2:15pm: Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto confirmed in an appearance on 710 ESPN this morning that Kelenic will open the second half back with the big league club (link via 710’s Brandon Gustafson).
“We sent him back, he had a plan to work on,” said Dipoto. “Some of it was how to approach the game and some of it was more skills development-based, and he did everything we asked him to do. … We think it’s the right time to give it another shot. He’s just too talented to allow him to not gain this exposure and these at-bats at the big league level.”
Presumably, the Mariners will make a formal announcement and corresponding roster move tomorrow.
10:03am: The Mariners are recalling outfielder Jarred Kelenic for the start of the second half, according to Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times.
After much controversy earlier this year about service time manipulation and the resignation of Mariners President Kevin Mather, the star prospect was initially promoted in May. However, he struggled in his first 23 games to a line of .096/.185/.193, producing a measly wRC+ of 11. This slump caused the Mariners to option the rookie back to Triple-A Tacoma in June. But since that time, Kelenic has fared much better against Triple-A pitching, with a line of .306/.386/.622, for a wRC+ of 135. One very encouraging sign is Kelenic’s strikeout rate. After striking out in 28.3% of his plate appearances at the big league level, he has cut that essentially in half, to 14.3% since his demotion.
If Kelenic can carry that offensive production to the big league level, it would be a tremendous help to a Mariners team that finds itself in playoff contention, seven games behind the Astros in the AL West and 3.5 behind Oakland for the second wild card spot. The club has a record of 48-43, despite a run differential of -50, which is largely due to only scoring 4.08 runs per game, a rate which ranks 26th out of the 30 MLB clubs.
Kelenic’s initial delay in getting promoted had already prevented him from reaching free agency until after the 2027 season. But this second stint almost certainly prevents him from acquiring Super Two status and reaching arbitration after the 2023 season, which will suppress his earning power during his arbitration years.
With Mitch Haniger and Jake Fraley playing well, Kelenic could potentially take at-bats away from Shed Long Jr., who has limped to a subpar .188/.233/.400 line and wRC+ of 73 so far this year. If Kelenic can hit enough to stay in the mix, Seattle could be facing an outfield logjam in the future. Kyle Lewis tore his meniscus in June but was was playing well before then. And there is also the fast-approaching star prospect Julio Rodriguez, who was recently promoted to Double-A. Haniger is only controlled through 2022 and has often been mentioned as a potential trade chip for the Mariners, as they have been rebuilding in recent years. But that could change if the team continues playing well and maintains contender status.
Fun player, hopefully things go better on take 2 😀
Even if he doesn’t put up superstar numbers right away, this kid should be productive moving forward. Too much talent there. Almost every prospect is over hyped to some degree, so nothing short of a .320/.397/.536 slash line is going to please some folks.
Lol
That’s what I do every time I remember the Mets had to give this stud up while taking on Cano’s contract.
You sound like the MLB Youtube channel’s hyping Ohtani in the ASG….going 0-2 is ruling the game?
Playing a handful of games in MLB is a stud now?
Can’t read his name without cringing. While everyone is trying to find stats to make Nimmo a star we had one in the making.
Nimmo is awesome. His stats aren’t hard to find. But I hear ya on Kelenic.
Nimmo is awesome. His stats aren’t hard to find. But I hear ya on Kelenic.
Danny Heep 2.0 is not awesome. Hes ok at best. Lets be realistic. We would not even know who he was if on half the other teams in the league.
Ugh, just look at his OBP and career OPS+… Heep never touched such numbers. Are you just stuck on batting average? He’s a great player if you look at stats that count.
Stuck on anything. On base is good and everything else below average. Plus cant stay healthy. One stat thats it.
Thank you for finding stats to make him good. Yes forget batting average. Lets take boggs,gywnn and carew out of the hof because the league has great players like Nimmo. He stinks we all know it. Stop looking through rose colored glasses.
I know, the Mets are a joke. How’s Cano doing?
Mets are in first place and don’t have to pay Cano this year. How you doing?
Muted
Just mute them. You don’t need to announce that you muted them. No one cares.
And nobody cares that you think he doesn’t need to announce that he muted them. What’s your point? How about you worry about you and he will worry about him.
Some Mets fans will cry themselves to sleep. Move on. Most of you don’t remember Ryan for Fregosi. It’s not worth thinking about every year for decades.
I remember Kelenic
I remember him going 0-39 in mlb
What’s your point?
Can’t hit MLB pitching genius
“ Can’t hit MLB pitching genius”
And you know this because…?
I know this because I am jarred kelenic I can’t hit those MLB pitchers
He could hit you so shut up.
Robin Ventura had an 0-51 streak his rookie year. He turned out ok. Joe Morgan once had an 0-48 streak. Cal Ripken had an 0-33 streak.
0-51 yikes
If you wanna sarcastically call someone “genius” you might wanna educate yourself as to things like small sample sizes and adjusting to a new league. But sure, if you’re too ignorant to make sense, just get snarky. Let’s maaaaaybe wait before we make declarations on his career, y’know a bit more than ten games worth of at bats?
Wander Franco has a .585 OPS. He’s a bust, right?
I’m not crying for kelenic lol. He is no superstar. Could be a good player tho.
Still better than anyone in the Mets farm.
I think Mets have some prospects that could have a better career than Kelenic.
I’m a Mets fan and would like to know who…?
In theory, every team has a prospect that could have a better career than another prospect. No offense, but that’s a pretty dumb comment.
Key word in theory, astute analysis
I’m not predicting these prospects will be better. Kelenic will be a good player. But Alvarez Mauricio rocker and Baty all have the tools to be better than him. In it saying they will. I also think Allen has a chance too. They all won’t be good but 1 or 2 could definitely be better. All will be top 100 prosecpts soon. And Vientos and Ginn will be close to top 100 too or be in it. Are farm is about to get a lot better.
Everything you just typed may be true MetsFan22, but we all still don’t like you, we all still don’t like your posts, and we all still hope a giant pterodactyl swoops down, picks you up, and then drops you in the East River. Have a terrific evening.
To be fair Bham, he’s pretty dumb so your reply was neither too harsh, nor uncalled for. Carry on.
I’m not predicting it’s going to happen, but Acuna and Soroka could have miracle recoveries and be back on the active roster by August.
But Alvarez Mauricio rocker and Baty all have the tools to be better than him.
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That falls under the category of ‘nothing is certain’. Casas is higher ranked than your prospects, but he isn’t close to Kelenic, and neither are your guys.
FWIW, It is okay to admit it. Just type ‘yeah, Kelenic is a great prospect’.
I think Alvarez is a better prospect than Kelenic. Already in top 20 and will be top 10soon.
I’d take my chances with Kelenic
It honestly doesn’t matter how good or bad Kelenic….because the Mariners are too inept to capitalize on him and Rodriguez anyway.
I remember when the Mariners were geniuses from stealing Jesus Montero away from the Yankees…but again, they’re the Mariners and couldn’t develop him any better than they will Kelenic or Rodriguez.
@njbirdsfan, IDK about not being able to develop players based on Montero. He couldn’t push himself away from the spread, got fat and complacent. He arrived in Seattle entitled, don’t know how the M’s did that.
The current regime has had pretty good success in developing their players.
Alvarez.
Who? There is difference between baseballs good prospects and your teams best prospects. They have some good guys at lower levels but years away before we know. And lets be honest the player development in recent history for non pitchers isn’t legendary.
All trades have risk. The Mets bad trades are no worse than Boston’s Bagwell, Boddicker or Cater trades although there have been wins too (i.e., getting Lowe and Tek for Slocomb – sorry about spelling).
Risk is one thing. Bad process is another.
Cosmo2
Risk is one thing. Bad process is another.
========================================
100% correct. It is one thing to trade for a missing piece, and have the guys you traded away blossom. That’s like Gonzo for Rizzo, when Rizzo wasn’t even the primary piece.
The Kelenic trade was one of maybe 4-5 trades in my lifetime where virtually everyone thought it was a horrible trade, from the first day the trade was made. Looking back years, lots of trades look good or bad.
Very few look bad from day 1.
Yeah that was the move of a floundering front office causing significant detriment to his team in an obvious and almost painful way from day one. It made me nauseous to think that one day MY team could make a trade that bad
I actually remember thinking that the M’s lost the deal giving up an electric closer and a solid (but overpaid) second baseman for a decent pitching prospect and a couple lottery tickets. I don’t remember Kelenic being the highly regarded prospect that he is now
He clearly has moved up in the prospect rankings since then but at the time of the trade he was highly regarded. He was ranked the 60th best prospect at the time despite having been drafted out of high school only 6 months earlier
And was the 6th pick in the draft
I remember the deal as being a steal for the Mariners, especially since the Mets took on most of Cano’s money.
Oh really, he was? I should’ve been much more excited about the trade than I was back then! I was just a huge Edwin Diaz fan and a big Dipoto hater so I just assumed Dipoto had screwed up again (largely because I had a bad taste in my mouth after the Mallex Smith debacle and a few other minor “losses” in the many trades he used to do back then). Now my take looks completely wrong and Dipoto looks like the genius! Glad he proved armchair GMs like me wrong on this one
Ya its not that kelenic is a lock to be a stud, its more that he was a big piece 2 give up for a salary dump from Seattle
There was also Dunn. Dunn is inconsistent, but could easily be a #3 SP.
He was the 6th Overall draft pick in June 2018 out of high school and traded less than 6 months later, M’s had him rated as their top-player on the board in that draft, so yeah, he was pretty highly regarded at the time!
P.S. BTW….Happy B-Day J-Kel!!! (He turns 22 tomorrow!)
Maybe just cry for the dead weight that is the Cano contract.
Metsfan22- yea you’re prob right because we know if prospects are superstars or not after seeing them play all of 23 games in the bigs. The kid had played a total of 30 games above A ball before his promotion.
“Tho” is not a word. Just type it out it really isn’t that hard. Wow those powerhouse Mutts. A whole 7 games over .500. What a joke. I hope the new assistant gm has a great camera phone. What a disgusting joke of an organization. Wouldn’t be a New York team without a wife beater in the bullpen.
Shut up garbage boy. All your posts and comments are irrelevant.
Dugmet – isn’t remembering missed opportunities and stupid moves for decades the essence of being a Mets fan?
I remember Kazmir.
Thing about that trade took a few years to realize it was bad. This and kazmir were horrible the second it happened. Tried looking it up but found nothing to this question….was that the best package you could get for Seaver?
There have been 4-5 trades in my life that were so bad, that everyone said they were bad, like completely DOA. Kazmir was one of them. Zambrano was just a #3 SP, nothing more. Kaz was one of the best prospects in BB.
IRT Seaver, I don’t consider that in the same league as the Kaz or Kelenic trades. Some of the pieces they got back, though not elite, could play a little. It was more about quantity over quality. And Seaver was leaving anyway.
This should be interesting now that pitcher’s aren’t allowed to doctor the baseballs. Welcome back to the show Jarred!
What is an aren’t?
aren’t = are not.
It’s a common contraction in the american english language.
He was referencing the fact that “pitcher’s” with the apostrophe implies possession of the following word, which is “aren’t”. “Aren’t” obviously isn’t a thing that you can have possession of so he was being cheeky by asking what it was as a noun.
I guess it is like one of those jokes that take five minutes to explain why they are so clever.
Stop bad mouthing my jokes
Too much attention being thrust on kelenic due to being ex Met farmhand lost in a dumb trade. Give kid same attention as other prospects not more just to get clicks.
Or it’s rightful cause he tore the minors up. Just a thought tho…
His last time playing in Las Vegas, he signed more autographs than anyone, he seemed to be level headed about the hype.
He’s the Mariners’ #1 prospect and #4 overall, so…
and overrated at that
Maybe, maybe not, but that explains the attention. The Mets trade stuff is just a side story remembered by fans. The report literally doesn’t mention the trade.
It doesn’t have to. Kelenic content gets two different fan bases all lit up, so it’s an easy mark.
Darkside
Why is Kelenic overrated? He tore up AA at the age of 19, tore uo AAA at age 21, and has been killing the ball since his demotion. He looks like as good a prospect as you can get.
because I think there are at least 4 guys better than him whom you could say simmilar things about. fact is i think his value is mostly built off a single season,and putting a guy 4th because.of that is overrating in my mind.
He was a top 10 pick, and hit well in the minors in 2018, 2019 and 2021.
his value is mostly built off a single season
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He’s had three good seasons.
2018 Rookie leagues .839 OPS
2019 A, A+, AA .904
2020 AAA 1.106
He was the #6 overall pick. Hit the various leagues at a young age. There are no negatives.
ut gud
You mean of all the players out there you think 4 are better? Man my rating system needs some drastic improvements. Let me tell you a secret the Ms have an OFer that will probably be better than him and he is ranked all the way down it 6. He is a year away but if eligible next year will be in the top 5. Don’t tell anyone OK darkside we want it to be a secret.
So you’re saying the Mets top prospect should fight Jake Paul?
Let’s goooo! 3.5 games out of the wild card with a -50 run differential. This is a scrappy team and close to turning the corner. Go get Nelson Cruz and another SP to anchor the back end of the rotation. Can’t count on Dunn or Sheffield to make much of an impact with their injuries and ineffectiveness. Hope Kelenic gets off to a decent start!
Before Justin Dunn was shut down for shoulder pain he had better numbers than Flexen. While I agree you can’t count on him (or Marco AND Sheffield) I disagree that Dunn was ineffective. I think you’re basing that assumption on 2020 Justin Dunn- JD has since shown an increase in velo and K rate as well as a decrease in BB rate. I’m excited to see what Dunn can do in his return from the IL
You’re right, I went through his game log and he hasn’t pitched poorly. In 11 starts this year he’s yet to get into the 6th inning so he hasn’t turned in a single quality start. Hope he comes back healthy and can be more efficient with his pitches to get deeper into ball games. M’s can be competitive with USay, Gilbert, Sexy Flexy, Marco, and Dunn. I still think Nelson Cruz would be the guy to go after. The casual Mariner fan would get excited and wouldn’t derail the rebuild. It’s been quite the drought since 2001.
There is nothing dumber on this site than the stupid let’s go comments.
Well aren’t you a ray of sunshine.
LLLLLEEEEETTTTTSSSSSS GGGGGOOOOOO
See proved you wrong that is way dumber.
Best of luck.. Remember, Mickey Mantle had to be sent down after his initial call up and look what happened. Kelenic may not turn out to be a Mantle type, but hopefully a rock solid career. As for haunting trades, every team has them, so yes, move on guys.
Mickey Mantle? As much as I’d love to see Kelenic succeed you can bet the farm on him not turning out to be a Mantle type. Mickey Mantle is one of the greatest ball players who ever lived. He’s up there with Willie Mays, Ted Williams and Babe Ruth.
You could bet the farm, and you’d probably win the bet. That said, no one thought Mike Trout would be Mike Trout. Mickey was a generational player for sure, but since Mantle’s career ended, there have been literally dozens of hall of famers. You can’t dismiss anything for Kelenic yet. Huge bust, All-time great. It’s all still on the table for him. BTW….that Mike Trout kid turned in this kinda slash line to start his career. First 130 at bats. .220/.281/.390, with 5 HR, and 30 strikeouts. Good for and OPS+ of 89 and and OPS of .672. Good thing the Angels didn’t write that guy off.
Trout got sent down too. Should have never called him back up. Bust
ayrbhot – You should probably read the f-n material and understand it before commenting or does it have to be spelled out for you? Here ya go… I didn’t say Kelenic will turn out to be a Mantle type player. The point was that even Mantle had to go back to the minors before discovering himself. Hopefully Kelenic has the same experience of discovering himself and becomes a good player after coming back from a stint in the minors. NOT coming back as a Mantle type player. Duh.
So are we going to compare every decent prospect that gets called up to Mickey Mantle?
I think you guys missed Jerry’s point
Thank you! They completely missed it.
I’m wondering if the Mets win the World Series this year what opinion will the fans have of “the trade”?
That depend on how much Lindor and Carrasco contribute.
Wrong trade
Since the Kelenic trade is being mentioned who here thinks Robinson Cano will go the Bonds/Clemens route on the HOF? 2 PED convictions are pretty damning. He’s only 376 hits from 3000 and under contract 2 more years after this one he’s forced to sit out.
Cano has no chance.
I would say that you probably have a better shot at the hall right now than Cano does. Meanwhile, your namesake should definitely be in the hall. If Baines gets in, then how does McGriff not?
The argument “since Baines gets in” should open the door for hundreds of players to get into the Hall. I agree with you, since Baines did get in, McGriff should be in 100%. However, McGriff doesn’t have personal friends voting like Baines did.
McGriff is not really deserving. His bWAR/650 PAs is only 3.4, and his career total of 52.6, while good, is not great and is largely the result of 10,000+ PAs. Close enough that you wouldn’t get an argument from me, but there are more worthy candidates.
Neither was Baines, I think that’s the point of argument. Baines was a weak knee DH with average numbers. Injuries slowed him, but same goes for someone like Don Mattingly. Baines is just another baseball mistake to make fun of, unfortunately.
Is it fair to use metrics on older players for the hall that wasn’t used on the ones already there? I am not saying don’t use them now but players pre SABR shouldn’t be used as an argument for or against.
Good point. Also, if a player played during the steroid era and there’s no evidence that he used steroids, can he get a little credit for that? His numbers would suffer when compared to the cheaters. There’s a character clause in the qualifications for the Hall. If you’re going to use bad character to keep players out, maybe you should use good character to get a player over the hump, like McGriff or Dale Murphy.
Curious, did you check Baines’ numbers?
Baines had 38.7 bWAR.
McGriff has 493 home runs, 29th most in history. That used to be a benchmark.
Sure, but the ‘Baines got in’ holds no water. If Baines becomes the standard, then we will be electing 20 guys a year forever.
Yeah i don’t think McGriff is the poster child for snubbed hall of famers or anything, I was just using Baines as an example because that argument is still kinda fresh, and that’s what the guy’s name was. If McGriff ever gets in, I’ll be happy, but I won’t be outraged or anything if he doesn’t. Scott Rolen is another one I’ve been on the fence about. At first glance, especially having seen his whole career, I laughed it his hall chances. After looking at the numbers and comparing him, he’s really not that far off. Could go either way. One thing we all can agree on though, is Cano is only getting into the hall, if he pays the 25.oo admission fee (20.00 if he waits until he is 65,)
I think Rolen is a lock. A 70.1 bWAR is a great career. A bWAR of 5.4/650 PAs is extremely high, showing that he didn’t build his career WAR on the basis of nothing but longevity. And he has the requisite hardware with a ROY, 7 AS appearances, and 8 GGs.
I agree. Jeter had 71.3 bWAR. Wasn’t he a first-ballot, almost unanimous guy?
Still a D at best. Cano is terrible and suspended and owed like $40m over the next two years, Diaz is a quality closer. Neither worth giving up a superstar prospect for.
It’s irrelevant. The biggest issue with the trade is that Kelenic was an unnecessary piece Brodie attached to keep Diaz out of Philly (nice poker move by DiPoto) and the fact it’s been weaponized to tease Mets fans.
The Wilpons were like a child driving a luxury car and millions of Mets fans were being held accountable for their actions. The agent GM trading Sandy’s draft pick was just another day in paradise
This is Steve Cohen’s Mets. If we win tbe WS, it’s because of the attention to the margins, thanks to the new analytic department.
We’ll still hate it unless miraculously Cano is the team MVP. So we’ll still hate it.
This lineup is horrid. Probably the worst I’ve ever seen. Maybe Raleigh and Kelenic can help, it truly could not be worse.
The .216 team batting average is dead last in the majors and they were flirting with the Mendoza line just a month ago. Somehow they are hitting .264 with runners in scoring position (6th in MLB). Fluke? Clutch genes? SODO mojo? Who knows
Dbdmack – Seattle’s Lineup- yet they are one of the best teams in the league at hitting with RISP. The M’s lineup can be described as horrid after the first month, 6 weeks in the season but if you look at the lineup’s production over their last 6 weeks it’s a different story. They have turned it around. Besides when you have good pitching you don’t need many R’s to win. SF Giants won a couple WS rings with anemic offenses
to call those offenses anemic is absurd.
MetsFan22 back at it with the awful takes. He’s the Skip Bayless of this site
Dude, he’s worse than Skip. Skip is annoying, but he’s had a long career, and been employed by many reputable companies. MetsTurd22 is just a troll, with no real accomplishments, other than being completely lame on a chat board. I have no doubt that outside of this board, that guy gets zero attention from anyone.
him and that TonyGynn Padre clown who is on every Giants or Dodgers post. It’s summer vacation for these kids and their daddy and mommy do a terrible job in keeping them occupied.
I hate Skip Bayless, but why do you have to insult Skip like that?
Lol Skip shows too much love to Brady and too much hate for Lebron, but he’s actually good with most of his analysis. Even if he does a bit of trolling.
I hope they don’t trade Hanniger. They’re a fun team to watch right now, and you don’t take the next step by trading away good players. Kelenic, J-Rod et all are still suspects.
And it ain’t like the team doesn’t have any money.
As a White Sox fan hoping they get Haniger, I rather do, but then, I’m biased. With their recent surge, I can’t blame them if they turn into buyers. I’m surprised that they’re only 3.5 out of the playoffs, but am leery of that run differential. I get the impression that they’ll fall just short this year, maybe make it next year if the kids develop well.
I’m actually going to see them in a month. Definitely a fun team.
I think they keep him now since they will probably be buyers. Only way he goes is if they get a really good pitcher with a few years of control. I know it doesn’t make sense but never know unless you ask.
Depends on your definition of “really good,” I guess. Does that mean high ceiling? MLB-ready? Are relievers out of the question?
I agree that they probably keep him, but there are always surprise trades and I’m a firm believer that absolutely nobody’s untouchable (league rule excepted) if the offer’s good enough.
Very few relievers are worth a big haul IMO. They are too unpredictable. Diaz could have never gotten over the funk of getting traded. If they hadn’t given up so much he could have been an just an arm and lost all confidence. I know it is true of all players but relievers scare me the most.
I am talking a front line 1-2 rotation guy. A team needing an OFer but has a bunch of young arms. Like Seattle and OFers we have a few extra maybe there is a team a year or so away Who knows funny game.
Kelenic HAS to be good, because Mariners fans creamed their pants from day one of getting him, and they’re not about to cave in over 0-39. I bet Jesus Montero, Hultzen and Ackley will be in the lineup any day now.
It’s pretty pathetic to rag on the Mets with their two WS banners, which is still two more than the Mariners have.
Why so much hate for the Mariners and their fans?
Man. You’re super grumpy. We get it already, you don’t like Kelenic. Head on over to the nearest dispensary, and get you something to cheer up. It’s all good in NJ!!
Id be grumpy too if I was from NJ too. Jealous of our weather and women and all the good things on the Best Coast. Most people from the least coast seem to be grumpy. Or maybe his mom found his stash of playboy/girl whatever you like and his bottle of fireball. Now he is grounded with no reading or booze and those tiny basement windows to look out
At least we (the Mets) we’re able to unload Jay Bruce in the deal. Cano is a disgrace who should be banned for life—what an ashole, and ugly as sin.
Calm down Al. You just called a grown man “ugly as sin” out of anger. Unless you’re a woman, this is not a good look.
The Mets were wise to get rid of this guy when they did. Last time he was in the major he did not do very well at all and there’s little chance that is going to change. If I was Seattle I would try to send him packing as quickly as I could to some sucker team like the Angels or Rangers. This guy seems to have a real attitude problem and he is only in his first year. If your gonna act like a jerk at least perform (EXAMPLE Barry Bonds). This guy isnt close to that at this point he will be fortunate to become the next Jeromy Burnitz.
How do those sour grapes taste?
This a really, really bad take.
This guy just trying to make us Seattle fans mad lol
Sarcasm I presume
Your opinions are whack bro. Just because someone didn’t have success in his first sip of coffee in the bigs does not mean he is a failure that needs shipped out of town immediately. What are you smoking dude? And to think Seattle would trade their #1 ranked prospect in division. Trippin. And the Mets were wise to trade him for Cano!? Say no more bro.