necessarily pan out as anticipated.  Baty’s has enough impressive performance in the minors prior to 2024 that a club seeking a change of venue type of trade might want to give him a shot to play right away.

Starling Marte — It’s really hard to look at Marte as the same fragile but solid all around player who performed upon his arrival in 2022.  The following year was a lost one due to more injuries and despite strong base running in 2024, it would appear he plays older than he looks.  His fielding which had been very strong has deteriorated as well. The availability of him being in the lineup is inconsistent yet if the Mets pay down his final year of his deal they might likely find a taker. 

Jeff McNeil — How many chances do you keep giving the guy who earned his current contract after securing an NL batting title?  Between injuries and uneven hitting he’s made his positional versatility his best attribute rather than his previous command of the bat.  He’s another one who would need a buy-down on his remaining contract unless the Mets were engaged in a similarly expensive player from another club which would not require creative accounting. 

Tylor Megill — The key things to remember about Megill is that he’s out of options.  That means he’s on the roster or becomes a free agent at the end of Spring Training.  Given the Mets’ collective dearth of both starting and relief pitching you would think he’s more secure than the others on this list, but the fact is that like Brett Baty he’s never put together the major league consistency the club hoped he’d deliver.  He could be a piece of a package deal and allow another club to cross its fingers regarding which Megill is taking the mound for them each day.


Players on the “See Ya Later” Bubble

Dylan Covey — None of us in the baseball media can hope to claim the same level of expertise as the team’s front office and scouting departments, but a look at Covey’s numbers really make you wonder what the club was thinking.  He has a batting average against over .280 and his WHIP is atrocious.  Yes, he was a Stearns selection, but the experience during his front office era is how you play is whether or not you stay.

Luis De Los Santos — Here’s another player young enough to be a AAA stash in the event injury forces a replacement level player to make it to Citifield, yet his output doesn’t shine in any aspect.  There’s some power and some speed but the batting average has not been outstanding and he’s on an uphill right now to prove to the organization that he belongs.


Players on the Long Term Healing Bubble

Paul Blackburn — The midyear acquisition had a few good starts before his health started failing which eventually required time in an operating room to try to get him ready to play again midway into the 2025 season.  For his career he’s a more expensive version of Tylor Megill with a career ERA of 4.85 to accompany a losing 22-28 record, a .279 BAA and a WHIP of 1.41.  By comparison the one year younger Megill has a career ERA of 4.60, a .500 record, a .260 BAA and a career WHIP of 1.39.  The difference here is salary where Blackburn must be paid $3.45 million for his 2024 effort whereas Megill earned under $800K.  He’s not four times the pitcher but being injured meant the Mets would DFA him or keep paying him while he heals.  They opted for the latter.

Christian Scott — He was cruising through the minors with a career ERA of just 3.19 when he made it as a callup to the Mets in 2024.  He was off and on with good games and bad games before being diagnosed as needing Tommy John Surgery.  He’d shown good control and a solid WHIP though the ERA crept up to 4.56 as an NL rookie.  He’ll likely miss all of 2025 in rehab.

There are a great many other fringe players who likely will hang around like Max Kranick and Huascar Brazoban who likely won’t be in danger of losing roster spots but are not being counted upon to be difference makers.  Anyone you feel will be gone?

13 comments:

Tom Brennan said...

The one guy on the "Healing Bubble" you left off is Bryce Montes de Oca. Does he return to finally prove he can be both good and healthy? Seems doubtful, but hey, this is baseball.

Bret Baty drives us Batty, as we wish he would hit like Earl Battey. I think his problem is also, as I have noted for other power guys in Metsdom, an unwillingness to swing on favorable counts. I may do an article on him on that soon.

Megill will give us a thrill in 2025. He knows free agency is getting closer, year by year, and if you can up your game, you have a chance at bigger bucks when that time comes. If you pitch like Houser, you won't get paid.

Brazaban I think will be an upside surprise in 2025.

And of course, we now have Genesis Cabrera.

TexasGusCC said...

It appears the more favorable systems in Baltimore, Los Angeles and Boston have the advantage of dealing for Crochet. So, I would not trade anybody whose value is down, and that means just about everybody. The whole system sucked last year, so either they are down or they won’t bring back anything good. Keep them and hope it was just a down year.

JoeP said...

Reese, you failed to mention DJ (Chia Pet) Stewart. How could this guy still take up space on this team. Also, for the life of me I don't see how Blackburn was tendered a contract. He is going to miss half the year, he's worse than McGil...why waste the money.

Remember1969 said...

Can anyone explain why Jose Azocar is holding a spot on the 40 man roster?

Remember1969 said...

DJ Stewart was released and granted free agency by the Mets on November 4. He is no longer in the organization.

JoeP said...

Hopefully, most of these scrubs will be cut if we find better players.

JoeP said...

Thank you...I did not know that. Nobody but me thinks he looked like the Original Chia Pet.

Gary Seagren said...

and we continue to wait for the first domino to fall so comon Soto be the first Juan to fall..... to us pls. The other thing of course is the effect of losing him to us will be on the Yankees which would be HUGE and the first time ever as Beltran only signed with us because the Yanks didn't want to even though he would have signed with them for less.

Tom Brennan said...

Azocar on the 40 does seem a tad baffling.

D J said...

The latest results out of the Winter League credits Acuna as batting at .308 with 2 doubles, 1 triple, 1 home run, 9 rbi, and 3 stolen bases in 14 games. Maybe we have one prospect doing well this winter.

TexasGusCC said...

DJ, Mauricio won MVP of that league two years ago. It’s AA. Acuna should have played in Dominican Republic, which is harder. Not Venezuelan League.

That Adam Smith said...

I don’t think that McNeil is going anywhere. His positional versatility is a tremendous asset, and his second half hitting this season (in a fairly significant sample size) was nearly all-star level. I think that a combination of injuries and a failure to re-adjust his approach when the shift was outlawed (remember, he won his batting title in the last (and most pronounced) season of the shift. His quote when he turned things around was something like “I’m just going back to trying to hit the ball hard” was telling, to me at least. Acuña is interesting, but he’s never succeeded at the AAA level, and a handful of ML games is not enough to prove anything. Plus, as mentioned, the Venezuela league is thought to be around AA level. Glad he’s doing well, and I hope he progresses, but there’s no way you can go into the season counting on him enough to jettison McNeil.

Remember1969 said...

My thinking is that McNeil is the guy most affected by a Soto signing or non-signing. If they sign Soto, I fully expect them to shop McNeil for some starting pitching and to try to get a little salary relief. If Soto signs elsewhere, I'm thinking he'll get most of the innings in right field. I suspect his days of being the starting second baseman are in the past.