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Mets Activate Pete Alonso From 10-Day Injured List

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Pete Alonso has made a quick return from the injured list, as the Mets announced that the first baseman has been activated from the 10-day IL after just the minimum 10 days.  In the corresponding move, New York optioned Mark Vientos to Triple-A.

Alonso was hit on the left wrist by a Charlie Morton fastball back on June 7, leaving the slugger with a sprain and a bone bruise.  While Alonso at least escaped a more serious injury like a fracture, he was still expected to miss at least 3-4 weeks recovering.  Instead, the Polar Bear easily beat that timeline and is already on his way back to the Mets lineup.

Getting Alonso back so soon is a nice outcome for a Mets team in dire need of a break.  After losing 10 of their last 13 games, the Mets are 33-37 and sit in fourth place in NL East — a wholly disapppointing result for a team that won 101 games in 2022, and is spending at record levels this season.  While there’s still plenty of time for the Mets to get on track, the Amazins have already dug themselves a big hole, and a wild card may be their only path to the playoffs since the Braves lead them by 11.5 games.

An inconsistent offense has been one of the factors in New York’s slide, so Alonso’s power bat will be welcome.  Even after missing time on the IL, Alonso still leads the National League with 22 home runs, and only Shohei Ohtani (23) has more homers league-wide.  The first baseman is hitting .231/.326/.546 over 261 plate appearances, and Alonso’s batting average and OBP are both down from career norms.  Still, Alonso is making tons of hard contact, and his incredibly low .199 BABIP indicates that Alonso could be hitting a lot better than his already-productive slash line.

Vientos was called up to the majors about a month ago, and he hit .178/.224/.244 over 49 PA.  It was an underwhelming performance for a hitter considered one of the Mets’ top prospects, though Vientos also didn’t receive much in the way of consistent playing time.  Working mostly as a DH with a few appearances at both corner infield positions, Vientos only played a full game in seven of his 16 appearances.  He’ll now head back to Triple-A to await his next opportunity, though Vientos may not have anything left to prove in the minors, given his 1.104 OPS over 166 PA at Syracuse this season.

Mets Sign Rafael Ortega To Minor League Deal

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The Mets have signed outfielder Rafael Ortega to a minor league deal, reports Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors. Ortega will report to Triple-A Syracuse.

Ortega, 32, was non-tendered by the Cubs at the end of last year and has since bounced around to various non-roster opportunities. He signed a minor league deal with the Yankees in January but requested and was granted a release when he was informed he wouldn’t make the club out of Spring Training. He quickly landed another minor league deal with the Rangers but was granted his released from that club just over a week ago. Before his release, he was hitting .226/.333/.381 through 199 plate appearances in Triple-A.

Prior to this nomadic year, Ortega had a solid two-year run with the Cubs in 2021 and 2022. He got into 221 games in those seasons and made 701 trips to the plate. He hit 18 home runs and walked at an above-average 10.6% clip. His combined .265/.344/.408 batting line amounted to a wRC+ of 108, indicating he was 8% above league average. He spent most of his time in center field, where his work was graded as just a bit below average.

Given the difficulty in finding capable center fielders who can also hold their own at the plate, that was a valuable performance. Ortega earned a combined 2.2 wins above replacement from FanGraphs over those seasons and 2.3 from Baseball Reference. Nonetheless, the Cubs decided to cut him loose rather than pay a projected arbitration salary of $1.7MM for 2023.

The Mets have a regular outfield of Brandon Nimmo, Mark Canha and Starling Marte, with Tommy Pham also in the mix. The recent injury to Pete Alonso has seen Canha spent a bit of time at first base, however, thrusting Pham into a more regular role. The designated hitter slot is also fairly up for grabs thanks to the struggles of Daniel Vogelbach, who is hitting .203/.343/.297 for the year. He hasn’t appeared in a game in over a week and Mike Puma of the New York Post recently relayed that Vogelbach is getting a mental break as the club tries to figure out how to get him back on track.

Given those factors, perhaps there’s a path for Ortega to earn his way into a reserve outfield role with the club. If he is able to get onto the roster, he is out of options but could be retained for future seasons since he currently has under three years of major league service time.

NL East Notes: Chavez, Ridings, Doolittle

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The Braves dodged a bullet yesterday when righty Jesse Chavez was hit in the leg by a comebacker and helped off the field, as initial x-rays did not reveal a fracture. The team originally believed Chavez would be able to avoid an IL stint entirely, that didn’t prove to be the case. Atlanta placed Chavez on the 15-day injured list, per a club announcement, and recalled right-hander Ben Heller from Triple-A Gwinnett in his place. Losing Chavez even just for two weeks or so will sting. The 39-year-old has been outstanding for Atlanta, pitching to a 1.55 ERA with a career-best 30.8% strikeout rate against a 7.7% walk rate. Chavez has already picked up a save and a dozen holds for the Braves, and he was on an 11-inning scoreless streak prior to his injury.

A few more notes from the NL East…

  • The Mets announced Thursday that they’ve reinstated right-hander Stephen Ridings from the 60-day injured list and optioned him to Triple-A Syracuse. The move fills a spot on the team’s 40-man roster, increasing their count from 37 to 38 players. Ridings, 27, has yet to throw a pitch for the Mets, spending the entire season to date on the injured list due to a lat strain. The Mets claimed the right-hander off waivers from the Yankees back in mid-November, just before teams set their rosters in advance of the 2022 Rule 5 Draft. Shoulder troubles derailed Ridings’ 2022 season, but he posted a 1.24 ERA and 42-to-4 K/BB ratio in 29 innings between High-A and Double-A in the Yankees system back in 2021.
  • Veteran lefty Sean Doolittle was transferred from the Nationals’ Double-A affiliate to their Triple-A club Thursday, signaling that he’s completed his rehab work and is now considered fully healthy. The 36-year-old Doolittle, who signed a minor league deal with the Nats over the winter, is being formally reinstated from the injured list and will try to pitch his way back into the Majors with a strong showing in Rochester. Doolittle allowed three runs and posted a 10-to-2 K/BB ratio in seven rehab frames between Class-A and Double-A. The lefty pitched just 5 1/3 frames for the Nats in 2022 before requiring an internal brace procedure in his elbow over the summer.

MLBTR Trade Rumors Podcast: Stroman Lobbies for Extension, Mets’ Woes and Astros Seeking Bats

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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:

  • Marcus Stroman lobbying for an extension with the Cubs (1:40)
  • The struggling Mets lose Pete Alonso to the injured list (6:00)
  • The Astros seem more focused on getting bats than arms at the deadline (10:05)

Plus, we answer your questions, including:

  • Other than a pure prospect, I don’t see a difference making middle of the order bat being available at the trade deadline. Be it a 2 month rental or even someone with 1 or 2 years of control. Do you? If so please tell me about him. (14:45)
  • Could this be the year in which the O’s get a starter? They’re notoriously cheap when it comes to big contracts or giving up the farm, but I can’t see any team going deep into the playoffs with Kyle Gibson or Tyler Wells as their Game One ace. If so, who are the top candidates, knowing that the O’s will have to compete on the market with any team with a winning percentage over .500? (19:45)
  • The Cardinals are full of young players that may not be stars in the making, but probably get a fairer shot at regular playing time on many other rosters to prove their worth. If the Cards ultimately become sellers at the deadline, do they really get much value in moving guys like Iván Herrera, Juan Yepez, Luken Baker, Moises Gomez, and/or one of their outfielders? Or are they content to have that depth if the returns are minimal? (22:35)

Check out our past episodes!

Mets’ Drew Smith Issued 10-Game Suspension For Foreign Substance Violation

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TODAY: The league officially announced that Smith has been suspended for 10 games, and will be fined.  According to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, Smith won’t file an appeal, so his 10-game absence begins with tonight’s game against the Yankees.

JUNE 13: Mets reliever Drew Smith was ejected by first base umpire Bill Miller in the seventh inning of tonight’s matchup with the Yankees. Smith had been called upon to enter the game but was tossed before throwing a pitch after umpires checked him for foreign substances.

Smith is the third pitcher of the season to be ejected for foreign substances, each of whom has come from the two teams involved in tonight’s contest. Mets ace Max Scherzer was thrown out of a start in April, while Yankees starter Domingo Germán was ejected last month.

A foreign substance ejection comes with an automatic 10-game suspension. It’s likely MLB will formally levy that ban on Smith tomorrow. The righty will have the ability to appeal, though that would be heard by a league official. Neither Scherzer nor Germán pursued an appeal; both pitchers served out the suspension before returning to the roster.

Players suspended for an on-field rules violation cannot be replaced on the roster. Assuming Smith is indeed suspended, the Mets will have to play with a 25-man roster for a week and a half.

They’ll also be down one of their better high-leverage arms. The 29-year-old has a 4.18 ERA across 23 2/3 innings. He’d posted a 3.33 mark through 46 frames last year, however, and he’s striking hitters out at an above-average 27.7% clip. Smith has picked up a pair of saves and held eight more leads this year.

Mets Release Tommy Hunter, Stephen Nogosek Elects Free Agency

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TODAY: Nogosek has elected to become a free agent after turning down the outright assignment, according to multiple reports.

JUNE 13: The Mets have sent a pair of recently-designated relievers through waivers. Veteran righty Tommy Hunter has been released, while right-hander Stephen Nogosek was sent outright to Triple-A Syracuse, tweets Anthony DiComo of MLB.com.

Hunter appeared in 14 games for the Mets this season after cracking the roster out of Spring Training. He allowed just under seven earned runs per nine innings over 23 2/3 frames. Home runs were the biggest culprit, as Hunter surrendered six longballs in 106 batters faced. He had a similarly high home run rate in 22 1/3 innings last year but found more success keeping runs off the board in 2022.

While it hasn’t been a banner season for the 36-year-old, he’s been an effective middle innings arm for the bulk of his career. Hunter has consistently shown excellent control, and this season’s 4.7% walk rate remains stellar. He’s only punched out 18.9% of opponents but had a decent 23.4% strikeout percentage a season ago. He figures to land a minor league deal elsewhere now that he’s back on the open market.

Nogosek cleared waivers after a similar start to the year. The out-of-options hurler posted a 5.61 ERA across 25 2/3 frames. He’s also allowed a half-dozen homers, though Nogosek’s strikeout and walk numbers (21.2% and 11.9%, respectively) are each above Hunter’s rates.

This is the second time the Oregon product has gone unclaimed on waivers in his career. The Mets also successfully outrighted him over the 2019-20 offseason. He’d therefore have the right to decline the assignment in favor of free agency.

José Quintana Begins Rehab Assignment

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The Mets announced to reporters, including Tim Healey of Newsday, that left-hander José Quintana has been assigned to Low-A St. Lucie to begin a rehab assignment. He started tonight’s game and tossed 26 pitches over a scoreless inning and a third, allowing two hits and a walk.

Quintana, 34, joined the Mets this offseason by signing a two-year, $26MM deal. Unfortunately, he has yet to make his debut as a Met due to requiring bone graft surgery for a benign lesion on one of his ribs. When that procedure was announced in March, it was reported that Quintana wouldn’t be able to return until July at the earliest. He seems to be on track to hit that target as long as the rehab assignment goes well. Pitchers can spend a maximum of 30 days on rehab assignments before they need to either be activated or shut down due to some kind of setback.

The imminent return of Quintana puts the Mets within range of having their planned rotation all together for the first time this season. In addition to Quintana’s ailment, Carlos Carrasco and Justin Verlander each spent some time on the IL, while Max Scherzer missed time due to a 10-game ban for foreign substance usage. All of that has left Kodai Senga and Tylor Megill as the only constants  in the rotation.

Those various hurdles have coincided with a slow start to the season for the club. Despite winning 101 games last year and having a very aggressive offseason where they ran the payroll up to record heights, they currently sport a record of 31-35, nine games behind Atlanta in the National League East. Thankfully for the Mets, a Wild Card position is far closer to their grasp, as they are only three games back in that race. Now that their rotation is nearing full strength, perhaps that gives them the boost they need to make a surge.

Quintana spent many years as a solid rotation member in Chicago, pitching for both the White Sox and the Cubs. He tossed over 200 innings in each season from 2013 to 2016, then tallied at least 170 frames in each of the next three campaigns. His ERA held steady between 3.20 and 4.68 in those years. He then missed most of the 2020 season due to a thumb injury and struggled badly in 2021, but bounced back nicely last year. Between the Pirates and Cardinals, he tossed 165 2/3 innings with a 2.93 ERA, 20.2% strikeout rate, 6.9% walk rate and 46.4% ground ball rate.

If everyone stays healthy over the next few weeks, Quintana would likely displace Megill from the rotation, as he still has options and has struggled of late. He had a 3.88 ERA after his start on May 18 but has allowed 16 earned runs in his past 16 2/3 innings, bumping his ERA for the season to 5.14.

Mets Sign Luke Voit To Minor League Deal

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The Mets announced that they have signed first baseman Luke Voit to a minor league deal. He will join Triple-A Syracuse and be active tomorrow.

It’s been a rough season so far for Voit, 32, who got into 22 games with the Brewers but hit just .221/.284/.265 while striking out in 36.5% of his plate appearances. That led to Milwaukee releasing him back to the open market.

Voit’s production has been tailing off for a few years now, but this latest drop was the steepest. In the shortened 2020 season, Voit led the majors by hitting 22 home runs despite the truncated schedule. He slashed .277/.338/.610 on the year for a wRC+ of 153. But in 2021, he made multiple trips to the injured list and hit a diminished .239/.328/.437, wRC+ of 112. The Yankees effectively replaced him with Anthony Rizzo while he was hurt and then flipped Voit to the Padres going into 2022. He only lasted a few months in San Diego before going to the Nationals as part of the Juan Soto deal, finishing the year with a combined .226/.308/.402 line and 102 wRC+. He was non-tendered and joined the Brewers this year but dropped even further, as mentioned above.

Despite that downward trend, it’s not too surprising that the Mets are willing to take a shot. For one thing, they just lost their primary first baseman, as Pete Alonso is going to be sidelined for the next three to four weeks after getting hit by a pitch on his wrist. In the past few days, they’ve used Mark Canha and Mark Vientos to cover the cold corner. Canha is primarily an outfielder who hasn’t played the position regularly since 2015, while Vientos is a rookie who has hit just .167/.233/.256 through his first 86 major league plate appearances.

If Voit can get into a decent groove at Syracuse, he could perhaps force his way back into the picture. Doing so could push Canha back into the outfield or Vientos to the minors, depending on how things play out in the coming weeks. The other appeal for the Mets is the low cost. Since Voit was released, the Brewers remain on the hook for the remainder of his $2MM salary. Even if the Mets call him up to the big leagues, they would only have to pay him the prorated league minimum salary, with that amount subtracted from what the Brewers pay.

Steve Cohen “Frustrated” But Won’t Be “Reactionary” To Mets’ Slow Start

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After snapping a seven-game losing streak on Saturday, the Mets couldn’t remain in the win column today, dropping a 2-1 result to the Pirates.  The loss dropped New York’s record to 31-35, putting them in fourth place in the NL East and 9.5 games behind the first-place Braves.  The crowded NL standings mean that the Mets are only 3.5 games back of a wild card berth, yet obviously the Mets didn’t expect to find themselves in such a middling position after winning 101 games in 2022 and then augmenting their roster with a blockbuster offseason.

Since owner Steve Cohen has been so aggressive in his spending to make the Mets into a World Series contender, there has been a lot of speculation over whether or not Cohen’s desire to win could now manifest itself in managerial or front office changes in response to the Mets’ slow start.  However, as Cohen indicated to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, such changes don’t appear to be in the works, nor is he planning to “blow up” just to express public frustration.

“The reality is it’s not going to solve our problems,” Cohen said.  “And I think in some ways it can be demotivating….I think that’s the worst thing you can do is to be overly reactionary.  General fan reaction, it’s usually, ’I can’t believe Steve’s not going nuts, fire somebody.’  My answer to that is, ’OK, let’s say I went nuts.  Let’s say I fired somebody.  Then what?’  What does that accomplish?  Who are you gonna replace them with?  This is the middle of the season.  And then if you actually ask people [who are the replacements], they have no answers, other than they’re just angry, and I get that.  I’m frustrated too.”

While this isn’t exactly a clear vote of confidence in GM Billy Eppler or manager Buck Showalter, Cohen stated that he isn’t letting “recency bias” dictate his decisions, saying “You’re better off trying to manage through these periods and not throw your entire plans out the window.  It’s just not good management, good strategy.”  In one of multiple references Cohen made between the Mets and his hedge fund business, Cohen noted that “there are moments where we’ve drawn down really hard for whatever reasons — whether it’s markets, whether it’s something that we did wrong — it doesn’t mean I completely change or let people go.  I don’t operate that way.  These are challenges.  This is management.  This is the moment where you get to witness how your management deals with problems.”

Cohen made it clear that he isn’t pleased with the season to date, pointing to both a lack of results from the rotation as well as “mental errors” from the team at large.  But, “those are what I would call unforced errors that we can fix and we will because these are good guys who are working hard,” Cohen said, and he feels his pitching staff has too much talent to continue struggling.

“What is the odds this group of pitchers will pitch this way the entire season.  Probably unlikely,” Cohen said.  “That is why there is reason for optimism in a moment where it looks like the wheels have just come off….These are people who have performed in the past, and you’ve got to believe that it’s fixable.  I keep coming back to that: The best indicator of future performance is how they performed in the past.  And they have performed consistently well in the past.  That gives me optimism for the future.”

The Mets entered Sunday’s action ranked 25th of 30 teams in rotation ERA, as both under-performance and health issues have been pitfalls for the team’s starters.  Justin Verlander and Carlos Carrasco each missed significant time on the 15-day injured list, while Max Scherzer has battled some neck soreness and also served a 10-game suspension for use of a foreign substance on his hands while pitching.  Jose Quintana has yet to pitch at all this season due to a stress fracture in his ribs suffered during Spring Training, and isn’t expected back until July.  Beyond this veteran group, Kodai Senga has pitched well in his first MLB season, but Tylor Megill, David Peterson, and Joey Lucchesi have all struggled.

NL East Notes: Marlins, Phillies, Mets

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Marlins left-hander Trevor Rogers didn’t make his scheduled rehab start yesterday due to an issue in his non-throwing shoulder, according to Craig Mish of the Miami Herald. The club is currently waiting for medical results before making a decision on how to proceed with Rogers, who could be back on the mound in Triple-A as soon as early next week if the impending medical update is encouraging. Rogers has made just four starts for the Marlins this year while battling a biceps strain. In those starts, Rogers posted a solid 4.00 ERA (111 ERA+) with a 4.11 FIP and 19 strikeouts in 18 innings of work, though he did struggle with his command as he hit three batters and walked six in that time.

After Rogers’s setback, the Marlins may be left looking for rotation options in the near future, as Mish indicates that the club is hoping to “slow down” youngster Eury Perez, who has already pitched 60 innings this season between Triple-A and the majors after throwing just 77 innings total last season. The 20-year-old phenom has been excellent in 29 innings in the majors this season, with a sterling 2.17 ERA. That being said, Perez’s 24.8% strikeout rate, 10.7% walk rate, and unsightly 27.3% groundball rate all leave something to be desired, resulting in a less inspiring 4.34 FIP.

Mish suggests that the Marlins may limit the young right-hander to somewhere between 100 and 115 innings during the 2023 campaign, and the club is hoping to have Perez available later in the season. A natural time to slow Perez down seemed to be on the horizon with Rogers’s pending return, but with the lefty’s timetable less clear, the Marlins may need to look elsewhere to cover for Perez’s starts if they wish to manage his innings headed into the summer.

More from around the NL East…

  • Phillies fans got positive injury news regarding a pair of young right-handers yesterday, as Rule 5 draft pick Noah Song is set to begin work in sim games in the coming week, as noted by Alex Coffey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Song posted impressive numbers in 2019 after the Red Sox drafted him in the fourth round of that year’s draft, though he has not thrown a profession pitch since due to his service as an officer in the US Navy from 2020-2022 and this year’s injury woes. Coffey also notes that top pitching prospect Andrew Painter, who has been out since Spring Training while rehabbing a UCL sprain, threw a 20-pitch bullpen session yesterday. A consensus top prospect int he sport ranked as high as #5 by Baseball America entering the 2023 season, the 20-year-old Painter seemed poised to claim the fifth starter job in Philadelphia before the UCL injury left him shut down from baseball activity. Painter’s return to the mound is sure to breed optimism among fans in Philadelphia, though Coffey notes that manager Rob Thomson gave no update to Painter’s timetable for return ahead of yesterday’s bullpen session.
  • Mike Puma of the New York Post suggested today that the Mets could look to skip the next start of right-hander Tylor Megill, who has struggled to a 5.14 ERA in 63 innings as a regular member of the club’s rotation this season. Things have gotten particularly difficult for Megill over the past three weeks, and the young right-hander has posted a ghastly 8.64 ERA in his last four starts, walking a whopping twelve batters while striking out just fourteen in 16 2/3 innings of work. As Puma notes, the club won’t require a fifth starter until they face the Astros on June 20, allowing them to either skip Megill’s next start and use him out of the bullpen for a period of time, or perhaps option Megill to Triple-A before giving Joey Lucchesi or David Peterson a look in the rotation. Manager Buck Showalter acknowledged that coming off days provide the club with flexibility, “especially in the bullpen if we wanted to add an arm.”
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