The Mets announced Tuesday that they’ve designated left-hander Chasen Shreve for assignment in order to open a spot on the roster for ace Max Scherzer, who has been reinstated from the injured list and is slated to start tonight’s game.
Scherzer’s return comes just over six weeks after his original placement on the injured list due to a strained oblique muscle. The three-time Cy Young winner, who inked a record three-year, $130MM contract this offseason, pulled himself from his May 18 start against the Cardinals after feeling the strain pop up midway through the sixth inning. A subsequent MRI revealed the strain. He’s made a pair of rehab appearances with Double-A Binghamton over the past couple weeks, tossing a total of eight innings with a 14-to-2 K/BB ratio in that time.
Prior to landing on the shelf, Scherzer was every bit the ace the Mets hoped when signing him for the highest annual rate ever received by any player. He’s made eight starts so far in 2022, tallying 49 2/3 innings with a 2.54 ERA with a 30.6% strikeout rate against an excellent 5.7% walk rate. The Mets are in first place even without any contributions from Scherzer over the past week and without a single inning yet from co-ace and fellow multi-time Cy Young winner Jacob deGrom, who has been sidelined all year after a stress reaction was found in his right shoulder blade.
With deGrom on a rehab assignment and Scherzer back on the active roster, however, the Mets are nearing the debut of the dynamic rotation they anticipated as the focal point of what they hope to be a World Series contender. Scherzer and deGrom will be joined by Chris Bassitt, Taijuan Walker and Carlos Carrasco when the team is up to full strength. Depth options Tylor Megill, David Peterson and Trevor Williams have all given ample reason to be optimistic about the pitching talent even beyond that quintet, though Megill’s numbers dwindled as the season progressed and he’s now on the injured list himself.
As for Shreve, who’ll turn 32 next week, he’s been unable to build on a strong 2021 showing with the Pirates and a solid 2020 season with this same Mets club. The veteran southpaw notched a tidy 3.43 ERA in 81 1/3 innings from 2020-21 and owns a similarly solid 3.72 mark dating back to 2017. However, his 2022 season has been nightmarish, as he’s been tagged for a 6.49 ERA in 26 1/3 frames in his second stint with the Mets.
Shreve’s 25.4% strikeout rate is nearly identical to his career 25.6% mark, and this year’s 8.8% walk rate is actually his lowest since a 12-inning debut with the Braves back in 2014. Unfortunately for Shreve and for the Mets, he’s been extremely homer-prone in 2022, surrendering an average of 2.05 long balls per nine innings. That’s been a driving factor behind his inability to strand runners (career-worst 62.9% in 2022).
In Shreve’s defense, his numbers through mid-June were roughly in line with his career totals. As late into the season as June 7, Shreve was sporting a 3.86 ERA with FIP and xFIP marks that largely supported his ERA. Over his next five appearances, however, Shreve was tattooed for 10 runs on 11 hits — including three homers — in just 5 1/3 innings. As with any reliever, a few rough outings can inflate your numbers in a hurry, and it seems Shreve won’t be given the opportunity to right the ship with his current club.
The Mets will have a week to trade Shreve, attempt to pass him through outright waivers, or release him. He’s playing the year on a $1.5MM salary and has about $762K of that sum yet to be paid out. As a player with more than five years of MLB service time, Shreve has the right to reject the assignment in favor of free agency while still retaining his salary. A new team that claims or acquires Shreve would be on the hook for the whole sum (barring any cash included by the Mets in a trade), but if he clears waivers and opts for free agency, a new club would only owe him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the MLB roster. The Mets would remain on the hook for the rest of his salary.
Now trade for Contreras!
Mets don’t need Contreras, Mets need a DH but we can live with McCann/Nido at catcher for now until Alvarez comes up
Yeah… let Contreras catch scherzer and degrom and DH the rest of the time
Every move the Mets have made since cohen has bought the team reeks of desperation but somehow Mets fans think they can “live with McCann and Nido”
Regardless of what people may believe, the Mets have to go all in this year because regardless of how much money cohen has, they cannot carry this payroll. They’ve spent a small fortune, they’ve traded a small fortune, they are in first but have the Braves hot on their heels. The Mets are the 2016 Cubs…. They are desperate and are going to pay a stupid prospect price but if they win the World Series it will all be worth it.
Reeks of desperation?? By signing Scherzer? And Marte? And Canha? I don’t see how these moves reek of desperation. They are trying to win. And they are in first place. They are officially not a train wreck anymore. I’d say, things are going pretty well in Queens. So many bad takes on here.
@Bucky LaGrange; yes, I don’t see desperation. I see an owner who wants to win and his strategy is to buy it. It’s his money. He earned it and now is enjoying spending it. By the way, outside of having several relievers on short term deals possibly leaving for better deals off season, the Mets are looking good for a run next year too? Yes?
Read what you just wrote…
They are trying to win, desperately trying to win and be relevant in New York. Lindor, scherzer, Marte, Canha, Carrasco, Bassitt… that a spree that would make Epstein mess his pants.
Cohen is desperate for a World Series and the fact the Yankees are better is going to make him out more pressure on the team to win now.
And I may be wrong, but I don’t think two years from now the Mets are going to be thrilled with scherzer and Martes contracts… imo this teams window will slam shut by 2025.
DeGrom has already stated he’ll opt-out.
Depends on what “looking good” means to you… Carrasco, Bassitt, Walker, Nimmo, Diaz, Lugo, ottavino, May, Williams are all free agents so you’re losing 3/5 the rotation, currently your top WAR leader, your closer, your swing man, set up man… but on the bright side, all that money is coming off the books, of course none of those guys are bad contracts… and will need to be replaced while I can imagine Alonso will be in line for a pretty large bump… but you can offset that some by dfa smith.
@drasco, Scherzer’s deal ends in 2024, the only guaranteed contracts the Mets have for 2025 are Lindor and Marte. 2 players with contracts. How can the window be “slammed shut” ?
Sorry, given the amount of free agents and their current payroll I meant to say 2023.
@drasco036: And Kyle Higoshioka is an All-Star catcher? In what beer league? When Are the Yankees going to trade to upgrade?? Fact is, they don’t need to. And neither do the Mets. When you have people contributing in their own way and the team is winning, you don’t need huge changes but smaller tweaks to your lineup. The Yankees catchers have had 6 passed balls and been behind the plate for 19 wild pitches to date 7/5/22. The Mets catchers have had 3 passed balls and been behind the plate for 11 wild pitches. So the Yankees battery has given their opponents an extra 25 bases, while the Mets battery have given their opponents an extra 15 bases. Putting a value in defense is not a wrong way to look at things. The Blue Jays are second best in baseball with 18 total. Dodgers gave 24. Astros 27. Braves 32. All in the way the pieces fit together.
The Yankees are getting better than league average out of their starting catcher (and DH) and also happen to have the best offense in baseball.
Desperation to win? is that a bad thing?
hell with the yanks
Trolls will be trolls, what’s a goon to a goblin
They can live with that horror show of negative WAR at catcher but can’t live with Dom/JD at DH?
Unless they’re taking McCann back and sending relief help, not really a priority
What prospect(s) would the Mets give if the Cubs took on McCann’s contract?
The Cubs and Mets are pretty good fits on paper as they have Contreras, Givens, Robertson and Smyly available for trade.
Smyly filled in nicely for the Braves in a swing role which would be ideal for the Mets until they get some starting pitching back, then transition to long relief/lefty arm out of the pen.
The Mets are Contreras are perfect fits, they have an established rotation for the most part and Contreras can sit back and receive. On days you need a more calming presence slide him to DH.
Not knowing much about the Mets relievers, I don’t know if the different look givens will give you would matter all that much but his side arm delivery has worked well for the Cubs.
Robertsons season has spoke for itself thus far.
I’m not saying you trade for all four, but one or two make sense.
If the Mets take Heywards contract which runs through 2023, some of those guys might be had for little return. For the Yankees I think the same thing, those arms would be great to bolster the staff and the Trevino bubble could burst, Contreras would be nice. Even better, as bad as Heyward has been, he’s better than Gallo.
Absolutely no need to give up anything to get rid of McCanns contract. Just eat the money if you must but don’t do anything stupid.
Teams can afford to carry lighting hitting catchers more in the DH era than when pitchers had to bat.
They sure can… when they have a DH that is producing.
McCann and Nido are several hot streaks away from being light hitting
This has Toronto blue jays written all over it
Bye Chasen. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out
Glad they didn’t send Holderman down
They may have planned to designate Chasen, anyway, but I don’t think it was necessary to reinstate Max since he was never put on the 60-day. There could be a follow-up move if Trevor May is ready to return because I believe he was on the 60-day. Someone else would be optioned then because they’re doing it in reverse.
The Shreve DFA I felt was coming. That leaves Joely as the only LHP in the pen, Mets need to acquire another.
They have Alex Claudio as a lefty in Triple A that they will probably call up
Is he on the 40-man or does he need to be selected? That would be a reason for a DFA, but I’d think those roster spots would be for players coming off the 60-day like May and, eventually, deGrom.
They can have their choice of Austin Davis or Matt Straham from the Red Sox. It will cost them either JD Davis or Dom Smith.
That’s a horrendous trade for the Red Sox either way. Davis and Strahm are actually decent. Smith and Davis aren’t, and the Sox have no room for them, unless you put them at first, at which point get a 1b.
Smith and Davis are both better than decent hitters, the problem is they don’t fit anywhere.
Nice to see Max back. However, I don’t expect him to stay healthy for the rest of the season.
That’s not a dig at Max, as I don’t expect ANY pitcher to stay healthy for the rest of the season.
@rodcannon; The beast is back. What a gammer! I too, though, am a little leary about his ability to stay healthy season long. IE he’s in his late 30s, not 20s. Here’s hoping he stays fit!
Scherzer pitched on Wednesday for Binghamton and is going on 6 days rest tonight. I wonder if the Mets will let Williams have one more start so that Max goes on 6 days again and has the opening game with the Braves or if not Max misses the Braves series.
The Braves hit Max very well for some reason. Probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to have him miss the Braves series
This aged poorly.
They were desperate for LHPs so they took what they could get at the time. Obviously it wasn’t much. Glad that they finally cut him loose. I have no doubt Cohen will make sure we get a lefty to replace him. There was an article that I believe was released yesterday stated that the Mets are going to be extremely aggressive at the trade deadline to make a push for the postseason. With Cohen’s money, I have a feeling the sky is the limit since he would look ridiculous if he didn’t do well enough to get them to where they need to go this season. He doesn’t strike me as the type of guy who likes to lose, so I don’t expect this situation to be any different.
If deGrom comes back healthy, this Mets team is going to be very tough to beat in a playoff series. With the exception of maybe Chris Sale, no pitcher hates being on the IL more than Scherzer so I expect him to come back with a vengeance. Cohen spent a lot of money to put together a deep roster and that has really paid off with deGrom & Max missing so much time. If they are both pitching in July, look out NL as the Mets want the best overall record and home field throughout the playoffs. Scherzer & deGrom can help them accomplish that feat for sure!
In Chasen a ring, shreve got the hook
Would that be short-shrift or short-Shreve?
Ok, into the pun paddy wagon witya.
Did you make that avatar based on “North by Northwest”? It’s good.
Actually my friend sent it to me and I’ve stolen it. It quite sums up my feelings on Roberts
Welcome back, Max. Look forward to watching your start tonight.
I won’t be surprised if the Yankees bring back Shreve. Matt Blake sure worked wonders with other Yankee pitchers.
Welcome back Scherzer!
Sorry Braves fans, your window is closing. Once deGrom is back, you’ll be fighting for that wild card. Good luck, nerds!
All I understood is, “I want attention, so I’m going to say post-provoking stuff since no one has figured out that I used to do this same stuff under the screen name @MetsFan22!
Oh wait, maybe I shouldn’t go too much over the top because someone like @MarlinsFanBase may recognize me since he would know me well from our previous battles on this site.”
I think I translated this well.
Mets get better just dumping Shreve….guy was terrible and ineffective vs lefties too often when it counted
The Angels need to jump on Shreve
That would hurt em