The Mets have claimed infielder Kramer Robertson off waivers from the Braves, tweets Tim Healey of Newsday. He’s been optioned to Triple-A Syracuse. That’s also true of reliever Colin Holderman, who was reinstated from the 15-day injured list and sent to the minors. To clear a spot on the 40-man roster for Robertson, the Mets transferred Tylor Megill from the 15-day to the 60-day IL.
A former fourth-round pick of the Cardinals, Robertson made it to the big leagues last month. He appeared in two games, picking up his first plate appearance, before being optioned back out. St. Louis designated the 27-year-old for assignment not too long thereafter, and the Braves grabbed him off waivers.
Robertson has spent 13 games with Atlanta’s top affiliate in Gwinnett. Despite playing quite well over that stretch, he apparently landed on waivers over the weekend. (The club didn’t announce his removal from the 40-man roster at the time). The Braves’ attempt to slip Robertson through waivers and keep him in the organization as a non-roster player was thwarted by their division rivals.
In parts of three Triple-A seasons, the LSU product owns a .246/.369/.398 slash line. He’s walked in a stellar 14.3% of his plate appearances at the minors’ highest level and can cover anywhere on the infield. Robertson is in his first of three minor league option years, so the Mets will add a flexible upper level depth option if they keep him on the 40-man roster.
Megill’s IL transfer backdates to June 17, when he first landed on the shelf. The right-hander suffered a shoulder strain and won’t begin a throwing program until around the All-Star Break, and he’ll certainly need weeks to build up arm strength even in a best-case scenario. It never seemed likely he’d be back before mid-August given that initial timeline, and today’s move makes that official.
The Mets either have terrible luck with pitchers or they do a terrible job with injury prevention.
I think it’s because they have a bunch of monsters who can throw 100mph, but human arms can’t take that kind of stress.
@Von, I really, really agree with you. I wish we could see “pitchers” again as opposed to “throwers”
Yes because DeGrom isn’t a real pitcher…
How real has been the last couple seasons?
In the eras when SPs were completing games, deGrom wasn’t a real pitcher by those standards, and was more in line with guys like Sid Fernandez than he was in line with the guys who were considered Aces during those eras.
Yea – I kinda can’t wait until baseball cycles through this era and goes back to good pitching instead of hard throwing, and hitters that care about something other than home runs.
Unfortunately, I think this trend is going to continue in order to “save” the sport to entice and engage new and young fans.
To be fair, the Mets pitchers throw hard and can spot the ball too. They’re not just flamethrowers.
It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if the shifts don’t make a substantial change in offense, that Manfred would once again alter the balls so pitchers can throw as hard. It would likely cause a lot of injuries, but Manfred proved last year when they altered the balls that he doesn’t care about protecting the players.
Good points from everyone on this thread.
i too long for the days of guys that can actually pitch, throw complete games, hit to all fields, make contact, and manufacture runs.
There has to be a balance at the top end, but how can a pitcher find their own red line?
Is it throwing 99 with an 8″ break vs 100 with a 9″ break? Even trying to find that line beyond which it’s no longer safe for a given pitcher to throw sounds absurd when you try to phrase it cleanly.
My sense is that deGrom is never going to get particularly close to where he was at his peak. He’s already well past the usual expiration date of the first TJ. Blood flow is impaired enough to affect recovery. He’s also 34, a point by which many of the greats of the postwar era had faltered significantly.
Scherzer and Megill have different sets of problems, but by the time they return, Walker and Carrasco will probably be done, given their chronic lack of durability. Bassitt isn’t all that durable, either. The Mets have yet to suffer real injuries to their position player core, and either that’s going to happen or their performance will suffer badly.
I wrote a three weeks ago that the Mets won’t win the division. I still think that’s correct. A lot of the time in August and September their rotation will look something like
= one of Bassitt or Scherzer
= Peterson
= T Williams
= an ineffective Walker or Carrasco
= your name here
It won’t be pretty. The team was smart to snag Plummer and bring Jankowski back, but they’re going to need a real 4th OFer, someone who can start 5 days a week once age and injuries knock out one or more of the fragile or elderly Nimmo, Marte, and Canha. If they keep playing Lindor every day he’s going to keep playing adequately, but hardly at his peak. Once the position players come to Earth will the Mets play .470 ball, or .340?
Megill came out his first game this year with increased velocity from last year and promptly expressed his desire to hit over 100 mph. Is it any wonder he is now shut down?
Well we all know that if Robertson is called up during the Braves/Mets series, he will do something big good or bad.
Owners and agents seemed to be convinced that power arms and power bats is where the money is at?
Power arms and power bats are where the wins are at.
It might be efficient and effective, but it’s not so enjoyable to watch.
Dave Kingman and Sid Fernandez were before their times. All or nothing hitters and pitchers who are dominant for 5 innings.
@gbs to me, “strategy” is where the wins are at … and going back to the sports beginnings … And, agreed, dingers and punchouts are “not so enjoyable to watch”. Call me a purist. I’m thinking it is what it is in order to try to grow/maintain the fan base by attracting casual fans who like the bling/sizzle of dingers and punchouts. League, owner and agent goal being to increase attendance and increase TV subscriptions thus revenue and at all costs … including sacrificing the integrity of the game.
C Yards, how is the integrity of the game currently being sacrificed?
@gbs42; fair question, thanks. From a purists point of view only, not enough small ball for me. Also, don’t like the pressure being placed on kids to be as big and strong as possible to be able to throw as hard as possible and/or to launch a ball a great distance. In my opinion, way to many injuries and also, way too many instances of PEDs abuse going back to, I’d say the mid to late 80s. Give me players with abilities to perform at the highest level of their sport without being pressured to alter there bodies to maximize power. Power, overrated.
@C Yards Jeff Agreed. It’s dismaying how mlb dt com leads their ‘film room’ with homer, homer, homer…. Unless it’s your team nailing a walkoff HR, it’s among the least interesting plays in the game.
.398 OBP at AAA Memphis for the Cardinals and was waived June 4th, .397 OBP at AAA Gwinnett for the Braves and was waived again. Appears versatile, 2B, SS, 3B, he’s not “old” at 27. Seems strange that he’s been waived twice in the past 30 days.
This guy reminds me of another St Louis farmhand the Mets picked up who played around the infield and was a fan favorite: Joe McEwing. No offense to the Braves, but you hardly knew him. I am sure the Mets wouldn’t mind another find like him.
But McEwing was an established MLBer in 2000 when the Mets traded Jesse Orosco to the Cardinals for him. He was no farmhand off the waiver wire.
Joe was replacement level w the Mets. “Scrappy” won’t cut it in 2022.
27 is old for AAA—too old to be considered any sort of prospect. And once you’ve sensibly given up on a future in which he’ll grow, he’s a punchless 2B-3B whose weaknesses will be exposed by MLB pitching.
.249 milb hitters who walk a lot don’t do well in the majors. You can expect an average around .220 with the difference between OBP and BA cut in half / two-thirds due to better control among MLB pitchers. Call his expected MLB line something like .220/.285/.310.
For a 27 yo who can’t really play major league SS, that’s nothing special. He’s a backup’s backup.
Don’t really need this guy. Should have kept Holderman on the roster.
Yeah – Holderman was solid. I wonder what that’s about…
This didn’t have any effect on Holderman, he’s still on the 40-man roster. Robertson was added to the 40 also but neither are in the majors. They probably want Holderman to get his footing in the minors after his injury and he’ll be back up soon.
I’d rather have Holderman in the pen than Medina but you’re probably right about him getting some reps in AAA before bringing him back up.
wonder who the Braves needed the roster spot for
Just a guess but possibly Eddie Rosario?
Go back to ten man pitching staffs. Then starters will HAVE to pace themselves. Interesting little writing by Bill James today or yesterday on his site.