Both Chris Bassitt and Mets GM Billy Eppler declined to comment on whether any contract extension talks had taken place between the two sides, though a source tells The New York Post’s Joel Sherman that “nothing has been explored yet.” Since Bassitt is slated to become a free agent after the season, it would be a little surprising to see him sign an extension before testing the market for the first time, particularly since the righty is building a strong case for a pricey multi-year contract this winter. Over his first 31 innings in a Mets uniform, Bassitt has a 2.61 ERA, 28.1% strikeout rate, and 6.6% walk rate.
Locking up Bassitt would help the Mets solidify their 2023 rotation, as Jacob deGrom, Carlos Carrasco, and Taijuan Walker could all be free agents this winter. An extension would also allow Bassitt and the team to avoid the shorter-term problem of an arbitration hearing set for May 23. While this could be the 33-year-old Bassitt’s best (or only) chance to sign a big multi-year deal, he might prefer to just stay in New York if the Mets were to offer him such a deal right now, and the Mets have certainly shown they’re willing to spend for premium talent. For his part, Bassitt said that he has enjoyed pitching for the Mets and that he’d be open to extension talks.
More from around the NL East…
- Bryce Harper has been bothered by a mild right elbow strain for several weeks now, though MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki tweets that “nothing really has changed” following Harper’s latest visit with a team doctor. It isn’t known when Harper will try throwing again, so the reigning NL MVP will continue to serve as the Phillies’ designated hitter. Harper hasn’t played right field since April 16, but has still been productive (.288/.307/.542 with three home runs) over 62 plate appearances as a DH-only player.
- Elieser Hernandez allowed five earned runs in four innings against the Diamondbacks today, boosting the struggling Marlins right-hander’s ERA to 6.66 over 24 1/3 innings this season. This outing won’t end speculation about whether the Marlins could promote top prospect Max Meyer to replace Hernandez in the rotation, and Barry Jackson and Craig Mish of The Miami Herald write that the Fish are likelier to use Meyer as a starter than as a reliever whenever Meyer gets the call for his MLB debut. “The organization still is a big believer in Hernandez,” according to Jackson/Mish, but that doesn’t mean the Marlins couldn’t opt to move Hernandez to the pen to accommodate Meyer. A trade also can’t be ruled out, since Hernandez has drawn interest from other teams in the past. For now, Meyer could be Miami’s top choice for an immediate rotation fill-in, since Braxton Garrett, Edward Cabrera, and Sixto Sanchez are all rehabbing injuries.
- Also from Jackson and Mish, the Marlins were among the teams who talked with the Guardians about a possible Jose Ramirez trade prior to Ramirez’s new contract extension. “No serious discussions took place” between Cleveland and Miami, and it was known that the Guards were asking for a huge return in any deal. The Marlins’ young pitching depth arguably made them one of the teams that could have realistically met the Guardians’ big asking price, though it’s all a moot point now that Ramirez has been extended.
Speaking of the NL East, all four teams are reported to be interested in Adam Duvall – who is apparently a good hitter.
Adam Duvall you say? Is that Roberts brother?
I have it on good authority that he is Robert’s son.
I have never heard anyone say Adam Duvall was a good hitter. I’ve only seen people point out he’s streaky, plays passable defense in center, and great defense at the corners.
Who has been telling you this? There must be a lot of them judging by your use of “apparently”
@BeansforJesus
You are correct in what you’ve heard. As a Marlins fan, I can attest to this because that’s essentially how we’d describe Duvall. He’s essentially an ‘All-or-Nothing’ offensive guy who is All-World for a few games and a whole lot of nothing for the other games. Defensively is exactly what you pointed out.
Overall, Duvall is excellent as a support guy for your cornerstone players, but not a guy that you should be counting on much.
So I imagine that the Braves are really interested in Duvall…the guy they already have.
Shut up and give the Braves Soler back…..
In fact, Duvall for Soler sounds about right – he had 100+ RBIs last season.
At the end of the day, as long as the Mets don’t win, everyone else is a winner.
LOL
@Your Team…
I’ll see what Soler does for the whole season before I bash the deal entirely. The thing I’m bothered by is that we did not need to add two corner OFs since we had Bryan de la Cruz, but we added two – and we needed a legit Closer, but spent the money for the second OF in Soler.
Here’s what we see so far…Marlins till blowing late leads; de la Cruz on the verge of bouncing Soler, Garcia, Cooper or Aguilar from the everyday lineup if he keeps hitting and, Soler and Garcia struggling, and Aguilar and Cooper not taking full command of owning their spots in the lineup.
And yes, you are right. For Braves, Marlins, Phillies and Nats fans, as long as the Mets don’t win to let their obnoxious fan base yap, it’s still a win when our teams don’t.
Bash the deal? Duvall has 100 RBIs last season. In fact, take Ozuna back as well.
The Marlin’s can keep Soler. Duvall is probably gone after this year, why would you want Soler for an additional 2 years?
Because without Soler, this team would not have won the WS.
That’s the past. Soler helping in 2021 isn’t worth $12 mil a year for the next three.
It’s tough for everyone to get over the loss of not having the lolmets to kick around anymore. The Wilpon half-baked player acquisitions, the dumpster diving, the daily off-field drama… those days are gone.
@BobbyKidd1965
Considering that part of the lolMets thing involves Mets fans commenting early in seasons (when the Mets have good starts) that the past days of laughable failure and ineptitude are gone, I find it awesome that you posted that “It’s tough for everyone to get over the loss of not having the lolmets to kick around anymore. The Wilpon half-baked player acquisitions, the dumpster diving, the daily off-field drama… those days are gone.”
Let me see. You make this statement on May 5th, a month into the season, right after the Mets lost a series for the first time this season at home in their first matchup against the reigning World Series Champions who have owned our division for 4 straight years, and have slapped the Mets down to reality in those years – the Atlanta Braves. Thank you for that.
Well…well…well…
@BobbyKidd1965 I think the Mets are very good and will win the division, but I’d like to point out, that at this time last year, they were in 1st and cruising. So I wouldn’t pop the champagne yet.
Every year all of you Mets fans say that you’re good and will win the division. That’s part of the lolMets tradition.
Of all the gimmicky commenters that have been a part of this site, you are another one.
Anyone see that Bumgarner ejection against the Marlins today? Ump didn’t even look at his hand while massaging it.
Jomboy slo-mo of it was super creepy
Never make eye contact while giving a massage. First rule of umpiring.
Ump should be fired. He was 100% baiting Bumgarner into a confrontation. No man is going to allow another man to do that for that long and NOT say something.
Best comment of the day. Reminds me of when we lived in America.
“ No man is going to allow another man to do that for that long and NOT say something.”
The Phillies are stuck in neutral
I’m a Reds fan. We are stuck in reverse.
@Casey21 – The Red Sox are right behind you. You can see them in the fast lane leading the race, only to blow a head gasket in the final laps while the competition blows past them. Tonight’s lost to LAA was one of their worst of the season. Any team have an established closer for sale? Boston should be willing to pay a premium. Heck, they’ll even throw in Diekman or Matt Barnes for free as part of the deal.
Reverse implies there is movement. The Reds are just plain stuck..
Their slow starts are always frustrating. They’ll go on a mid season surge only to run out of gas at the end of the season. Same old story.
I’d like to believe you but they are digging an insurmountable hole at the moment.
They always do. Always. I’m baffled by their inability to hit this year.
Elieser Hernandez is definitely on his way out of the rotation (or team). However, the Marlins once again, have been burned mostly by their lack of a legit Closer. Another bit that we saw once again today. We have a bunch of middle relievers and a set-up guy or two, but not one single guy that should be a Closer on a playoff hopeful. You can’t make the playoffs when you’re blowing so many late-inning leads.
@MatlinsFanBase Well if the Marlins are serious (and it’s looking like they might be) then there should be a trade at the deadline for Mark Melancon. As a Mets fan I would definitely worry about a sneaky good team getting better in my division. Have not watched him pitch to anyone else but he really looked good against the Mets.
I know my history, the Marlins are always a threat. A couple of Atlanta Braves 2021 deadline style moves and the Marlins can very well be more than just a headache.
Mark Melancon is just a UNIT
@cohens_wallet
I hope we get anyone…Melancon…anyone. The concern for me is that it seems that Kim Ng, Gary Denbo and the rest of the front office committee may not feel that Closers are necessary parts of teams. They had this problem of blowing leads in the last two innings last year. They did not address it this offseason as they felt that their need was getting two OFs when they already have Sanchez and de la Cruz. They spent there instead of trying to land a clearly possible signing of Jansen, and they did not make a possible trade for Kimbrel. They didn’t even push through on trade discussion with the A’s that could’ve landed what I wanted – Trivino and Laureano. I’m concerned they may not make a move for a legit Closer, even if they were within striking distance or in possession of the 6th spot of the playoffs. Our bullpen has been so bad at holding leads, I even gave my opinion after we blew the first game of the season that we were done already because I know that we have no shot this year without being able to secure the wins we’re supposed to have.
Stay tuned…but I’m pretty sure we’ll do this lead-blowing thing all season…just like last year.
That’s not the only blowing they’ll be doing
@marlinsfanbase – It can always be worse. Look no further than the Red Sox. They lead MLB in blown saves so far. In fact, they have more blown saves (7) than actual saves (5). They are also 0-5 in extra innings. It’s quite the ugly start so far up here in Boston. If they had even a decent back end of the bullpen, they would be over .500 on the season rather than 5 games below .500.
Nothing more demoralizing than a bad pen. 2020 and 2021 were so brutal as a Phils fan. 2022 is also pretty terrible, but for different reasons.
@VonPurpleHayes
Agreed about a bad pen being demoralizing. And as fans, we can even see it in the body language of the position players when certain relievers come into the game. Right now, anytime we get into the 8th and 9th inning with a reliever, you see the tension in our players. These guys are professionals, so it’s bad when you see their demeanors change when certain relievers come into the game.
@
@Dorothy_Mantooth
I can see that disappointment. It’s tough when you see that your team is capable of making the playoffs, but then see that only one part of your team is so bad that it actually makes that much of a difference in destroying your team’s chances. It’s sad when you see those teams that hand leads to their bullpen, and the bullpen can’t hold it. And in some cases, those bullpens show that no lead is safe when they are actually blowing leads in the range of 5 runs in the last couple of innings. And it’s annoying when you see certain relievers (in our case, Anthony Bass), who routinely blow games or open the door, or when they actually don’t blow an inning themselves, they don’t have clean innings so they roll the lineup over faster so the next reliever has to face the heart of a team’s order.
I’m still not a fan of “Guardians” as a team name (preferred Spiders) but I do think that the “Guards” nickname is actually pretty good.
Many announcers are defaulting to calling then the Cleveland Baseball Team. I’m pretty sure nobody likes it.
Someone on this forum explained that Spiders is trademarked so it couldn’t be used. Maybe trademarked wasn’t the correct term, but there was some type of legal prohibition for Cleveland to use it.
People kept thinking Spiders was viable as a name since a prior team in CLE used it.
However that was an NL team that folded before the AL organization arrived and eventually started using the Indians name.
Not only a different team, but one that sucked as well.
My biggest problem with the Guardians name/logo is that it is way too similar to Indians. The script team name looks like they just erased IN and replaced with GUAR. The DIANS looks exactly the same.
If they were truly wanting to change identity, they should have gone all out. Different color scheme, completely different logo, different font styles, just different everything. Basically all they changed was 2 letters. Either fully make a change or stand up to the people whining about a name change in the first place. Cleveland just basically tried to please everyone and ended up pleasing no one.
I don’t see that at all. no fans are going to say “well, at least they only changed part of the name. if they changed ALL of it than I’d be done as a fan!”
I don’t think the Marlins had a legitimate shot at Ramirez. Rumor had it the Padres had all but locked up a package throwing the house at the Guardians. All but Abraham was included…
Still glad he stayed as a Guardian!
Miami might have made sense in a 3 team deal involving JRam but I struggle to see a match directly with CLE. CLE has as much if not more young pitching than Miami.
And no way the AAAA Marlins spend the money to extend him and keep him through the life of the contract.
Miami should bring Meyer up. He has proven he can get high-end MLB baseball players out (AA & AAA); a lot of them via the strikeout. While not overly imposing on the mound (barely 6 feet tall), this kid can bring the heat and he has quality, secondary pitches in his tool kit as well. Worst case, he gets lit up for a few starts and sent back down to AAA to work on areas he was not successful at in MLB. He seems to be one of those types who will embrace the challenge and elevate his game to stick on the MLB roster though. His floor seems to be that of a high end #3 starter with a ceiling of a potential #1 if he can put it all together. From a pure talent perspective, Meyer > Hernandez.
@ D M
He’s not stretched out enough yet. I’m giving it another month before clamouring for him.
He was very impressive in spring training. Patience may be a virtue, but its also annoying
I should be the GM for the marlins
Post your CV on here. We’ll give you an evaluation.
6.66 is a bad ERA. A bad number!
Look, I’m not superstitious but I am a little stitious.
I couldn’t help but notice, after 60 years of it, our Cubs have gone traditional; yet again. Many fans think that if the team tries really hard they will improve to 500 ball and be successful. Please Auntie Em, take us up to 500 ball by September.