Reese Kaplan -- Mets Offseason Roster Bullet List Week Fourteen

Mack's Mets will summarize players mentioned as possible new members of the team available via trade or free agency that have popped up in the media associated with them as a part of the 40 man roster.  These bullet points are not necessarily factual as if they were leaked from the Mets front office.  They comprise opinions, rumors and hypotheticals that various Mets beat writers and bloggers have felt necessary to put out into public notice.  Like EPA gas mileage ratings, take the news with a grain of salt.  We share but don’t necessarily endorse any of these transactions. 

The first round of Mets Spring Training cuts were just announced.  Some were expected while one outright was a bit startling.  Gone via traditional roster reduction were minor leaguers Brandon Sproat, Blade Tidwell, Dom Hamel, Ty Adcock, Oliver Ortega and injured Adbert Alzolay.  From the offensive side you are losing Ryan Clifford, Drew Gilbert, Jett Williams, Kevin Parada, Luke Ritter, Alex Ramirez and Rafael Ortega.  The big surprised was the outrighting off the 40 man roster of oft injured but also oft effective Sean Reid-Foley.  He may get snagged by another club so there is a risk, but apparently the Mets need space to add another player to the 40 and Reid-Foley became the sacrificial lamb.

  

More of the walking wounded this week hits the news, but this time it was known injured relief pitchers Drew Smith and newcomer Adbert Alzolay.  Fans here are very familiar with Drew Smith who has been a Met for life since debuting in the majors back in 2019.  He’s been pretty valuable, having accumulated a lifetime record of 12-13 with a 3.48 ERA and a WHIP of 1.278.  He’s fanned not quite triple the number he has walked and last season did even better with a 3.08 ERA before the injury shut him down.  

Alzolay is not as familiar to fans at Citifield but he’s also had a commendable career.  Having debuted for the Cubs in 2019, his aggregate record of 12-25 will not impress you, but in 2023 when fully healthy he appeared to have turned a corner when he earned a 2.67 ERA over 58 games with a better than 4:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio.  The Mets picked him up this year waiting for him to recover with an eye towards a return in 2026.  

Both of these pitchers could be solid additions to the pen.

Pitcher Paul Blackburn has demonstrated his up and down abilities during his first two Spring Training appearances.  He started off with a solid appearance with a shutdown inning against the Marlins during which he looked none the worse for wear in recovery from his spinal fluid medical procedure done during the offseason.  Then came his second appearance which more closely resembled his career stat sheet.  

He was struggling against a more powerful Red Sox lineup during which he threw 32 pitches, 17 over the plate and 15 off of it.  He gave up 4 runs in that inning before rebounding in the second inning, but by then the Mets were already behind on the scorecard.  

No one was sure what to make of Blackburn’s future with the team before the Frankie Montas and Sean Manaea injuries happened.  Now there’s laser focus on what he’s doing as he is one of the viable if not spectacular options to fill in while the IL duo continue to recover.

Yet again people are clamoring for the return of Jose Iglesias with the now season-ending injury to Nick Madrigal.  Given the payroll situation, an inexpensive contract to the OMG man will cost double when the payroll luxury tax bites Steve Cohen’s wallet.  Consequently, with Luisangel Acuna, Brett Baty and recovering Ronny Mauricio all available at minimum wage it’s unlikely to see the Mets cough up extra money for a role player.  

As previously indicated, Jett Williams needs more seasoning in AAA as a fourth option.  There are some non-roster infielders in camp who could make a play for a backup role, but it would probably take some major flubbing by the first two options before that route becomes plausible.

Perhaps the most interesting turn in this week concerning player health concerns would-be DH platoon partner or trade bait Starling Marte.  His injured knee is taking far longer to heal than was anticipated and already people are talking about him starting the season on the IL instead of being part of the 26 men who break camp and head to Citifield.  

The injury naturally would preclude him from stealing bases which is one of the stronger attributes Marte brings to the field and correspondingly would minimize his already thin trade value for clubs in quest of a veteran outfielder.  The other side of the coin is who makes the club in Marte’s place?  Jose Siri and Tyrone Taylor are already locked into two of the five outfield slots along with starters Brandon Nimmo and Juan Soto.  

New arrival Alexander Canario is one name that could be on the table.  He’s hit as many as 37 HRs in a minor league season yet the Cubs DFA’d him to open a roster spot.  Being a right handed hitter, he could theoretically platoon with Jesse Winker at DH while subbing for Marte.  Other options will evolve as well.

On the reliever front, Genesis Cabrera opened some eyes with a nice appearance this past week and being left handed is important with A.J. Minter’s 2025 start date still up in the air.  

Fellow reliever Dedniel Nunez is on a very slow track back to the majors and it’s entirely possible they will want to see him pitch regularly for an interval of time in AAA before he returns to the majors.  Other pitchers seeing action this week included Sean Reid-Foley who appeared healthy (for now) and others hoping to make it back to the majors with the Mets.

Last week I volunteered a path the Mets could take to trade some of their more expensive players to fortify the pitching rotation with a few sample players.  One that arose this week is St. Louis Cardinals All Star hurler Sonny Gray.  He had a nice 2024, going 13-9 with a 3.84 ERA and over 200 strikeouts in 166 innings pitched.  

Right now Gray is 35 years old and owns a career ERA of just 3.51.  However, before you get too excited he’s looking to earn $25 million in 2025, $35 million in 2026 at age 36 and buying out the option in 2027 would cost another $5 million.  So how do you free up $65 million to pay for two years of a quality pitcher like Gray moving towards the twilight of his career?  

It seems a highly unlikely fit unless the Cardinals wanted both the injured Marte, Jeff McNeil and some other higher capital players like Paul Blackburn.  Even then it would buy only enough to cover 2024 but not make a significant impact on 2026.  I can’t see it happening.

Former Met first baseman Dom Smith has been making the rounds of the majors and the minors since leaving New York.  His latest attempt at establishing a foothold is in the farm system of the crosstown rival New York Yankees where he hit home runs in back-to-back games.  

Smith is going to turn 30 during 2025 and owns a career .246 batting average which does include 64 home runs but that’s spread out over more than 2000 ABs.  That suggests he’s good for 16 HRs per season if he played full time.  With power being his one trick pony solution it’s not likely he’s going to be more than a backup for another club — even the Yankees. 

On a minor league deal the Mets added veteran 33 year old right hander Jose Urenas.  He’s not been spectacular during his attempt at a pro career but sometimes experience is more important to a club than rushing a first time younger option to the majors ahead of schedule. 

San Diego Padres GM A.J. Preller opened up the door to potential trades still happening for starter Dylan Cease.  He expects a big return for the one-year rental of a guy who can be a free agent in 2025.  Many interested clubs who would relish having Cease on their rosters don’t want to mortgage their future for a temporary fix, so it may be that Cease plays out at least the first half of the season where he is before the July trade deadline deals start to take place.

While everyone drools over what the addition of Juan Soto to the Mets roster can do towards their efforts to play October baseball, another issue came up this week regarding what he means to the team.  Apparently the first Spring Training game in which he appeared set a new record for viewership by SNY.  High ratings can generate additional advertising revenue which can help finance the cost of his paycheck.

After being announced that ace Kodai Senga’s Spring Training debut would be just a single inning, he actually went two, giving up a pair of hits and notching a pair of strikeouts.  The key thing to watch here is not the box score but how the player, trainers and management staff evaluate Senga’s health status.  If good, that’s a huge sigh of relief going into a 40% deficient starting rotation due to current injuries. 

Apparently great minds think alike.  After I suggested that the Mets pursue Sandy Alcantara this week Tom Verducci echoed the very same sentiment.

Various pieces addressed the probability of the Yankees and Mets somehow engaging in a Marcus Stroman trade but none of them had any substance except perhaps the one that suggested to get the Yanks to pay down significantly on Stroman would force the Mets to cough up Brett Baty as part of the deal. 

Much to everyone’s surprise, it is not Pete Alonso nor Juan Soto leading the Mets in home runs thus far this Spring.  It is sub-Mendoza hitter Jose Siri showing he’s more than highlight reel defensive gems.  Tyrone Taylor is likely not happy. 

A few articles mentioned the new swing being tested by Francisco Alvarez whose 2024 campaign was a little better in terms of batting average but way down when it came to home run power.  Right now it’s still a work in progress so we won’t know for sure how the new swing works until we see it 5 or more games per week. 

Another former Met in the news this week was the revelation that former starting pitcher Jose Quintana will be joining former suspended GM Billy Eppler in Milwaukee to play for the Brewers.  His contract of $5 million is pretty small for a guy with his accomplishments, but remember that would be more than $10 million given the Mets tax situation so it’s understandable why they did not push aggressively for a reunion. 

Major League Baseball released their list of top 30 prospects for each team.  The Mets list can be found here:  https://www.mlb.com/milb/prospects/mets/  You may need to push the button at the bottom to expand to see the full list.