The Mets designated right-hander Adonis Medina for assignment, and also made Max Scherzer’s 15-day IL placement official. In corresponding moves, New York selected the contract of left-hander Alex Claudio and called up right-hander Yoan Lopez from Triple-A. Lopez will be the 29th man for today’s doubleheader against the Pirates.
Medina has been up and down from Triple-A multiple times this season, and all of the shuttling may have had an adverse effect on his performance. The righty has a 6.08 ERA over 23 2/3 innings with the Mets and a more palatable 3.71 ERA in 26 2/3 frames for Triple-A Syracuse, though Medina’s minor league walk rate is a troubling 12.1%.
This is the third time that Medina has been designated for assignment within the last year, with the first of those DFA stints keeping Medina in transactional limbo throughout the entirety of the offseason lockout. The Pirates claimed Medina off waivers from the Phillies once the lockout was over, and a subsequent DFA from Pittsburgh resulted in Medina being traded to the Mets just prior to Opening Day.
Medina received some top-100 prospect attention as recently as 2019, but he has yet to make a big impact in the majors, pitching only 11 2/3 innings with the Phillies prior to this season. Generally a below-average strikeout pitcher, Medina has posted grounder rates around the 50% mark during his career, usually relying more on soft contact and keeping the ball in play rather than missed bats. Medina has worked as a starter for much of his career but he primarily been a reliever this season in Syracuse, and his 14 Mets appearances were all out of the bullpen.
Claudio inked a minor league deal with the Mets during the offseason, and the southpaw is now on the verge of making it a ninth consecutive season with some MLB action. Speaking of low-strikeout grounder specialists, Claudio has a 17% strikeout rate and 59.8% groundball rate over his 344 1/3 career innings in the majors. Claudio was a generally reliable bullpen arm throughout his time with the Rangers and Brewers from 2014-20, posting a 3.44 ERA and eating plenty of innings — his 83 appearances led the big leagues in 2019.
The Brewers opted to non-tender Claudio following the 2020 season, in part due to his lack of strikeouts or high velocity, as well as the idea that Claudio (who has pretty big career splits) would be hampered by the three-batter rule. Signing with the Angels in the 2020-21 offseason, the southpaw had only a 5.51 ERA over 32 2/3 innings with Anaheim in 2021, and also pitched in the Red Sox farm system after the Angels cut him loose midway through the campaign.
The Mets’ lack of left-handed relief depth has been an ongoing story of their season, with Joely Rodriguez being the only southpaw regular within the bullpen mix. Such left-handed pitchers as Chasen Shreve, Nate Fisher, Rob Zastryzny, Sam Clay, and Thomas Szapucki have all gotten some looks, and Claudio will become the latest southpaw to get a shot at catching on as extra depth.
AS Harry Carey would sing: The Braves are coming tra lala la!
Mets FO mailed it in at the trading deadline and now the Team is mailing it in conceding the Division to the Braves and settling for a Wild Card. LOL
There’s a ways to go yet, but right now the Braves are more consistent and are playing with a real fire in their bellies. Hopefully the Mets will get their fire back in time and some of the dogging relief pitchers will step up and earn their salaries.
Who exactly did you want them to trade away their future for?
@Cosmo2
Accurate question/statement on your part. The Mets roster was committed to and set to their guys. Where would an addition would’ve been placed even if they made one?
I for one love hammering home the realities of the Mets, but I can’t say that the deadline was their issue. Their problem was the offseason with all of their big moves being well into the wrong side of 30. As I said throughout the offseason and the season, the Mets challenge will be Father Time. Father Time beats everyone. The only question will he hit you with a decline in talent or with health ailments. No matter what, age will hit the physical ability to keep it from fulfilling what a team expects. There’s a reason that the Marlins didn’t want to give Marte the 4th year of a contract. There’s a reason why multiple teams didn’t want to give Scherzer that 3rd year. The Mets came in and gave the years that nobody else wanted to give, and then added the highest AAVs that they were offered too.
It’s great to have the financial resources to outspend everyone, but you can’t do it stupidly. If the Mets keep spending massive amounts of funds on aging players, they’re going to blow their financial advantage, and it won’t make a difference. Mets fans have whined about the team not spending for years when they outspent many many many playoff teams every year, and many World Series Champions. You have to spend wisely. The Braves are the complete opposite of the Mets. They have signed so many guys to bargain deals. The Braves are the class of the division until someone shows they are better than them. The result has been that the Braves are younger and better than the Mets and Phillies, while not overpaying for anyone that they’ve locked up for years. The Mets and Phillies have overpaid, either in years or AAV or both, on quite a bit of their talent, and the results are that they are both not as good as the Braves while being older. That’s what these posters should be pointing to – not the Mets deadline moves.
Cosmo,
The Cubs could have been a trading partner. Robertson LH RP went to Philly for a pitching prospect and Contreras (C) and Happ (OF) were there for the taking.
If they were there for the taking, why didn’t anyone else come and take them?
Mets should DFA that AA/AAA pitcher that pitched so poorly yesterday
Yankees provided the blueprint for beating the Mets. Throw strikes ( don’t walk them and get in favorable counts ) and make the Plays ( play solid defense ) and the Mets are very beatable.
Teams have tried that and it usually leads to a hot streak at the plate.
That’s the blueprint for playing winning baseball.
Got tickets for the Mets vs Brewers on 09/19/22! Looks like the game will be important for Mets! Brewers, not so much!
Brewers are done!
YES, Sad but I agree!
Where is the Trumpet guy? Sounds more like Taps to me now. LOL
The trumpet guy has taken his talents to Atlanta
Yeah, okay. Until the Mets whip the Braves again in Atlanta.
My nickname for Claudio was Everday, because he seemed to pitch to one batter almost every game.
Mets auditioning RPs down the stretch and no solid LH RP option which should have been fixed at the trading deadline. What a FO? LOL
Hey Oneil Cruz Pitts SS has some great tools.
Rosters expanded to 28 this month, 28+1 for the DH is 29.
Phillies and Mets legend.
Cant remember if it was mlb or MLBPA to shrink the september call up roster from 40 to 29. so blame them.
Actually to 28. The 29th man is an additional player for a doubleheader.
With the way Baltimore & LA have been claiming BP arms, I expect Medina to be gone.