The Mets have agreed to a deal with free-agent catcher Caleb Joseph, MLB.com’s Jon Morosi reports (via Twitter). It’s a split contract, per Morosi, which would register as a bit of a surprise given that such a deal would place him on the 40-man roster (albeit with separate rates of pay in the Majors versus in Triple-A). Barstool’s Eric Arditti first suggested the two sides had reached a deal last night (Twitter link).
Joseph, 34, spent the 2020 season with the Blue Jays organization but was on the taxi squad for most of the season. He did log three games in the big leagues and go 1-for-8 — his long hit of the season standing as a home run.
The vast majority of Joseph’s career has come in an Orioles uniform. The former seventh-round pick made his big league debut with Baltimore back in 2014 and spent time as a backup with them each year until 2018. Joseph, who also had a brief stint with the 2019 D-backs, is a career .222/.270/.351 hitter in 1367 plate appearances.
Clearly, Joseph has never been a huge threat at the plate, but he’s thwarted 31 percent of stolen-base attempts against him over parts of seven big league seasons and is generally regarded as above-average with regard to pitch framing. He’s also a .256/.311/.393 hitter in his career at Triple-A, although that’s a sample of just 489 plate appearances. Adding Joseph will help the Mets to replace some of the depth lost when they designated Ali Sanchez for assignment earlier this month and subsequently traded him to the Cardinals.
Sounds like a perfect taxi squad signing: a veteran who can be available immediately, and won’t suffer from not playing regularly.
Yep, its not really possible for him to hit worse.
Is a “split-contract” the same deal Mike Lamb received from the Braves? I read that Mike Lamb signed a 1-year $1 million contract that is a “non-guaranteed Major League deal.” I have never heard of such a thing. I thought only minor league deals and split contracts could be non-guaranteed. Can someone please enlighten me and tell me what a “non-guaranteed Major League deal” is and how it differs from a “split contract?” Does it just mean the Braves can cut Lamb before the season starts and not pay him but under no circumstances can they send him to the minors?
Wrong Lamb
Here’s mlb.com’s definition of a non-guaranteed major league contract. Look like it applies to players who are still arbitration eligible.
mlb.com/glossary/transactions/non-guaranteed-contr…
Gimme 2 claps and a wooooooh!
I can give you three steps, give you three steps, mister
Give you three steps toward the door…
Give you three steps, give you three steps, mister
And you’ll never see me no more…
Hey, look at that…you brought Skynyrd into my mind after I had forgotten about them for several years. That was unexpected. I think it was the use of the term “Gimme” followed by a number heheh.
Give me…not you…remember who was messing with his woman…
To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand the New York Metropolitans. The play is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of theoretical sabermetrics most of the strategies will go over a typical viewer’s head. There’s also Pete Alonso’s nihilistic outlook, which is deftly woven into his batting stance – his personal philosophy draws heavily from Robinson Cano literature, for instance. The fans understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of these strategies, to realize that they’re not just thoughtful- they say something deep about LIFE. As a consequence people who dislike the New York Mets truly ARE idiots- of course they wouldn’t appreciate, for instance, the humour in Steve Cohen’s existential catchphrase “short GME” which itself is a cryptic reference to reddit’s DeepFingValue epic wallstreetbets. I’m smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as Cohen’s genius unfolds itself on their television screens. What fools… how I pity them. And yes by the way, I DO have a Mets tattoo. And no, you cannot see it. It’s for the ladies’ eyes only- And even they have to demonstrate that they’re within 5 baseball trivia IQ points of my own (preferably lower) beforehand.
Everyone in this room is now dumber for having read this. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.
as a former Orioles fan i’m happy for him, but why ? Tyler Flowers is still available, as are Matt Wieters and Rene Rivera, all better options, and why go for a catcher ?
He is far cheaper and younger than any of them.
Wieters is only a month older and has far more experience
And would demand too much money.
because he had the level of experience, the defensive ability and the price point they wanted and he agreed to split his time in the minors with a minor league salary. Not sure why you would question why they would sign a catcher because they clearly need a catcher. Not difficult to guess. In fact the article actually tells you why
That’s true regarding the previous question, but who gets kicked off the 40-man? I’m guessing Mazeika will be DFA’d. If Maxwell outplays Joseph in Spring Training, he will take Joseph’s spot.
More depth. He will be at AAA behind McCann and Nido. The other guys mentioned like Wieters or Flowers are probably looking for a Major League backup role. I don’t think that’s available with the Mets. This is the in case of emergency break glass signing. A defensive minded catcher who costs less.
@metsie1 Nailed it. This is depth, something the Mets were missing the last few years. Should be a great season in a tough division.
Yes sir @VOnPurpleHayees. NL East will be a dogfight. The divisional games will be very hard fought games.
How is Nido even on a 40 man roster? He’s a career .197 hitter and has a CS rate under 15%. He’s garbage.
MLB Power Rankings
Mets
Dodgers
Braves
Padres
Whitesoxs
1-2
3-5
Interchangeable
LOL…
Dodgers Lineup > Mets
Dodgers Rotation > Mets
Dodgers Bullpen > Mets
Dodgers Defense > Mets
Mets will win 90. Dodgers will win 100
Dodgers lineup is not better. Tie at best.Rotation is also close. Mets also have a better bullpen.
Gonna agree to disagree. Your rotation is DeGrom and pray everyone stays healthy or recovers from a previous injury. There’s a reason the Mets had the 5th worst rotation in MLB last year, and while it will certainly be above average with Carrasco and the return Syndergaard, along with Walker and Stroman, each of them has question marks in terms of durability and/or performance.
Dodgers had the best bullpen in the NL last year (2nd best in BB), while the Mets were average. May & Loup were great signings but you got a bunch of guys with question marks behind them. If they all put it together, it could be elite, but that’s a big “if”.
Lineup-wise, the only place the Mets have a clear advantage is at 1B and 2B, while SS is a tossup.
I’m not hating on the Mets here, as they’re going to be vastly improved, but they have a long way to go before they’re in the Dodgers class. In fact, you Mets fans should be more worried about the Braves, because they’re the team to beat in the NL East.
My gosh, this is going to be some entertaining year.
The only position where the dodgers are clearly better is RF and and CF……
They are in a better position in the standings as well.
Everyone is tied….
Are you sure that you don’t want to start counting off the Mets Magic Number?
Lol, rotation is close. I’m going to take Kershaw, Buehler, Bauer, May, Urias, Gonsolin and Price any day over deGrom, Carrasco, Stroman, Peterson, Walker and Lucchesi. I’m going to go with the Dodgers’ line-up over the Mets. Offensively, it’s close, but the Dodgers defense far outweighs the Mets. Bullpen is close too. Both teams have a bunch of ‘what-if’s”.
Dodgers have more pitching depth for sure. But I’m taking Mets 5-6 of
Degrom
Syndergaard
Carrasco
Stroman
Walker
Peterson
Over the dodgers any day.
@MetsFan22, if you had to make a 5-man rotation plus an extra starter to fill out a roster, and you had to pick from all of the Mets and Dodgers potential starters based on actual recent performance, here is what you wind up with (in no particular order):
DeGrom
Bauer
Carrasco
Kershaw
Buehler
+1 Urias (or May)
If you put any of Stroman, Walker, or Peterson on that list, you’re just a blatant homer…Oh, wait.
You can make an argument for Syndergaard, but you won’t even have him for the whole season, he’ll be on an innings limit, he’ll still be coming off TJS, and he was very average in his last healthy season of 2019. He’s a huge question mark.
Yes, DeGrom is the best overall pitcher of the group, but after that, it’s almost all Dodgers.
Sundergaard is definitely better both urus and may. So…. I would even put syndergardx above Kershaw too.
Carrasco and Stroman have zero durability concerns or performance concerns. Peterson was good. Nice 5. Walker is inconsistent. Noah comes back and nice upgrade to Walker or Peterson.
Dodgers are better. Agree, Braves and Mets are very close. But I’ll take Mets. Freeman and Acuna only two clearly better at their position. Braves bullpen is uninspiring.
Mets bullpen has to get better eventually. Diaz, May, Lugo, Loup with Betances is very good. Gsellman and Familia suck. Luchessi nice swing starter.
Why is SS a tossup?
@UncleEddie, their overall production is very similar, though you could argue that Seager isn’t always healthy. As a Dodgers fan, I’d be happy with either, but hope Seager can have another healthy season and stays for the long-term.
@MetsFan22, the statistics say otherwise. The reality is, Syndergaard is just another overhyped Mets pitcher that has undeniable talent but can’t put it all together or stay healthy long enough to really see what he an do.
Kershaw is a first-ballot HOF’er whose career averages are far better than Thor’s best season.
Are we really comparing the Dodgers with the Mets?
What’s next?
Might as well compare Mohammad Ali with Gerry Cooney.
The 1972 Dolphins with the 2020 Jets.
Martina Navratilova with Anna Kournikova (first in tennis skills, then looks).
Michael Jordan with John Starks
Hank Aaron with Benny Agbayani.
Tom Brady with Ken O’Brien
LeBron James with Frank Ntkilina.
Lou Gehrig with Ike Davis.
Willie Mays with Lastings Milledge.
Barry Sanders with Ty Johnson.
Hakeem Olajuwon with Marcus Camby.
Ernie Banks with Amed Rosario.
And for a closing point, the 27 Yankees with the 62 Mets.
@AshamedMethGoat
You can either call Syndergaard another “overhyped” Mets pitcher, or you can use their very own Ron Darling’s term for what his fellow Mets promoters/shills do, and say that Syndergaard is another Mets pitcher or player that benefits from that good ole “Mets Hyperbole”.
You’d be correct either way. Although, I get a chuckle out of the “Mets Hyperbole” one due to sound of the euphemistic effort, meaning, and the fact that it was a Mets broadcaster that referred to it when talking about one of the Mets players (Cano) that was suspended by MLB.
I love the euphemism! I was just thinking of all of the other Mets pitchers that never lived up to their hype: Pulsipher, Isringhausen, Paul Wilson, Matz, etc.
All overhyped because, New York.
Yep, always overhyped – all their players. All of us fans of the division rivals have to deal with it every year, but we get a good laugh as the year goes on.
You should check out their All-Time Prospect Busts team – which also has so many that they can have both an A Team and a B Team. Here’s the A Team:
C-Steve Chilcott
1B-Ike Davis
2B-Reese Havens
SS-Tim Foli
3B-Gregg Jefferies
OF-Lastings Milledge, Shawn Abner, Fernando Martinez
SPs-Matt Harvey, David West, Paul Wilson, Bill Pulsipher, Jason Jason Isringhausen
RPs-Doug Sisk, Aaron Heilman (the longest lasting prospect ever)
HMs: so many, but let’s mention SP-Tim Leary, OF-Billy Beane, and 3B-Butch Huskey.
Funniest exaggerations ever for young player: “He’s as good as Tony Gwynn and Wade Boggs.” – in reference to Dave Magadan. And “This is a Gold Glove caliber catcher.” in reference to Mackey Sasser (apparently someone missed looking at his throw back to the pitcher).
All benefactors of the Mets Prospect Hyperbole.
Great post! I can’t believe I left that knucklehead Matt Harvey off my overhyped list!
I gotta say it has to be tough being a fan of the Marlins, Nationals, or Phillies, considering that you have to deal with the two most delusional fanbases in baseball on an everyday basis!
Yeah, Harvey is definitely a knucklehead. He’s the poster boy for why you need to sign that contract when it’s offered instead of waiting and never getting it.
As for the delusional fan bases we deal with in the NL East, it actually can get humorous when the teams falter. To be fair though, with the Braves, at least they usually win, and the part of the fan base that act delusional are more of the fairweather ones. The true Braves fans are actually respected by the other teams’ fans. On the other hand, the Mets have a very delusional fan base that never changes, no matter how many opportunities they get to learn the lesson about tempering their hopes for a good season, and celebrating after their team actually wins something. They provide a history filled with comedy with their failed proclamations. But then again, I guess a lot of fan bases would be delusional if their teams coverage was done by the likes of Mike Lupica, Anthony DiComo, Matt Cerrone, etc. homers they’ve had over the decades covering the team as they manned the Mets Kool-Aid stand.
My man I’m a huge Mets fan and there’s no way we are better than the Dodgers
don’t have to be Just have to beat them 4 of 7 with Jake on the hill 3 times!
@Metsfan9, please let @MetsFan22 talk all his stuff. All other fans from the opposing teams are just enjoying it.
@MetsFan22 had some of the greatest predictions last year, so this year, is just trying to defend his title.
No one is afraid of the lowly Mets
again, what’s with all the 40 man space?
Social distancing? Covid did hit New York pretty hard.
Mets will be a huge bust, as usual.
They signed Dolly Parton?!?!?!?!
They signed Bill Gardell too.
Bring back Morganna
They may not have a star caliber catcher but the Mets have plenty of depth at the position. Nice signing. Joseph has a little pop but is mostly noted for his defense
I previously had no idea this man existed on planet Earth.
I’m sure what you’re unaware of could fill a room.
Nido should probably be in AAA playing regularly. Joseph may be better suited backing up McCann.
Remember a few years ago when Joseph went the whole season without driving in a single run? And he still gets a chance
Sanchez was better.
Split contracts don’t come with 40-man guarantees.
See also: Shun Yamaguchi, any other split contract that has ever happened
The Mutts finished in FOURTH place last season.
Here’s their big offseason- they’ve added a back-up catcher in free agency, traded half of their infielders for one season of a guy that hit .258 and does not want to resign, and then about 5 or 6 AAAA-caliber players.
They are going to field basically 4 designated hitters. This roster is garbage.
The Mutts are still looking way up at the Braves, and they can barely squint and see the Dodgers.
For years now with the Mutts it has been scandal after scandal. They are a morally bankrupt and poorly run organization. I’m sick of trying to pretend that they will be even close to competitive this year.
Come September, all of these mouth-breathing Mutt’s fans will be ghosts. It’s the same every year.
Which is your team again?
@MartyMcFeminine
If you’re going to troll, at least get your facts right.
The Mets, with record and tie-breakers, finished in l;AST place last year.
Marlins fanbase! Isn’t that an oxymoron?
Am a huge Mets fan since the Polo Grounds era but until proven otherwise, they are likely 4th best in NL after Dodgers, Padres, Braves. Each of those teams has multiple superstars. Mets don’t quite have that….yet.
500 feet to center field? What an oddly shaped field.
Random feat: Caleb Joseph hit a home run in five straight games for the Orioles back in 2014.
Alright alright, when did Matthew McConaughey become a back up catcher
Mets fan since 1974[saw Hammerin Hank hit one of his last ones, at Shea when still had wood seats] the mets will finish fourth in their division.
As usual horrible May and June and then when they are out of it might go on a little run
@ Dan Hunter
I’m also a lifelong Mets fan (since ‘70), why do you feel they are a 4th place team that will start slowly?
Admitting I’m the eternal spring training Metsies’ optimist, I really do like every move, as well as attempted ‘failed’ moves, that our front office has engaged.
I think they have done an incredible job providing Rojas with options throughout every game situation to manipulate the team on the field.
We have healthy pitching depth with even better injured players who will bolster the staff later as they return.
We have better late inning defensive options both in the grass as well as the dirt.
We have quality left/right double switch candidates who should all get at least 400 plate appearances.
The team is very young and seems that all the position players who have come up through our system are very grounded young men with good work ethics and morals.
While in the past, our defense suffered greatly because we had so many players out of position (we can thank Cespedes, Lowrie and the old regime for that mess), keep in mind those players were out there because they could HIT. 220 games later, they now have those 2 seasons of position experiences behind them and FOR THE FIRST TIME, get to go to spring training and receive actual defensive instruction and reps.
Davis has been thrown under the defensive bus for two straight years now. He had never players the OF prior to 2019 – but he did what the team asked to the best of his ability and never made excuses. Follow that up with a return to 3b with ZERO spring training after not playing there for essentially 2 years.
Give JD Davis his 3b glove and let him get regular daily reps and instruction for the next 6 weeks, get him some new bats, slot him into the 6 hole every day, let him get his 3-4 at bats, then drop Guillermo in late.
In McNeil, you have the exact same scenario as Davis. Slot him in every day at 2b all spring, bat him leading ahead of Lindor, Alonso and Conforto and watch him score 120 runs in 150 games.
Dom Smith is turning into hit machine combination of Strawberry/Hernandez. Hand him two gloves, the first being left field. Go get it, it’s yours every day. If he continues to work as hard as he has out there, his average defense keeps his .300/25/95 bat locked into the 5 spot behind Alonso. He just needs to consistently make the routine plays and hit his cut off. Alonso eventually moves to DH, which moves Smith back to 1B.
McCann is a major defensive plus over Ramos and a similar, younger productive bat with more pop.
A healthy 7 man deep rotation and consistent bullpen performers should net this team 92-94 wins in a very tough division. Split with the really good teams and dominate the not so good. Adopt the Cardinal philosophy of winning the series.
Let’s go Mets!
Who needs Realmuto we got Joseph !!!
Is he better than Maxwell?
No but he has a coat of many colors
As far as i know he’s never held a delivery girl at gunpoint, so there’s that…
Nice move, and certainly an upgrade over Sanchez. If he works hard maybe he can push Nido to the side(not a favorite of Tomas)
@playball. Just to have a friendly discussion, what is it that you don’t like about Nido?
“His long hit of the season standing as a home run”? Well I would hope so if was that long.
Mazeika had some relationship with Brodie. He’s the designee off the 40 man.
Why is SS a tossup?
Congratulations to Caleb Joseph on being a millionaire again while being one of the worst at what you do!
Honestly, harmless, decent depth signing for the Mets. It’s always good to have experience available (defensively) at catcher. All teams make deals like this. A veteran catcher like this at AAA almost becomes like another coach. His career experience and perspective shared with players in the way up help prepare them for MLB realities. He’s always been solid defensively, which mentors the young catchers and his experience with pitchers helps communications with AAA pitching coaches. It’s a good ‘working class’ move for the team.
It’s worth mentioning too that Caleb Joseph has a great track record at handling pitchers. As a rookie in 2014, he actually started the most games behind the plate of any catcher on their roster, and he helped an Oriole team win NINETY-SEVEN games that year. They had the 3rd highest ERA in the AL, most saves in the AL, and no pitchers on their roster save for one or two who really had any major success to speak of before or after playing there.