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Mets Designate Genesis Cabrera, Jose Azocar For Assignment

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The Mets designated lefty reliever Génesis Cabrera and outfielder José Azocar for assignment. That clears a pair of active roster spots for Brandon Waddell and Jared Young, each of whom were recalled from Triple-A Syracuse. Cabrera and Azocar are both out of options, so the Mets needed to DFA them to take them off the big league roster. Their 40-man roster count drops to 38.

Cabrera and Azocar had each been selected onto the MLB team in recent weeks. The former was called up after the team lost A.J. Minter and Danny Young to season-ending surgeries. The 28-year-old Cabrera made six appearances, allowing three runs across 7 2/3 innings. He struck out seven and walked three while averaging around 96 MPH on his fastball. It wasn’t a bad showing altogether.

Unfortunately for Cabrera, he’s a victim of circumstance. The Mets and Dodgers played 13 innings last night. Cabrera went two of them on 20 pitches and probably wouldn’t have been available today. In addition to the four extra frames, that game featured a lengthy third-inning rain delay that forced the Mets to lift starter Griffin Canning rather than try to ramp him back up after the layoff. As a result, all eight members of New York’s bullpen pitched in the eventual 7-5 loss. Waddell hasn’t pitched in six days at Triple-A and is all but certain to get some work behind David Peterson tonight.

Azocar is a more straightforward roster cut. He has been the clear fifth outfielder since the Mets selected his contract on April 17. He has only started five games in as many weeks. Azocar made an appearance as a pinch-runner last night, the first time he’d played in any capacity since May 14. They’ll swap him out for Young, who signed a split deal over the offseason and will be making his team debut. A lefty-swinging corner outfielder/first baseman, Young is hitting .259/.371/.506 with five homers over 22 games in Syracuse. He’ll provide more of a bat-first profile off Carlos Mendoza’s bench.

The Mets have five days to trade Cabrera and Azocar or place them on waivers. There’s a chance they’ll find minor trade interest in Cabrera, though Azocar seems likelier to hit waivers and go unclaimed (as he did during Spring Training). Both players have a previous career outright, meaning they’d each be able to decline a minor league assignment and elect free agency if they clear waivers.

Royals Acquire Diego Castillo

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The Royals have acquired infielder Diego Castillo from the Mets, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He has been assigned to Triple-A Omaha. The log doesn’t specify what the Mets are receiving in return but it seems likely to be a cash deal.

Castillo is a 27-year-old infielder and not to be confused with the 31-year-old pitcher of the same name, who is in the Rockies’ system on a minor league deal. The infielder signed a minor league deal with the Mets in the offseason and has appeared in 13 Triple-A games so far this season. He has a rough .167/.217/.262 line, though it’s a tiny sample of 46 plate appearances and he has been held back by a .188 batting average in balls in play.

That performance probably didn’t help his standing with the Mets. Additionally, the club’s infield picture is far stronger than it was to start the year. Jeff McNeil started the season on the injured list but has been back for a few weeks now. Brett Baty has been heating up after a cold start. Luisangel Acuña is performing well enough as a bench piece. Ronny Mauricio is also back on the field and playing minor league games after missing 2024 due to a torn ACL.

For the Royals, both Michael Massey and Jonathan India are having rough years, so the second base production hasn’t been great. The Royals have received a collective .217/.251/.280 line from the keystone this year, with Massey taking most of the playing time. That results in a wRC+ of 44, which puts the Royals ahead of just the Rockies in terms of offensive production from that position. They just recalled Nick Loftin as the corresponding move for outfielder Hunter Renfroe being designated for assignment, so Castillo will perhaps take up Loftin’s spot on the Omaha roster.

Though Castillo is out to a slow start this year, his minor league track record is solid. From the start of 2021 to the present, he has stepped to the plate 1,663 times on the farm with a 13.3% walk rate, 14.9% strikeout rate, .278/.377/.418 line and 108 wRC+. Defensively, he has spent time at all four infield spots and the outfield corners. His major league batting line is only .208/.257/.383, but that’s in a fairly small sample size of 292 plate appearances, most of which came with the 2022 Pirates.

Photo courtesy of Jesse Johnson, Imagn Images

Mets Release Sean Reid-Foley

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The Mets have released right-hander Sean Reid-Foley, reports Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. He’d been pitching at Triple-A Syracuse after the Mets passed him through waivers unclaimed during spring training and assigned him outright to their top affiliate.

The 29-year-old Reid-Foley has long been a tantalizing arm but has yet to capitalize on all of his potential. He was a second-round pick, 49th overall, by the 2014 Blue Jays and ranked among their system’s top prospects before being traded to the Mets alongside Josh Winckowski and Yennsy Diaz in the 2021 trade that sent Steven Matz to Toronto.

Reid-Foley has had an up-and-down tenure with the Mets, finding success and posting big strikeout rates at times but also battling myriad injuries that have limited him to just 60 big league innings and 57 1/3 minor league frames in four-plus years with the organization. That includes a 2022 Tommy John procedure that cost him more than a calendar year.

Reid-Foley returned from that injury in 2023, pumping better than 95-97 mph on his heater and missing bats at a huge level. From 2023-24, he pitched 29 1/3 innings in the majors and logged a 2.15 ERA with an excellent 33.1% strikeout rate and strong 13.3% swinging-strike rate …. against a woeful 16.1% walk rate.

Command has never been a strong point for Reid-Foley, but his walk troubles have escalated in recent years. Beyond that ugly 16.1% walk rate in his post-TJS tenure with the Mets, he’s also dished out a free pass to 18.4% of his opponents in Triple-A this season. As one might expect, Reid-Foley also sports a big strikeout rate (31.6%), but between those walks and a hefty four home runs in only 14 innings pitched this year, he’s been saddled with an 8.36 ERA in Syracuse. His fastball, which averaged 94.9 mph in the majors last year, has sat 93.8 mph so far in 2025. (However, he posted a matching 93.8 mph average fastball in the minors last season.)

Reid-Foley, by all accounts, is healthy at the moment. He pitched two shutout innings with three punchouts and no walks as recently as May 18 against the Phillies’ top affiliate in Lehigh Valley. He’ll be a project arm for any team that wants to speculate on a minor league contract. His command struggles are an obvious blemish on his overall record, as is the potential velo dip. But there’s no risk for another organization in taking a flier on a reliever who has shown huge swing-and-miss ability and has had some degree of big league success — particularly since Reid-Foley would be controllable for two more years via arbitration if he’s eventually able to rein in his command and get back to MLB success.

Mets Release Billy McKinney

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The Mets have released outfielder Billy McKinney from his minor league contract with the club, as noted by Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. McKinney signed a minor league deal with the club back in March.

Selected 24th overall by Oakland back in 2013, McKinney was once a consensus top-100 prospect who was included in two major trades before making his big league debut: first he was part of the package (headlined by Addison Russell) that the Cubs received in return for Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel from the A’s, and then just two years later he was part of the package (headlined by Gleyber Torres) that Chicago sent to the Bronx in exchange for Aroldis Chapman. After that whirlwind of trades, McKinney finally settled in with the Yankees long enough to make his big league debut during the 2018 season.

Unfortunately, by that point McKinney’s top prospect shine had already worn off. He made it into just two games with the Yankees before being traded once again, this time to the Blue Jays alongside Brandon Drury in exchange for J.A. Happ. He spent three years with Toronto in total and got into a combined 122 games during that time while slashing .230/.291/.439. He was DFA’d by the Jays following the 2020 season, however, and spent 2021 bouncing between multiple clubs. He ultimately appeared in a career-high 116 games that year but hit just .192/.280/.358 across 300 plate appearances with the Brewers, Mets, and Dodgers before being non-tendered by the Rangers that November.

A return to Oakland on a minor league deal in 2022 did not go well, but McKinney’s return to the Bronx in 2023 injected some life back into his career when he hit a solid .227/.320/.406 after being selected to the roster in June of that year following an injury suffered by Aaron Judge. McKinney’s roughly league average performance did not keep him on the club’s 40-man roster throughout the offseason, however, and he was outrighted off the 40-man and elected free agency that November. He initially re-signed with the Yankees on a minor league deal but was traded to the Pirates shortly thereafter. He hit .299/.406/.460 at the Triple-A level for the Pirates before being called up to the majors in August, though his lackluster 52 wRC+ in ten games wasn’t close to enough to earn him a more stable role with the organization.

After being outrighted last September and once again electing free agency, McKinney found himself unsigned until late March, when he landed with the Mets on the aforementioned minor league pact. Now in his age-30 season, McKinney struggled even with the club’s Syracuse affiliate this year, hitting just .184/.285/.307 across 130 trips to the plate in 33 games at the Triple-A level. That was enough for the Mets to decide to part ways with McKinney, and he’ll now return to free agency in search of a fresh opportunity elsewhere. As a depth option with the ability to handle first base and all three outfield spots, it’s not hard to imagine a club bringing him in on a fresh minor league deal, whether that’s to see if they can tap into the potential that made him a top prospect a decade ago or simply to fill out their Triple-A depth chart.

Braves Claim Kevin Herget

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The Braves announced that right-hander Kevin Herget has been claimed off waivers from the Mets and been assigned to Triple-A Gwinnett.  The Mets designated Herget for assignment on Thursday.

Herget came to New York on another waiver claim off the Brewers’ roster back in November, and his time with the Amazins ended up consisting of two innings in the Mets’ 8-3 win over the Diamondbacks on April 29.  Herget was called up to the active roster that same day and optioned back to Triple-A the following day.  His work at Triple-A Syracuse has seen Herget post a 2.87 ERA in 15 2/3 relief innings, but with some uninspiring peripheral numbers.

While he has now appeared in each of the last four MLB seasons, Herget hasn’t gotten much of an extended look, as his big league resume consists of 44 2/3 total innings of 4.63 ERA ball across 25 games with four different teams.  A veteran of 14 pro seasons that includes a long stint in the Cardinals organization and a couple of stops in independent ball, Herget offers plenty of experience and some pretty decent numbers as a minor leaguer.

Atlanta becomes the latest team to get a look at the 34-year-old, and Herget becomes the latest in a very long line of veteran relievers the Braves have auditioned throughout Spring Training and into the season.  The revolving door hasn’t brought much consistency to a bullpen that still around the middle of the pack in overall production, yet the Braves have had some luck in the past at finding hidden gems amongst less-heralded pitchers.

NL East Notes: Young, Mauricio, Edwards

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Today’s game between the Nationals and the Orioles included a scary moment where Nats center fielder Jacob Young crashed into the outfield wall at full speed and went down, as noted by Spencer Nausbaum of the Washington Post. He eventually departed the game with a left shoulder injury and was replaced by Alex Call in the outfield. Fortunately, Nausbaum was among those to note after the game that x-rays on Young’s shoulder came back negative. The 25-year-old’s status remains uncertain ahead of further evaluation tomorrow, but it’s undeniably a good omen for the club on the heels of an exciting win over Baltimore.

Young, 25, hasn’t hit much in his second season as a regular fixture of the Nationals lineup. Across 124 plate appearances this season, he’s posted a meager slash line of just .215/.300/.252 with zero home runs and just four doubles. Despite that lackluster performance at the dish, however, Young has largely made up for it with elite defense and base running. Young has been in the 88th percentile when it comes to value on the basepaths this year according to Statcast even in spite of his league-leading four failed stolen base attempts. The defense has been nearly as good, as his +2 Outs Above Average leaves him tied for sixth among NL center fielders with other strong defenders like Brenton Doyle and Johan Rojas.

With James Wood and Dylan Crews in the outfield corners on a daily basis and Call posting a solid 114 wRC+ in part-time duty, Young may need to hit more in order to keep himself in the lineup on a regular basis in the long-term, particularly with prospect Robert Hassell III beginning to hit at the Triple-A level this year. For now, however, the Nationals will surely content themselves with a quick return to action for their center fielder, given that the loss of Young would likely force Crews to slide over to center field on a more regular basis. With Crews scuffling badly at the plate himself to this point in the year, the Nats would surely prefer to avoid putting additional responsibilities on his plate at this point.

More from around the NL East…

  • The Mets optioned infielder Ronny Mauricio to Triple-A today after ending his rehab assignment at the Double-A level. As noted by Anthony DiComo of MLB.com, the move is largely procedural in nature given that Mauricio was already in the minors. Mauricio missed the entire 2024 season after suffering a torn ACL during winter ball, and he’s appeared in just ten games in the minors so far this year as he works his way back up to speed with five games at Single-A and five games at Double-A. Now, Mauricio is set to finish getting back into form with the club’s Syracuse affiliate. Given he’s hitting just .125/.176/.188 with a 35.9% strikeout rate so far this year, it’s safe to say that Mauricio is still focused on recovery at this point and likely won’t be a realistic big league option for the Mets for some time yet.
  • The Marlins, meanwhile, have been without shortstop Xavier Edwards in the lineup for two days now due to back soreness. Craig Mish of the Miami Herald relayed today that, according to manager Clayton McCullough, Edwards underwent imaging that “came out OK” and that Edwards was slated to resume baseball activities today. It’s unclear if Edwards is expected to return to the lineup tomorrow, but if a trip to the injured list is being considered that would be an ideal time to make a decision seeing as a hypothetical IL stint could be backdated due May 16 if it began tomorrow. Edwards was one of the club’s better hitters in 70 games last year but has hit just .263/.337/.292 to this point in the 2025 campaign. Javier Sanoja is filling in at shortstop while Edwards is out of commission.

Mets’ Anthony Gose, Jon Singleton Trigger Upward Mobility Clauses

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Mets minor leaguers Anthony Gose and Jon Singleton each triggered upward mobility clauses in their contracts, reports Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. That requires New York to offer them to other teams. If another club is willing to give either player a big league roster spot, the Mets would need to call them up themselves or let them head elsewhere (likely in a trade for cash).

Gose signed a minor league deal last December and was with the Mets in Spring Training. He worked six innings of one-run ball in camp. Gose has pitched 15 times for Triple-A Syracuse, pitching to a solid 3.31 earned run average over 16 1/3 frames. He has fanned a quarter of opponents but is walking more than 15% of batters faced. That’s par for the course for Gose, a former outfielder with a mid-90s fastball and scattershot command.

The Mets are stretched on left-handed relief depth after the A.J. Minter and Danny Young injuries. They called up minor league signee Génesis Cabrera to work as Carlos Mendoza’s primary southpaw. They added a second lefty last night, acquiring José Castillo in a DFA trade with the Diamondbacks. Gose has a relatively clear path to the big leagues in Queens, though they’ve already added two other depth arms to their bullpen instead of promoting him.

Singleton, a lefty-hitting first baseman, was in camp with the Astros. Houston released him at the end of Spring Training. He signed a minor league deal with New York at the beginning of April. He has appeared in 33 Triple-A games, batting .216/.358/.432 with seven home runs.

He’s hitting for power and drawing plenty of walks, but he has fanned in nearly 30% of his plate appearances. Singleton had a career-high 405 trips to the plate with Houston last year, batting .234/.321/.386 with 13 homers. With Brett Baty hitting well since being recalled two weeks ago, the Mets probably wouldn’t have room for Singleton if another team were willing to call him up.

Diamondbacks Trade Jose Castillo To Mets

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The Mets acquired lefty reliever José Castillo from the Diamondbacks for cash, the teams announced. New York designated righty Kevin Herget for assignment to create a spot on the 40-man roster. Arizona had designated Castillo for assignment on Monday.

Castillo has technically appeared in five MLB seasons, though all but eight of his appearances came with the Padres during his 2018 rookie season. He turned in a 3.29 ERA over 38 1/3 innings that year but was subsequently set back by injury.

The 29-year-old signed a minor league deal with the Snakes in November. It marked his second consecutive season in the Arizona organization. He had spent all of last year with their Triple-A team in Reno, though he lost the first half of that season to injury. The Diamondbacks assigned him back to Reno to begin this season. He struck out seven while tossing 5 1/3 innings of one-run ball and was called up at the beginning of May.

The 6’6″ southpaw only spent a couple weeks in Torey Lovullo’s bullpen. He didn’t pitch well, allowing eight runs on 10 hits (including a trio of home runs) over 6 1/3 frames. Arizona bumped him out of the bullpen when Kendall Graveman returned from injury. Castillo is out of options, so they needed to designate him for assignment to take him off the MLB roster.

That out-of-options status means the Mets are prepared to give Castillo at least some time in their big league bullpen. They’ve been forced to scour the lefty relief market after losing Danny Young and A.J. Minter to season-ending injuries. They called up Génesis Cabrera from Triple-A Syracuse. He’s the only southpaw in Carlos Mendoza’s relief corps. Cabrera has managed five innings of one-run ball over four outings, but he had walked nearly 15% of opposing hitters in Triple-A before the promotion.

The Mets will need to remove someone from the major league bullpen once Castillo reports to the team. Dedniel Núñez is the obvious candidate, since he still has a couple options remaining. Cabrera is out of options, so the Mets would need to designate him for assignment if they wanted to use Castillo as their only left-hander.

Herget relinquishes his spot on the 40-man roster. The Mets claimed the 34-year-old off waivers from Milwaukee early last offseason. He only spent one day on the MLB roster, allowing two runs on three hits in one inning. He has otherwise been working out of the bullpen at Syracuse. Herget has only allowed five runs over 15 2/3 innings, but that came with a pedestrian 13:7 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He had a much stronger 32.4% strikeout rate over 38 appearances with Milwaukee’s top farm team a year ago.

The Mets will likely place Herget on waivers within the next few days. He has been outrighted twice in his career and would have the right to elect free agency if he goes unclaimed.

MLBTR Podcast: Devers Drama, Managerial Firings, And Jordan Lawlar

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • Should the Orioles try to extend Cedric Mullins or Tomoyuki Sugano (35:05)
  • How real are the Twins and the Tigers? (39:00)
  • What should the Cardinals do in right field if Jordan Walker doesn’t get going? (44:50)
  • Why do the Mets seemingly do better with external pitching additions than their homegrown arms? (49:25)

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Photo courtesy of Ken Blaze, Imagn Images

Mets Among Teams To Show Recent Interest In Luis Robert Jr.

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10:15am: Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports that there is “nothing hot” between the Mets and White Sox regarding Robert as things stand, though he goes to acknowledge that the Mets have “checked in” on him previously and that center field could be an area the club has interest in upgrading.

9:15am: White Sox center fielder Luis Robert Jr. has long appeared to be the club’s most obvious trade chip for the 2025 season, and a report from USA Today’s Bob Nightengale last weekend suggested that Chicago may be motivated to move Robert before the end of May if he were to continue playing well throughout the month. Robert has gone just 4-for-19 at the plate with one walk and five strikeouts since that piece was published, but today Nightengale reports that teams have begun to show interest in Robert with the Mets among the clubs to have checked in.

The 27-year-old could certainly make plenty of sense in Queens. Robert’s offense has left much to be desired over the past two years, as he’s slashed just .215/.282/366 with a lackluster 82 wRC+ across 137 games since the start of the 2024 season. That’s essentially a full season’s worth of games where Robert has struck out at a 32.6% clip and hit just 19 homers, though he has walked at a solid 8.3% clip and stolen 38 bases in that time while serving as a capable defensive option in center field.

While Robert’s recent production isn’t exactly exciting, it’s impossible to deny his talent. Staying healthy has always been a question for Robert, but he offered star-level production when on the field from 2021 to 2023 with a .287/.331/.511 (129 wRC+) slash line and 10.6 fWAR in just 311 games. That’s a four- to five-win player over a full season, and while his recent downturn in production makes expected a five-win campaign like his 2023 season somewhat unrealistic, it’s worth noting that Robert’s been hurt badly this year by a .244 BABIP that falls well below the career norm for a player who’s never posted a figure below .300 before in a season. A look at Robert’s solid .326 xwOBA would suggest that his underlying performance this year is more or less in line with the production he put forward in 2022, when he slashed .284/.319/.426 with a wRC+ of 111 in 98 games.

That sort of production would be extremely valuable for a Mets club that already lost its starting center fielder in Jose Siri for the first half of the season due to a fractured tibia. That’s left Tyrone Taylor to handle center field duties in Queens, and while he’s been serviceable with a .249/.295/317 (90 wRC+) slash line, he’s not exactly been an impact player for the Mets and lacks the superstar upside Robert offers. Center field is one of very few holes in New York’s lineup; the club is only ranked below average by both fWAR and wRC+ at three positions so far this year: second base, left field, and center field. Brandon Nimmo is entrenched in left and has wound up above-average at the plate in each of the last eight seasons, while second base is covered by a combination of Luisangel Acuna, Brett Baty, and Jeff McNeil. None of those names have firmly grabbed hold of the everyday job at the keystone to this point, but that depth of options makes an external addition seem unlikely.

That leaves center as the obvious place for an upgrade, and the pickings at the position figure to be slim this summer outside of Robert. Perhaps Cedric Mullins could be available if the Orioles can’t dig themselves out of their current hole in the standings. The Twins could deal either Willi Castro or former Met Harrison Bader if the club’s current seven-game winning streak proves to be simply a flash in the pan. Robert stands out from that pack, however, as an option controlled beyond the 2025 season (via a pair of $20MM club options for 2026 and ’27) and by offering higher upside than any of them.

Of course, any deal would be contingent on the sides being able to agree on an asking price. Nightengale writes that the White Sox are “eyeing” right-hander Blade Tidwell as part of the of a possible return package, though it’s unclear if the Mets would have any interesting in parting ways with the 23-year-old. Tidwell made his big league debut last week, and while it didn’t go well (six earned runs in 3 2/3 innings), he remains a valuable part of the starting pitching depth chart for a Mets club that has dealt with a number of early-season pitching injuries already. It would be understandable if the Mets were hesitant to include a big league ready arm like Tidwell in the return for Robert, especially if the deal were to happen early in the season before the trade market heats up in earnest. Speculatively speaking, the club could be more open to dealing a player like Tidwell later in the year, when they may have either received reinforcements from the injured list or swung separate trades with other clubs to acquire more starting pitching.

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