9:15am: The Mets announced they have selected right-hander Tommy Hunter to the roster, a move that had been previously reported as upcoming. Ruf was designated for assignment as the corresponding move. The corresponding move for Locastro was the placement of Edwin Diaz on the 60-day injured list.
7:38am: The Mets are finalizing their bench ahead of Opening Day, as Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports that the club has designated first baseman and outfielder Darin Ruf for assignment. That paves the way for non-roster invitee Tim Locastro to make the Opening Day roster.
Ruf, 37 in July, was acquired by the Mets in a deadline trade with the Giants last summer that sent JD Davis and three prospects to San Francisco. Following a stint in South Korea’s KBO, Ruf had spent the past three seasons hitting well for the Giants while bouncing between first base, the outfield corners, and the DH slot. Over that time, Ruf slashed .248/.358/.455 with 32 home runs and 28 doubles in 726 plate appearances, good for a wRC+ of 125. Upon acquiring Ruf, the Mets envisioned his career .891 OPS against left-handed pitching as the perfect complement to the lefty-swinging Daniel Vogelbach in a DH platoon.
Unfortunately for both Ruf and the Mets, however, that did not pan out down the stretch in 2022, as Ruf struggled mightily in 28 games as a Met, slashing a disastrous .152/.216/.197 (24 wRC+). With a guaranteed $3MM salary in 2023 and a $3.5MM club option for 2024 that came with a $500K buyout, the Mets kept Ruf on the 40-man roster throughout the 2022-2023 offseason in hopes he would be able to rebound this season. However, Sherman notes that Ruf received a cortisone injection in his wrist last month before struggling badly during camp, posting a .498 OPS in 35 spring plate appearances.
That was enough for the Mets to cut bait on Ruf, it seems, and they now have seven days to try and arrange a trade to reduce the amount of Ruf’s $3.5MM guaranteed money they’re on the hook for. Should no trade take place and Ruf pass through waivers successfully, Ruf can sign with any club for the prorated big league minimum, with Mets paying the remainder of the $3.5MM figure.
In Ruf’s place, outfielder Tim Locastro is set to make the Opening Day roster. The 30 year-old Locastro has a career wRC+ of just 82, 18% below that of the league average hitter, but is a capable defender at all three outfield spots, sports a solid career on-base percentage of .325, and most importantly, is one of the premiere baserunners in the sport. With 39 career steals in 43 attempts as a part-time player, Locastro’s 88% success rate on the basepaths is excellent, and his sprint speed has consistently topped the Statcast leaderboards through his career, ranging from 30.8 ft/s in 2019 to last year’s 30.1 ft/s figure.
Given Locastro’s already premiere baserunning abilities, he figures to benefit considerably from this season’s rule changes. In addition to larger bases in 2023, pickoff attempts have been limited. After two pickoff attempts, a third attempt must end in an out being recorded or else the runner will automatically advance one base. With Locastro likely to serve as a pinch runner and late-inning defensive replacement for the most part, the DH at-bats that would have gone to Ruf seem likely to instead go to Tommy Pham, who struggled to an 89 wRC+ in 144 games last season but sports a career .843 OPS against left-handed pitching.
and Mets fans rejoice
Hopefully JD Davis hits .285 this year. Great trade.
I’m a bit surprised. I thought they were going to give Ruf the month they gave Canó.
They probably would have if he’d shown anything at all in ST. Seemed like it was just a continuation of last year.
#phenomenalajs Why when last season came down to every win or loss and Duff was going to give us nothing but losses?
Tommy the thug, we are Pham-ily. Ugh
Tough decision lol
Ruf way to retire.
Not for the player, who leaves with 3.5mm in cash and the home version of our game.
NYM fans got their low hanging fruit. Right move to accept it didn’t work out. But if NYM falter this season, it won’t be because of the 26th man
10centBeerNight;
Since social media came into existence all teams fans do that.
A team underperforms by 10-15 games that season, and it’s the fault of the 5th inning set up man, the 13th position player….or both.
Modern America – have to have a scapegoat.
it’s the fault of the 5th inning set up man, the 13th position player….or both.
==========================
A lot of fans believe in a baseball version of voodoo. It was spring training, because a team over-performed or under-performed. Or the manager lost 13 games by himself.
The truth is that almost all the variances can be traced to injuries. You can make an allowance for teams as they get older, but generally speaking, a certain percentage will out-perform or under-perform their expectations, largely offsetting each other.
Or to get even more specific, in 2007, Schilling was asked whether the NYY or RS would finish 1st. He said that whichever team got the most starts from it’s regular rotation would come in 1st. He was right in 2007, and I think that is more correct today than it was in 2007, with the disclaimer that one also needs to account for what you have in AAA.
I couldn’t believe how embarrassing trading for Ruf was at the time and posted this. Mets traded 4 Players for this stiff. Unbelievable
JD by himself was an overpay
Thanx though,
JD is doing great out west !
I honestly thought the return for that package would be Wilmer.
I would have loved that.
Should have been.
Farhan fleeced the Mets. Ruf is better than his performance as a Met. Injured in ST.
The SF FO still cracks up over it.
“Can you believe we got…” and then Zaidi starts to giggle.
A trading deadline to remember Ruf and Vogelbach to solve DH.
Not surprisingly the Mets choked the Division and had an early wildcard exit.
Why did this move take so long?
What part of Vogelbach’s 139 ops+ were you unhappy with?
The fact that he can’t run the bases, play a defensive position or hit LH pitching. He is too limited a player and can easily be negated with a LH RP.
But was much better production than they were getting at DH prior. It seems illogical that a player who improved your offense was responsible for them choking down the stretch.
That’s not what he was traded and signed for. And he can run the bases surprisingly well. They brought him in to be the left handed DH vs RHP. He does that job fine.
@robrock30
Negated by lefty is a tougher argument nowadays especially where most teams seem to be right handed batter heavy and relievers MUST pitch to 3 batters unless end of inning.
Buck seems to be more old school with switching bat sides every batter.. Maybe it is because of that rule or just old school thoughts. Also not many teams have 2 lefty relievers if memory serves me correct unless one is the setup/closer but ill be honest i didnt look into that and could be completely wrong. .So he will most likely face a right hander atleast once after the starter leaves.
Side note, I do hate that most starters make it through 5 and most likely taken out in the 6th and understand why but cg now is the same as a no hitter was back in the day.
@StudWinfield Vogelbach is a disgrace to baseball. Should lose atleast 50 poundd. All the weight he lost, it looks like he gained it all back in spring training. He can’t run, can’t hit lefties, can’t play defense. He is a waste of a roster spot
@lfgmets+-* – the claim was that he was one of the reasons the Mets didn’t have a better season, which is demonstratively false. His production with NY did not make them a worse team. I don’t disagree with the weakness’s of his game but his performance at the plate was a positive last season.
Max should have known better than to pitch to a future Hall of Famer like Trent Grisham.
Hey, the Pirates went to LA last year and swept them…since we’re just going to base entire seasons on random 3 game series, I’m prepared to raise a banner for them!
Sorry, man. It must have really hurt bad for you still to be this bitter.
Wasnt the reason we lost. See your twin aces choking against the padres
Twin aces choking? Since when was Chris Bassitt ever considered an ace?!?!
Mets needed to go all in last trading deadline and didn’t opting to hold onto their valuable prospects. Now for opening day none of their prospects are deemed worthy to make the opening roster because they aren’t ready or aren’t capable of playing defense, etc. Baty should have been awarded the starting 3B position and Vientos the RH DH but they are holding them back. We will see how this plays out.
As much as I would love for the Mets to fall flat on their face, they are making the right decisions on their prospects.
The Mets are attempting to take a page out of the Dodgers playbook by spending to complete a roster in the short term while building their farm system. However, unlike the Dodgers, they have the wrong people in place to accomplish this goal.
The Mets, imo, should have manned up for Contreras last year at the deadline. Not sure what the Cubs were holding out for but Wilco and NY made a ton of sense and instead of Vogelbach and Ruf, they should have grabbed Wisdom as a throw in.
Once bitten, twice shy with the Cubs when the Baez deal didn’t exactly work out for the prospect they gave up. I’m sure the Cubs were looking for lightning once again.
Baez didn’t workout? How exactly did he not workout?
.299/.371/.515 and a 2 WAR in 50 games isn’t working out?
Just because the Mets fell apart does mean Baez didn’t workout for them.
Also, let’s not forget that PCA had what could have been a career altering injury at the time of the trade.
@drascoo36 The Mets had no chance at the postseason. It was absurd.
Jack, do some fact checking and get back to me. Thanks!
Please – no calls for the Phils to sign him as anything but minor league depth. We have better options available for the roster than Ruf at this point.
Not a good week for Creighton.
Run did good for a 20th round pick! Good Luck Darin!
What about that. Farhan gives him a nice little contract, gets someone else to pay it,
and gets a nice little haul for the pleasure of doing that. Not a bad bullet point for the resume. I think he could slip it in underneath “Estrada for Cash”
Good luck, Darin. Hope you get another job.
Ruf is a great guy. Came to SF, was out working with the community while not playing baseball. Good family man.
Sorry he’s lost his swing and glad he got paid a little money. Hope he finds his way and if not he should go back to SF in an advisory role.
steve cohen surrendered his soul for the pursuit of money and he won’t even be able to hang his hat on a World Series trophy to show for it. They won’t win a World Series under steve cohen’s ownership.
I never liked the Mets as their fans have no class but I am curious why they even traded for Ruf. Wasn’t JD Davis a better player? Mets gave up Davis and other players to get this guy. Can someone explain why? All I can figure is that Davis had wore out his welcome or just had enough of being in Queens.
TIL I have no class. Ah, well. Can’t have it all. #LFGM
Classy move, anonymously calling others classless.
Davis didn’t hit as a PT DH. He needed more AB’s or a change of scenery.
@StupendousYappi JD couldn’t hit any fastball that was over 95 mph. I didn’t mind that they traded him even though I liked him but I did not like who they traded him for. I wanted a reliever over Ruf, as the bullpen was one of our biggest weaknesses last year. Our bullpen might be the worst in the league now
Nothing like that at all. Bubbles is great! He was just not hitting enough at the time and they where in a race and every AB counted.
Right move to cut Ruf, and yes it was an overpay at the deadline – but spare us the revisionism about JD Davis. He was given a million chances with NYM. Was constantly beaten with fastballs. Sorry but at 3B, if you can’t field your position (he can’t), you at least better crush letter high heat
140 ops+ with the Giants, with one of the leagues highest exit velocities. Very happy to have him.
You’re welcome. I root for JD. He needed a change of scenery.
Nice. Maybe so.
Im a fan. They are working on the defence and he is saying the right things. Can’t really ask for more than that.
JD needed a wake up call yes, he had been traded before but never given a chance in Houston, probably because he was a hit-first, field later player without a true position. He showed some promise in NY, but I think he overthought his at-bats and missed the pitches right down the center. He provably needed a different hitting coach.
He’s made a number of impressively good plays at 3B this spring – both catching and throwing.
What JDD needed, really, was a change of hitting coach.
Why? From 2019-2021 JDD had a 128 OPS+. Better than most all-star 3Bman. Then he went to SFG and put up a 140 OPS+.
Seems abundantly clear the problem was the 2022 Mets.
I guess LoCastro is going to fill the Terrance Gore role. That makes sense to have someone like that with the incentives to run more.
I get cutting Ruf but unless it was a promote or lose locastro i would have preferred he opened in the minors. I believe he is out of options and any minor injury you could lose him if you need a day to day person. Im concerned by of depth especially with nimmos injury history and marte spent a lot of time on the IL at the end of last season. really your only minor league depth for the outfield currently. Its the only reason i thought the mets were keeping ruf for a couple of weeks.
Apparently, Ruf has developed a bum wrist, so at 37, maybe he’s just about done. He had a nice little late-career renaissance with the Giants and banked several million dollars as a result. He’s a good dude and was a good Giant. Wishing him and his family all the best.
The renaissance came in Korea, with the Lions. OPS over 3 years above .950.
Quintana and Díaz haven’t been placed on the 60-day yet, so I figure they’ll have one more spot after the additions of Hunter and LoCastro. They could fill it briefly with any pitchers that don’t have options, then DFA that person when Dylan Bundy is ready.
You are looking forward to Dylan Bundy? How sad.
That had to be the dumbest trade of last season. The Yanks trading all their minor league pitching depth for Montas was probably 2nd.
If Soto leaves the Padres before they have a WS title and the haul the Nationals received pans out, that could by far be the worst trade of 2022. Time will tell.
Then A+ for effort for the Padres. Doesn’t matter whether those prospects pan out (and I hope they do) and looking behind the rear-view mirror.
Probably one of the worst trades the Mets have made. 4 effin players for a bust. Reminds me of the Akron Broxton deal. What were they thinking honestly….
Handing RH DH over to Tommy Pham feels like such a waste of time. I don’t mind having him around as a 4th outfielder, but this roster with him and Escobar feels like it’s gonna be a little stale. I don’t think this team takes off this year until Baty / Vientos / Alvarez make their way back to the big squad. This team is just feeling way too old everywhere on the roster.
These moves should have a marginal impact. The point is to not give away winnable games – to not give away AB’s late, so Pham at a .690 ops is better than AAA replacement player – Locastro as late game defensive replacement better than Ruf on the bench – it is improving around the edges the 101 win team is largely still intact ~ Nimms, Lindor, Marte, Alonso will produce ~ Scherzer, Verlander, Senga is a strong rotation~ Robinson, O, Railey will hold it down until the team needs to make bid for more relief. Take a breath, enjoy the first 6 weeks, don’t watch the standings until May.
SgtGrumbles;
Older players get inured more often than younger players and take longer to heal when they do.
They also have very little ceiling growth left, and potential large downsides.
MLB – like all professional men’s team sports – is a young man’s game. The Mets, Padres, and Jays have small cores of developed players, mostly buying their rosters by spending money – sometimes taking on expensive veteran players in trade – in order to get over the top. That seldom – if ever – works. To their credit the Yankees FO figured out that they have to make their players – especially their pitchers – under contract better; and infuse young blood from the farm system.
Would you keep Tommy Pham over Tim Locastro? I’m cutting Pham just on Spring results and he’s 35.
It looks like Locastro is making the club, which is well-deserved, because I feel like Locastro’s been in the middle of everything this spring. Vientos is the one I don’t understand making the club really because while Alvarez & Baty have major league jobs waiting for them once they’re properly seasoned, Vientos only projects as a DH/backup corner IF to begin with.. so I really don’t understand putting off his future with the team any longer. The spot’s ready for him.