The Mets released Caleb Joseph from his split contract with the team, MLBTR has learned. The move took place last week. Joseph signed with New York in February and was a late cut at the end of Spring Training camp.
A veteran of seven big league seasons, Joseph is best known for his time as a backup and part-time catcher with the Orioles from 2014-18. He also appeared in 20 games with the Diamondbacks in 2019 and three games back in the AL East with the Blue Jays last season. Joseph has hit .222/.270/.351 with 32 home runs over 1367 career plate appearances in the majors, but is better known for his defense, particularly his pitch-framing and his ability to throw out baserunners.
Joseph’s release leaves the Mets without much experienced catching depth at the Triple-A level, though the club added another backstop by claiming Deivy Grullon off waivers from the Rays last week. Grullon, Bruce Maxwell, and Patrick Mazeika are the top depth options behind the MLB catching combo of James McCann and Tomas Nido.
The Blue Jays should bring him back now that Kirk is on the IL. He was a good influence on the young players last year.
And Jansen is hitting .083 with a -0.2 war.
Graterol can fill in nicely though if needed.
I would rather see Adams get some playing time. Jansen is better than he has performed at the plate. He is not a great hitter but he was streaky his first season so I expect him to hit more than he has. The Jays are not winning it all this year so let’s let the kids play.
Ohhh wow, the Mets still have Bruce Maxwell around? I don’t think that’s a good idea. I believe I cancelled him a couple years ago, but I don’t remember why, and I’m not sure how I can go about “un-cancelling” somebody.
Probably because he took a knee during anthem and then later in the year tried to stab someone at a restaurant or something. Dude is a clown and does not have the skill set to be a mlb player.
Wait he pointed a gun at someone. That’s what he did. Classy man!
Braves have a choice, Joseph or Tyler Flowers.
Flowers
Always liked Caleb Joseph. Calls a good game and pitchers liked throwing to him. Being a Birds fan I watched a lot of of him. Used to call him the “Ubaldo whisperer.” Dude got shelled quite a bit but always threw his best games with CJ behind the dish. I remember the magical year they won 96 games and he was there top catcher and he went deep in 5 straight games. He peaked early when he finally made it to the bigs. Hope he has another run in him somewhere.
All I remember is an entire season where he went without a single RBI. He got made fun of by Orioles pitchers even due to his lack of offense. He considered retiring, or at least doing steroids so he wouldn’t be such a “girly man” as he was called in the media, so it’s good that he kept going and got some grit and intangibles in the following seasons!
Babies gotta eat
This is not a good move on Mets. They need to realize what a mistake the McCann signing was. I am a Mets fan but it needs to be called out. What makes it even worse they announced the deal so early in the offseason and ended over paying in terms of years and $. McCann was only worth 2 years $12 mil. Nothing more. Now they are stuck with an albatross as a back up catcher. For example here is a little knowledge did you know McCann has already had half of the ABs he had in 2020? And his production is an abomination. They need to make up for this mistake and need to take fliers on as many catchers as possible. Joseph could have been a better option. I just hope this doesn’t happen to the other Mets offensive signing this offseason because that is shaping up to be the worst contract in MLB history. Don’t even try to explain to me why they would throw all that money to a guy that never performed in NY when they know not all are cut out for it. If he doesn’t hit he seriously needs to consider restructuring that contract to save face. Otherwise he will be absolutely destroyed by the flushing faithful. And you can pack a lunch for that.
Too early to shovel that stuff out there about McCann.
Sure, the hope would have been Joseph would have stayed on and waited for an opportunity but I can see Caleb asking to be let go once Grullon was added. Caleb deserves a chance and he may find it out there. Cardinals Braves Blue Jays all starting their second stringers this early due to injury. I wish him well.
But I think your comments 22 games into a 162 game season seem blatantly premature.
People love to jump on the Mets for missing out on Realmuto, Springer, etc. But frankly their offensive depth signings are paying off for them. As far as McCann goes I agree with you, Eastern. Way too early to tell.
Well, I enjoyed rooting for the Buffalo, but I think McCann has already thrown out more runners this season than he did all of last season.
There is absolutely no way whatsoever that Joseph might be a better option than McCann. That’s a ridiculous assertion.
And yet Tomas Nido still has a spot on the ML roster…