6:20pm: To make room for Duda on their 40-man roster, the Mets placed left-hander Jon Niese on the 60-day disabled list, reports Adam Rubin of ESPN.com. Niese underwent knee surgery Aug. 24, and it’s possible he has thrown his last pitch as a member of the Mets. New York will likely decline Niese’s $10MM club option after the season, per Rubin.
5:26pm: The Mets have activated first baseman Lucas Duda from the 60-day disabled list, per a team announcement. Duda will now return after going on the DL in late May with a stress fracture in his lower back. However, Duda will likely only serve as a bench piece for the rest of the year, according to Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. Duda worked his way back at the Mets’ facility in Port St. Lucie, Fla., but he didn’t appear in any rehab or instructional league games, as DiComo writes.
For the Mets, the activation of Duda comes on the same day they lost star right-hander Jacob deGrom for the season because of an elbow issue. Injuries have beset the Mets throughout the season, but the defending National League champions have still managed a 78-69 record and a two-game lead on the final wild-card spot. The absence of Duda has hurt the club, though, as fill-in James Loney has been among the majors’ worst regulars at first base this year.
Loney, whom the Mets acquired from the Padres as a result of Duda’s injury, has hit a meek .264/.305/.382 with seven home runs in 335 plate appearances. Duda was in the midst of a slow start before he landed on the shelf, having batted .231/.297/.431 in 145 PAs, but he still swatted as many homers as Loney (seven) in 190 fewer plate trips. The Mets are actually second in the NL in long balls (199), yet they’ve scored the third-fewest runs in their league (579). Only the bottom-feeding Braves and Phillies, two fellow NL East teams, have crossed home plate less.
Although he’s unlikely to fill a prominent role over the next several weeks, Duda’s comeback could help the 30-year-old remain in a Mets uniform past this season. He’s currently on a $6.725MM salary and is scheduled to make one more trip through arbitration, which will leave the Mets to decide whether to tender him in the offseason. That seems likely, as the powerful Duda combined to hit an easily above-average .249/.349/.453 with 97 homers in 2,340 PAs from 2011-15.
Do u guys watch theses games??
Loney has a better defensive game than Duda. And as far as hitting, Duda is hot and cold, hits more home runs, how the hell do you make the statement like Loney sucks?
Oh wait, you write for the Post, I use that for wee wee pads for a puppy
Lucas Duda ain’t even good. I rather have loney
Loney is terrible. How you think hes better than Duda, or good definsively, is beyond me.
Things Loney doesn’t do: hit for power. walk. hit for a high BA. play good defense. drive in runs.
This is based on statistics as well.
How can you make the statement the .263 is among the league worsts is my question.
If you look solely at BA, it appears that Loney is better. However, Duda has done better in OPS, RBI to games played ratio, and homers. So yes, Loney has been one of the worst 1b in MLB.
You think Duda USA better defender than Loney?
You must miss slot of games.
If Loney was making that throw to home during the postseason, the result of that game would of been different.
Loney is one of the worst hitters in baseball if you look at numbers. He also plays first like he’s standing in wet cement.
If you’d rather have him hitting 6th or 7th than a guy with 30-HR pop and the ability to draw a walk you should probably just stick to playing video games and calling into WFAN to make ridiculous trade suggestions.
Look at the numbers…Duda is a better player overall- the end.
What kind of a rehab assignment did Duda have? They could have done a lot worse than Loney. The Mets could have 23 million tied up in a 1B like the Twins for almost the same production.
And of course Duda started today…