The Mets have agreed to terms with Cuban catcher Lednier Ricardo, ESPNNewYork.com’s Adam Rubin reports. Financial terms, including whether the contract is a major league or minor league pact, remain unreported.
The 27-year-old free agent was not subject to international bonus pool limits given his age and experience. Over six seasons in Cuba’s Serie Nacional, Ricardo owns a .256/.320/.371 slash and hit 26 home runs. He has seen some action with the national team in recent years, though there is little indication from analysts that he is one of the country’s top ballplayers.
As MLBTR reported last July, there were a dozen or so clubs interested enough to watch Ricardo in a showcase. That included the Yankees, Cardinals, Blue Jays, Mariners, Astros, Royals, Rangers, Tigers, Athletics, and Reds, though presumably the Mets had a good look at some point as well.
If nothing else, Ricardo should provide an upper level depth option in the New York organization. The club has two well-regarded young backstops in Travis d’Arnaud and Kevin Plawecki, who could combine to hold down the position for some time at the big league level, but of course trades and injuries mean that serviceable catchers are always in demand.
Typical Mets: “Oh look…stud position players!!” “Hmm..they sound expensive.” “Got anything cheaper?” “No..I mean..CHEAP.” “Fringe player…yes…that is exactly who we want, if by ‘fringe’ you mean cheap.”
Every team signs organization/depth players.
Either way if you have a sharp front office you don’t need to throw money around. And their front office is smart.
Yeah. Cuddyer-level smart. weeeee!
You want me to list all the smart moves they made? Because they kinda outnumber the bad ones and some of them were downright awesome. Either way they are playing well despite lots of injuries, are on pace for 90+ wins and have an elite farm so there’s that. Or we can judge them by 40 games of Cuddyer, your call.
Can we actually talk about Zack Wheeler, Dilson Herrera, Vic Black, Travis D’Arnaud, and Noah Syndergaard for essentially all rental players? We can talk about Cuddyer then, too.