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Mets GM Zack Scott Facing DWI Charge

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Sept. 2: Scott pleaded not guilty to the DWI charge at this morning’s arraignment, writes Ryan Gerbosi of Newsday. He has another court date scheduled on Oct. 7.

Sept. 1: Mets acting general manager Zack Scott was arrested in White Plains, N.Y., early Tuesday morning, as first reported by Mike Puma, Craig McCarthy and Jorge Fitz-Gibbon of the New York Post. The Post reports that police found Scott “dozing” in a vehicle, at which point he allegedly refused a breathalyzer but failed a field sobriety test. CBS 2 New York indicates that an officer saw the vehicle in question “driving erratically” shortly before the arrest. Scott has been charged and is due back in White Plains City Court this Thursday, per the Post report.

The Mets issued a statement just minutes after the news of Scott’s arrest was reported, which reads as follows:

“We were surprised and deeply disappointed to learn this morning about an alleged DUI involving Zack Scott. We take this matter very seriously. Zack will not be traveling with the team for our upcoming road trip while we learn more and determine next steps.”

The 44-year-old Scott is in his first year with the Mets, having been hired out of the Red Sox organization, where he oversaw the pro scouting and analytics departments, this past offseason. Scott was originally hired as an assistant general manager but was elevated to the title of acting general manager after then-GM Jared Porter was fired.

Every Team’s Initial September Callups

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The limit on active roster players expanded from 26 to 28 today, as the calendar flipped to September. Every team announced at least two additions to the big league club (some teams made three or more due to injured list placements). Here’s a recap of today’s spate of transactions:

Mets Release Zack Godley

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The Mets have granted right-hander Zack Godley his release, MLBTR has learned. He’d been on a minor league contract and pitching with their affiliate in Triple-A Syracuse. He’s now a free agent and eligible to sign with another club for the final month of the season. Godley is the second veteran free agent cut loose by the Mets late in the month, as they also released Josh Reddick from their Syracuse affiliate just yesterday.

The Mets were the third organization of the 2021 campaign for the 31-year-old Godley. He opened the year in the Brewers system after signing a minor league deal and got a pair of brief looks in the Majors. He’s also spent time with the Indians this season, though Cleveland didn’t call him to the Majors.

Godley has been tagged for six runs in 3 1/3 big league innings this season and, generally speaking, has struggled in the Majors over the past few years. He was a solid member of the D-backs’ rotation from 2017-18, pitching to a 4.10 ERA with a 24.9 percent strikeout rate and a 9.4 percent walk rate through 333 1/3 innings (57 starts). However, the D-backs moved on after he limped to a 6.39 ERA through 76 frames for them in 2018. A brief run with the Blue Jays’ bullpen yielded solid results late in that season, but Godley allowed 26 runs through 28 2/3 innings with the Red Sox last summer before a season-ending IL placement due to a forearm strain.

It’s been a solid season in Triple-A for the veteran Godley, however, who has pitched to a 2.33 ERA in four starts with the Mets’ top affiliate and owns a season-long 3.56 ERA with a 22.1 percent strikeout rate and a 10.9 percent walk rate through 73 1/3 innings. Godley carries a 3.29 ERA in 134 career innings at the Triple-A level and a 4.92 ERA in 568 2/3 innings at the big league level.

Noah Syndergaard Tests Positive For COVID-19

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Noah Syndergaard has tested positive for COVID-19, per several reporters, including Tim Healey of Newsday Sports. The righty was scheduled to make a rehab appearance today as he continues his arduous journey back to the big leagues, which he hasn’t seen in almost two years. Instead, it will be yet another setback in a year full of them for Syndergaard.

Since undergoing Tommy John surgery in March of 2020, it’s been nothing but stops and starts for Thor in 2021. He initially started a rehab stint in May but was shut down after just two starts due to elbow inflammation. He then began a second rehab stint on Thursday, throwing just one inning, with the aim of returning as a reliever since there’s no longer enough time in the season to get properly stretched out as a starter. Now he will have to put everything on pause again due to this positive test.

This is yet another disappointment in a month full of them for the Mets. After leading the NL East for much of the season, they’ve gone 7-19 in August and now find themselves 7 1/2 games behind the Braves, with the Phillies in between them. They were already facing a difficult decision with Syndergaard, given that he’s approaching free agency and is a candidate for a qualifying offer. If healthy, he is a potential top-of-rotation starter and certainly worth the money. But the club will have to judge his health based on whatever small sample of work he can produce in the dwindling number of remaining games. With yet another setback, the sample they will use to make that decision has now gotten even smaller.

Mets Release Josh Reddick

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The Mets announced that outfielder Josh Reddick has been released from his minor league contract.  Reddick joined the Mets earlier this month, shortly after the Diamondbacks also released the veteran.

Though Reddick received only 38 plate appearances over 11 games at Triple-A Syracuse, he didn’t produce much in that small sample size, hitting only .182/.289/.303 with one home run.  This performance came on the heels of a .258/.285/.371 slash line in 158 PA with the Diamondbacks, after Reddick signed a minors deal with Arizona in April and was selected to the big league roster in May.

Now a veteran of 13 MLB seasons, Reddick hasn’t provided above-average offensive production (as per wRC+ or OPS+) since the 2017 season, when he was a key member of the Astros’ World Series team.  Since the start of the 2018 campaign, Reddick has hit only .258/.314/.397 over 1405 PA at the big league level.  The left-handed hitting Reddick doesn’t have much extra value in terms of splits over those four seasons, though he has traditionally wielded a strong outfield glove (mostly playing in right field).

If Reddick is signed prior to August 31, he would be eligible for another team’s postseason roster, should a club be looking for an experienced outfield bat.  Clearly he wasn’t in the Mets’ plans for the stretch run, and Reddick seemed like a bit of an imperfect fit anyway considering that starting outfielders Brandon Nimmo, Dominic Smith, and Michael Conforto all hit from the left side.  (Jeff McNeil, another lefty bat, has also been seeing more outfield work as of late.)

Mets To Activate Francisco Lindor From Injured List

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The Mets are activating star shortstop Francisco Lindor from the 10-day injured list before tonight’s game against the Giants, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com was among those to relay. He’ll be making his first appearance since mid-July after missing five weeks with a right oblique strain.

Things were looking up for the Mets before Lindor hit the IL on July 17. New York had been leading the National League East for the prior couple months and looked to have a good chance at snapping a four-year playoff drought. That’s no longer the case, as the Mets have fallen flat in August and dipped below .500 in recent days. New York enters play tonight sporting a 61-63 record, sitting in third place in the division. They’re six and a half games back of the Braves and two games behind the Phillies, giving them very little margin for error if they’re to make a playoff push over the season’s final five-plus weeks.

For the first time, Lindor will pair with trade deadline acquisition Javier Báez in the middle infield. The Mets acquired Báez from the Cubs in the hope that he could hold down shortstop for a few weeks before sliding to second base upon Lindor’s return. Unfortunately, Báez missed ten days himself due to back spasms, but he made his return to the lineup over the weekend.

Lindor started the season very slowly, but he’d begun to find some rhythm offensively before the injury. Overall, he’s carrying a .228/.326/.376 line over his first 364 plate appearances. That’s career-worst production — no doubt a disappointing start to his time in Queens — but Lindor has continued to offer Gold Glove caliber defense and should see an improvement in his hitting numbers, since he’s been plagued by a .248 batting average on balls in play.

NL Injury Notes: Syndergaard, Betts, Kelly, Hoerner, Peralta

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Noah Syndergaard is expected to begin a rehab assignment this week, according to Tim Healey of Newsday Sports. As was previously reported, the Mets are planning on having the hulking righty return as a member of their bullpen, since there’s not enough time remaining in the season for him to be stretched out as a starter. This would be his second rehab assignment of the year, as he attempts to work his way back from undergoing Tommy John surgery in March of 2020. He had previously had a rehab stint in May, before being shut down due to elbow inflammation. It’s now been almost two years since his last big-league appearance, which was September 29th of 2019. The final few weeks of the season will be tremendously important for both Syndergaard and the Mets. The team needs all the help they can get to pull themselves out of their current nosedive. Despite having the division lead in the NL East as recently as August 5th, they are now in third place and seven games behind the Braves. As for Thor, he is a few weeks away from entering free agency for the first time and could help his own case by showing some health and effectiveness before the season ends.

More from around the NL…

  • The Dodgers are planning on reinstating Mookie Betts from the injured list on Thursday, per Jorge Castillo of the Los Angeles Times. The outfielder has been dealing with hip pain all year and is currently in the midst of his second IL placement this season because of it. Despite the nagging hip situation, Betts has still been tremendously valuable when on the field. In 87 games this year, he’s hitting .277/.378/.521, for a wRC+ of 143. Getting him healthy will be a huge boost to the Dodgers as they attempt to chase down the Giants and make up the 2 1/2 games that separate them in the race for the NL West crown.
  • The Dodgers could also welcome Joe Kelly back into the fold this week, per Castillo. Kelly was placed on the IL without explanation on August 10th, but a source of Castillo’s confirmed that it was because of a positive COVID test. The righty has seemingly recovered, given that he started a rehab assignment on Friday. He’s done some quality work this year, throwing 29 2/3 innings of 3.34 ERA ball. The bullpen could use his fresh arm, since it’s recently put Garrett Cleavinger and Evan Phillips on the 10-day IL, as well as Jimmy Nelson going under the knife for season-ending Tommy John surgery earlier this month.
  • Nico Hoerner left the first game of his rehab assignment today because of tension in his oblique, per Bruce Levine of 670thescore.com. Hoerner and the Cubs can afford to play things cautiously, as they are well out of the playoff picture at this point. But the infielder has only been able to play in 39 games this season due to various injuries and would surely like to get some more reps before the winter. The club would also surely love to get more looks at him in action, given that they are going into an offseason with so many potential variables after parting ways with so much of their previous core. When on the field, he has had been effective at the plate this year, slashing .313/.388/.388, producing a wRC+ of 113. He’s also played second base, third base, shortstop, left field and center field, meaning that he could fit into the club’s future plans in a variety of ways.
  • Freddy Peralta played catch today, per Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. Peralta went on the IL on Thursday with shoulder inflammation and will be eligible to return this coming weekend. The righty is in the midst of an exceptional breakout season, as he’s thrown 121 1/3 innings with a 2.45 ERA and superb strikeout rate of 34%. Among all pitchers with at least 120 innings this season, that’s the fourth-best ERA and fourth-best K%. The Brewers don’t need to rush him back, as they are 7 1/2 games ahead of the Reds in the NL Central. But assuming he can keep his shoulder in good shape, he’ll form one third of a potentially deadly playoff rotation, alongside Brandon Woodruff and Corbin Burnes.

Mets Activate Javier Baez

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The Mets announced they’ve reinstated infielder Javier Báez from the injured list. He’s getting the start at shortstop, hitting third, this afternoon against the Dodgers. Reliever Geoff Hartlieb has been optioned to Triple-A Syracuse to open active roster space.

Báez spent the minimal amount of time on the shelf after landing on the IL on August 13 (backdated to August 12). The team’s outlook has changed considerably in that short amount of time, as the Mets have gone 1-8 since last Friday, falling seven games back of the red-hot Braves in the National League East. Báez has gotten off to a slow start to his Mets tenure, hitting .171/.216/.343 over 37 plate appearances since being acquired from the Cubs at the trade deadline.

Francisco Lindor is not being activated today, although manager Luis Rojas told reporters (including Anthony DiComo of MLB.com) he’s expected back early next week. Rojas indicated yesterday that Lindor could return from the oblique strain that has kept him out of action since mid-July as soon as this weekend.

NL Notes: Bryant, Cubs, Mets, Baez, Lindor, Longoria

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The blockbuster trade between the Mets and Cubs on deadline day was almost even bigger, as The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal writes that Kris Bryant was also part of talks between the two clubs.  The actual trade saw Javier Baez and Trevor Williams go to New York in exchange for top prospect Pete Crow-Armstrong, but Rosenthal reports that the larger version of the swap would’ve also seen the Mets land Bryant and another player off of Chicago’s big league roster.  In exchange, the Cubs would have received not only Crow-Armstrong, but also “a prospect they regarded even more highly and a major leaguer under multi-year club control.”

However, the Mets learned of Jacob deGrom’s injury setback on deadline day, which likely made the team wary of making too big of an all-in move.  Given how the Cubs were very busy in reshaping their team at the deadline, it’s possible the mystery player could have been any of the players instead dealt elsewhere (i.e. Craig Kimbrel, Jake Marisnick) or possibly someone who is still in a Cubs uniform today.  It’s probably safe to guess that one of Francisco Alvarez, Brett Baty, Ronny Mauricio, Matthew Allan, or J.T. Ginn was the blue-chip Mets prospect in question, unless the Cubs were intrigued by someone outside of the upper tier of New York’s prospect rankings.

More from around the National League…

  • The Mets could have a new middle infield as soon as tomorrow, as manager Luis Rojas told Newsday’s Tim Healey and other reporters that one or both of Baez and Francisco Lindor could be activated off the 10-day injured list.  Sunday marks Baez’s first eligible day to return after being (retroactively) placed on the IL August 12 due to back spasms, while Lindor has been sidelined since July 17 due to a right oblique strain.  The Mets have Monday off before beginning a series at home against the Giants on Tuesday, so it is possible the Mets could hold Lindor and/or Baez back to give them another two full recovery days before returning them to the active roster.  Baez, at least, seems likely to return by Tuesday at the latest.
  • Evan Longoria is day-to-day after being hit on one of his right fingers by a pitch in Wednesday’s game.  The third baseman has missed the Giants’ last two contests and manager Gabe Kapler told reporters (including Susan Slusser of The San Francisco Chronicle) that Longoria also wouldn’t play on Sunday.  Combined with the Giants’ off-days on Monday and last Thursday, that would give Longoria at least five full days of recovery time.  On the plus side, Kapler said that an MRI showed no signs of a fracture in Longoria’s finger.  Longoria returned only a week ago from a 60-day injured list stint due to a sprained shoulder, and this finger injury serves as the latest interruption in a very strong comeback season (.289/.382/.526 in 199 PA) for the 35-year-old veteran.

MLBTR’s TC Zencka also contributed to this post

Mets Place James McCann On 10-Day Injured List

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The Mets have placed catcher James McCann on the 10-day injured list because of lower back spams, per Tim Healey of Newsday Sports (via Twitter). The move is retroactive to August 17th. The Mets do not expect McCann to miss more than the minimum amount of time, but given the specialization of the catcher position, they chose to be judicious in replacing him on the roster. Geoff Hartlieb was recalled from Triple-A.

Patrick Mazeika and Chance Sisco are already on the roster to share the catching duties in McCann’s absence. Mazeika has started behind the plate in the four games since McCann has been out. Sisco was claimed off waivers from the Orioles on June 25th.

Hartlieb was claimed off waivers from the Pirates earlier this season. The 27-year-old right-hander has struggled in small samples with both the Mets and the Pirates, tossing nine innings combined over seven appearances while allowing 11 earned runs. He was a 27th round draft pick of the Pirates back in 2016, posting solid run prevention numbers in the minors up through his debut in 2019. In parts of three seasons since, Hartlieb has logged 66 1/3 Major League innings with a 7.46 ERA, but 5.42 FIP.

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