The Mets began their offseason roster maintenance on Wednesday, outrighting five players off their 40-man roster, per a club announcement. Among the cuts were right-handers Tyler Pill and Erik Goeddel, outfielders Travis Taijeron and Wuilmer Becerra, and infielder Phillip Evans.
The 27-year-old Pill came up from Triple-A Las Vegas to support an injury-ravaged pitching staff. In 22 innings (four relief appearances and three starts), Pill logged a 5.32 ERA with 6.6 K/9, 4.1 BB/9 and a 49.3 percent ground-ball rate. Pill, the younger brother of former Giants first baseman Brett Pill, posted a solid 3.47 ERA in 80 1/3 innings in Las Vegas’ extremely hitter-friendly environment, though his 5.6 K/9 mark and 2.5 BB/9 mark there suggest that he benefited from some degree of good fortune.
Goeddel, 28, has spent parts of four seasons with the Mets but has not replicated the promise he showed from 2014-15, when he posted a 2.48 ERA with a 40-to-13 K/BB ratio in 40 innings out of former manager Terry Collins’ bullpen. Over the past two seasons, Goeddel has seen his control and velocity worsen, with the ultimate results being a 4.87 ERA in 64 2/3 innings of work. He still averaged 9.6 K/9 in those 2016-17 seasons, but Goeddel also served up 13 homers in that time — an unacceptable average of 1.8 homers per nine innings pitched.
Taijeron and Evans, meanwhile, both received September cameos that marked their respective MLB debuts. The 28-year-old Taijeron mashed in the aforementioned hitters’ haven of Las Veags (.272/.383/.525, 25 homers, 32 doubles) but hit just .173/.271/.269 in 59 big league plate appearances. Evans, 25, batted .279/.341/.418 in Vegas and spent at least 140 innings at each of left field, second base, shortstop and third base. He hit .303/.395/.364 in a tiny sample of 38 MLB PAs.
The 23-year-old Becerra went from the Blue Jays to the Mets alongside Noah Syndergaard and Travis d’Arnaud in the widely panned R.A. Dickey swap and for a couple of years rated as one of the Mets’ more promising farmhands. However, Becerra batted just .267/.332/.335 this past season as a 22-year-old in his second trip through the Class-A Advanced Florida State League.
Beverage showed promise last year; I hope he stays with the organization and tries to put it together in AA in 2018. But he’s not worth a spot on the 40.
*Becerra – not beverage; damn autocorrect!
Becerra came in the Syndergaard trade. For a while it looked like he might make the deal even more one-sided than it was.
Becerra has no choice: he is not eligible for free agency yet. If someone claims him, he’s theirs. If no one does, he remains a Met. He would also be eligible to be taken in the Rule 5 draft. But it seems extremely unlikely that any team would ignore him on waivers only to take him on Rule 5 a month later.
The Goeddel brothers both showed flashes of success. Hope one or both can make it back to the big leagues.
Little surprised that they let Taijeron go… He had some power potential and was a AAA all star 2 years ago
He has a huge issue with strikeouts though, MLB pitchers would make a fool of him.
AAA Allstar TWO years ago, says it all right there.
Are all free agents now? Kind of thought Evans looked somewhat promising as a backup.
same here Taijeron also looked like a solid 5th outfielder
Taijeron can’t hit a good breaking ball. He’s never been able to. He is 28. He’s had three years in AAA in what should be his prime years, and his improvement in that area (and in his strikeout rate) has been only minimal. He sometimes manages to cut down on his Ks slightly for a couple of months, but he always regresses back to his bad habits again. I wouldn’t mind having him in AAA for another year, just to see if his experience in the majors has taught him anything, but he wasn’t worth the roster space and he’s a free agent now, so he’ll be gone soon. Thats the way it goes. The move was expected and makes sense, so no tears here. At the end of the day, Taijeron is a poor-man’s Kirk Nieuwenhuis, but with more HR power and weaker defense. Just not smart enough to make the adjustments at the higher levels and make them quickly.
I believe Evans, Taijeron, Goeddel and Pill can elect free agency due to minor league service time. Beccera can become a free agent next offseason assuming his contract is not purchased between now and then, however he will be up for grabs in the Rule V this December.
Thanks for the explanation.
Evans’ removal is not a complete surprise. But I am a little disappointed it was him and not Matt Reynolds. .
Evans is just 25 and has three options left. I think Evans has more value than Matt Reynolds right now, AND still has a chance to develop into an even better player, while Reynolds is not very useful now, and at age 27 with just one more option left, probably won’t ever stick as a major leaguer.
I’m not surprised by Pill, Evans, Goeddel or Taijeron.
They way I saw it with those guys: the two relievers were pretty much replacement level relievers in their mid-20’s who were deemed expendable and Taijeron and Evans, while potentially good bench pieces, didn’t fit into the Mets’ plans.
Taijeron looks like a power bench bat to me who would hit .190 with 12 home runs. Evans seems like a utility infielder with passable average and defense but no power or plate discipline (see Johnny Giavotella)
Becerra on the other hand shocked me. Obviously he had a bit of a down year, however he hit around .260 with 15 doubles and 16 stolen bases and comes with 2 options years while spending the entirety of 2018 at 23 years old. I’m a little bit surprised that no other teams were willing to give him a shot. I know the floor is that of an organizational depth piece, however the ceiling is incredibly high with his raw power and the speed that he’s shown.
His raw power? Becerra hit 5 hr in 782 plate appearances over his two seasons in high-A ball. He still struck out 184 times. He was a decent prospect at one time but if he has a high ceilings it’s hidden pretty deep…
Becerra’s age and ceiling are irrelevant, as he will most likely NOT reach the majors before those 2 remaining option run out. Let’s play this out: at the rate he is going, he will clearly need more than a year each at AA and AAA before getting called-up to AND sticking in the major leagues.
And his ceiling is not “incredibly high”. His speed is only moderate to above average, and he hasn’t shown much power in two years.. His OF defense was always suspect – he ran bad routes to the ball and had trouble improving in this area, and also had bad throwing technique. Some blamed this on his shoulder issues, but he hasn’t gotten better since the surgery. Its also worth noting: that the Mets moved him to 1B the last few weeks of the season. Though nothing has been reported, that could be an indicator that his shoulder is still damaged goods. If he can’t play OF, and has limited HR power, his future is limited. Right now, his prospects of becoming a major leaguer look iffy. He would run out of options with the Mets before he gets here – IF he even gets here. And his role – again, IF he even makes it, looks to be limited..
Why didn’t they fire flexen as well?
Flexen is a minor leaguer who was forced into major league action before he was ready. He was DOMINANT at AA, and certainly deserves his chance to get more seasoning at AAA.
Flexen was great in AA-Binghamton. They probably want to give him another year of minor league seasoning before giving him another shot. The only reason he was called up in ’17 was out of necessity.