The Mets have released infielder/outfielder Darin Ruf, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He had been designated for assignment a week ago when the club selected Tommy Hunter to the roster.
Ruf, 36, came over to the Mets in a deadline deal last year. Unfortunately, that deal went south fairly quickly, as he hit just .152/.216/.197 in 29 games with the club down the stretch. He stuck on the roster all winter but then his struggles continued into the spring, as he hit just .167/.265/.233 in Grapefruit League action. The club had added Tommy Pham over the winter to help take over Ruf’s role as a right-handed hitting role player and Ruf was cut from the roster prior to Opening Day.
Ruf will now be free to sign with any of the other 29 clubs around the league. Despite his recent struggles, he should garner some interest based on his past work. After a successful three-year stretch in Korea from 2017 to 2019, Ruf returned to North America and hit very well with the Giants. In 2020 and 2021, he hit .272/.381/.519 for a wRC+ of 142. That latter figure was one of the 15 best in the majors in that time period, among hitters with at least 400 plate appearances.
Based on that excellent showing, the Giants signed him to an extension going into 2022. The two-year deal paid him $3MM in each of 2022 and 2023, with a $3.5MM option for 2024 that comes with a $250K buyout. The club struggled last year and flipped Ruf to the Mets in a deal that now looks awful for the latter club. They sent infielder J.D. Davis, left-hander Thomas Szapucki and a couple of prospects to San Francisco, only to see Ruf slump badly for a few months before now getting sent away for nothing.
The Mets have had the past week to try to work out a trade for Ruf or get him claimed on waivers, but a release always seemed the most likely path forward. He’s still owed the $3MM salary for this year and $250K buyout on next year’s option. Any acquiring team would have been responsible for that money, and it’s unsurprising none of them were willing to do so with Ruf’s recent performance. The Mets will remain on the hook for that, allowing any other club to add Ruf for the prorated league minimum for any time spent on their roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Mets pay.
Ruf’s aforementioned strong run in 2020 and 2021 should intrigue some clubs. He also wasn’t bad prior to the trade last year, hitting .216/.328/.373 for a wRC+ of 104. He also might interest teams that are especially concerned about their production against lefties, as that is Ruf’s specialty. He has a career .272/.367/.523 batting line against southpaws for a wRC+ of 143, compared to a .216/.300/.365 line and 86 wRC+ against righties. Even amid last year’s struggles, he still hit .222/.322/.430 with the platoon advantage for a wRC+ of 116.
And they gave the giants four players for him lol
And Darin lies the problem, poor player evaluation.
boooooo
wait that was actually kinda good
It’s Ruf to tell. Never know.
This argument is nonsense. It’s not the sheer number of players, it’s who those players were. I don’t know anything about this trade, so maybe it was a complete failure, but just saying “they gave up four players LOL” is stupid.
Were those four players any good? Would they have helped the Mets somewhere down the line? Was losing them worth the chance that Ruf might have helped them?
Poor trade evaluation, pal.
I mean JD David is pretty solid probably better than their starting 3B Escobar
Exactly.
At the time of the trade JD had reverse splits so they were trying to create a jive platoon with Vogelbach and it just didn’t work out. I thought losing JD was a bad move but didn’t understand why the Mets would have added any other play to that deal no matter how low level they were. It just didn’t make sense but I doubt the trade does very much on either end in the long term.
JD Davis is a pinch hitter/emergency back up. His defense is horrible and long term playing will hurt a contender. As another has said, the Mets tried to capitalize and win last year with a platoon that just didn’t work out.
I think you are wrong. JD is on an upward trajectory at both the plate and in the field.
I think the truth is somewhere in the middle and that the package the Mets gave up should have brought back Wilmer Flores instead.
JD had a 115 OPS+ last season but only a 0.7 WAR over 115 games played. That is because of his defense. If all he did was DH, he would be more valuable as a player.
@put it…For his career, Davis has no platoon differential,and his final numbers for 2022 showed no platoon splits of note. I’m guessing he improved those numbers after the trade, but that would highlight why a team shouldn’t overreact to a small sample size.
He’s better than Ruf. Trading Davis for Ruf straight up would have been stupid. Throwing in 3 more players is beyond stupid.
@foppert I respect your opinion but do not believe it to be accurate. Perspective is always key, if JD Davis were still on the Mets there would be fans from other teams saying he’s a quadruple a player with no value. Once he leaves the Mets he is “on an upward trajectory”
I get it, people want to knock the Mets and their players all day. Still it has to make sense. I obviously can be wrong as I am not a baseball executive, but being realistic is way better than being biased.
@cohens. I have zero interest in bashing the Mets. The day I find myself typing “lolmets” is the day I find a new avenue for baseball knowledge.
I think results are results. 140ops+ as a Giant and visibly improved defence. The man is reportedly working hard at being better. So if a man is working hard at something and getting outcomes, I’m giving that respect. The only relevance a bias has is that I’m more familiar with what Giants players are doing.
Eh, Davis is/was not better than Escobar. Davis can generally hit, but he’s not good in the field and is always hurt. He was particularly bad for the Mets last year. Escobar was very bad for a lot of the year but was on fire for September/October and was the best Mets hitter down the stretch. For all of his struggles, he outpaced Davis in WAR (1.2 to 0.7 bWAR, 2.3 to 0.9 fWAR).
Not defending the trade, as the Giants clearly won it considering how bad Ruf was, but Escobar is the more valuable player between him and Davis. There’s a discussion to be had, but Davis’s injury history (has only played more than 115 games once in his career) and poor defense gives Escobar the edge.
@foppert: Davis is 30, too old to be considered a prospect with upside. At that age, what you see is what you get. He joins fellow ex-Met journeymen Michael Conforto and Wilmer Flores on a mediocre Giants team.
A man working hard at being better is different to a prospect with upside. If you think getting better at stuff is not possible at 30, then I urge you to reconsider. You are not doing your human justice. Good luck to you.
@cohen’s- I’m actually a fan of how the Mets are operating (to an extent) and believe with Cohen they’ll win a ring within the next 10 seasons. That said, this trade has been a disaster. It wasn’t a horrible trade on paper until Ruf imploded, of course, but JD Davis has shown to be a solid, productive piece. He should DH or play 1B only, but that’s another story.
Blue Baron- There have been plenty of players who have had a late-career renaissance or simply blossomed after the perceived “prime” window. See Nelson Cruz, Charlie Morton, Rich Hill, Jose Bautista, Dante Bichette, R.A. Dickey, etc. There’s no reason to completely deny that it’s possible JD Davis hasn’t reached his potential yet. It’s not like he’s 38 while doing this. If “what you see is what you get,” then you have to acknowledge that he did great to close out the season in SF.
“There have been plenty of players who have had a late-career renaissance or simply blossomed after the perceived “prime” window”
See none other than how good Darin Ruf was in his mid-30s with the Giants.
Davis has a career OPS+ of 116 which is weighted down by a couple of bad seasons, and after the trade with the Giants he had one of 140.
JD had 14 rbi for the Giants last year and is playing 1B this year. He didn’t hit for the Mets before the trade too. The P era has never been good for the Mets
Maybe you need to go back and look at JD’s numbers with the Mets. If they were any good, he wouldn’t have been traded. JD had one good season with the Mets.
That’s a good point. That said, the others have lasted, whereas Ruf’s was for a very limited amount of time.
@foppert I appreciate the reasoning, as a Mets fan I find myself getting so defensive lately from people bashing for the dumbest reasons. I agree Davis is a hard worker and really thought the Mets got a good one when we got him, it didn’t work out and I wish him the best. I’m glad you responded like you did as now I know there is one more commenter on here that has a level head and can give a good convo. There are many getting muted but you seem like one of the cool ones. Thank you.
All good Cohen. I’d be edgey if I was a Mets fan. There’s been a bit going on for you guys. I’m often on the edge as a Giants fan, and that’s just from other Giants fans ! 🙂
@phenomenalajs agreed 100%
JD had a 123 OPS+ in 335 games over 4 seasons with the Mets. That is very good. Its a sad that you cannot understand the stats, but still think you should talk crud about a player.
I don’t think he was doing anything more than stating a fact …that they did give up four player to get him. If you want to interpret it as his full trade evaluation that’s on you. His comment was no stupider than commenting on a trade you admittingly knew nothing about…IMO I could be wrong
Ruf is hurting. His wrist should give other teams pause. Any team that signs him probably knows that already. Turns out Szapucki is hurt and is getting second opinions from thoracic outlet surgeons. JD Davis is at least healthy but is closer to a two true outcome player than not. He had a great spring hitting .311, but at the same time struck out 33% of his spring at bats. Two games does not make a season, but yes he struck out three of his 5 at bats this year. The Mets last year were a team who moved players around the bases. And played very good defense. Neither are JD Davis’s forte. So the Mets moved on. The trade DID flop for the Mets. But there are a lot of similarly bad trades for every team. At least the Mets recognized the mistake and have moved on rather quickly.
Very good defense? Not really. Mets ranked 15th as a team in defense. They were just so-so. The other NY team was exceptional on defense, Maybe you are thinking about them.
fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=fld&…
Maybe you “wife” on this one as No actually the argument isn’t nonsense….just you and 2 others think so.
Those 4 players included in the trade, certainly in total or individually had value just not necessarily to each and every team.
While possibly not helping the Mets, another team may have been helped in some way acquiring one, two, three, or all of them.
One man’s coal is another diamond…..and of course it would depend on who or what skills those players had in value, but in total, to trade 4 players (unless they were out of options and would be lost via Rule 5) for one who proved to be a bust is a very valid argument pal!
No, it’s fair, pal. Even if it was a salary dump getting four warm bodies for a .197 slugging/$2 million contract was a huge win. On top of that the Giants got Davis, who shined in a part-time role. The cherry on top is the $3 million this year….
What a Ruf morning for him!
LOL. Nice.
I think it was a great day for Darin and a bad day for Cohen’s wallet. Darin gets out of Queens and Cohen is paying $3.25 million for Ruf to go hit well for another team.
@Pads- Then again why would Mr. Ruf want to get out of Queens? Their not going to win the NL East this season? You want him on the Friars? Lmk
The dysfunction in Queens maybe? The fact that Mets fans pronounced him dead after 29 games? Even though he is a decent bat, Ruff is not good enough to be a bat off the bench for the Padres. Of course, neither is EE, the Mets starting 3B.
JD bats third for the Giants. Eppler is the next Sandy. Be careful Stevie.
Eppler is the next Van Wagonwheel.and the stupid moves keep on coming.might as well bring back Omar,at least he made some smart moves.
Wow! A RH DH only guy isn’t valuable in todays game. Impossible people said adding a DH would give roster spots to these type of players.
He was horrendous doubt he gets another chance somewhere else
He was League avg with the bat while capably playing three positions with the Giants. Someone will at least bring him on as minor league depth.
His 75-80 ABs with the Mets won’t prevent him from getting another shot eventually.
Ruf was only bad in NYC. Since they will only be paying the major league minimum for him, some team will sign him in the next few days.
No one would trade for him???? I’m SHOCKED, SHOCKED I say!!!! LOL Seriously though, it seems as though he has a chronic issue with his wrist. That’s what he blamed for his poor performance after the trade. And again this spring. One would think an off-season of rest would’ve helped. Most teams probably see that as a non starter to adding him. A minor league deal is all he’s likely to get. See if he can overcome the wrist problem in AAA at bare minimum cost. Just can’t see any team devoting a MLB roster spot to him at this point.
Next player out the door will be the new whipping boy Eduardo Escobar. Bring on Baty already lol
The limited sample size that has been the first four games of the 2023 season has not reflected kindly on the veteran switch-hitter, who entered Monday’s series opener against the Milwaukee Brewers going 1-for-16 (.063) with seven strikeouts.
Hearing loud footsteps
Eduardo needed to be gone over the winter. Horrible. Can’t hit for his life.
Not a good fielder either a little too much weight on him and he lacks mobility
Eduardo was literally the best hitter over the last 1/5th of the season for the Mets and he’s a huge reason the Braves didn’t blow them completely away for the division. Losing Marte hurt the offense in a major way and Escobar picked up the slack. “Can’t hit for his life” when he regularly has an OPS+ above league average. Get a clue.
The Crew had Escobar for a bit after a deadline trade with the Dbacks a while back. Didn’t work out to well, as Escobar just disappeared. Surprised they didn’t go be Baty his shot right outta the gate this year.
There is zero reason Baty and Vientos shouldn’t have been on the opening day roster.
The Mets are off to a good start and will keep their young talent in the minors to maximize service time years. Reason number one.
That is a horrible reason for a team that’s only goal is to win the World Series and has a 350 million dollar payroll. Both players are vastly superior than their current major league counterparts. As we saw last year one game can make the difference in the standings. Games in April count just as much September.
Veteran favoritism they don’t want to upset the country club instead of meritocracy which the fans and media will soon loudly weigh in.
Move on, NYM fans. Pham in one game already delivered more value as RH bat. you win some, you lose some and every team has bad panic trades and overpays that didn’t pan out. Not like what the team gave up was Nolan Ryan for Jim Fregosi
Pham has shown some power. Always saw him as a slap hitter.
Pham doesn’t do much slapping unless Joc Pederson is in the stadium.
Or at a strip club, wait they probably have a “no hands” policy?
Playing Pham too often will expose his flaws and my guess is he’s either injured or gone by the deadline.
Pham had a really good game but let’s see what he does over a period of time. He’s also a little tough on a clubhouse. Usually wears out his welcome over time. There is a reason he’s been on lots of teams and it’s usually not because he’s too coveted. As a Giant’s fan it’s tough to see Ruf struggled in NY. He was very valuable while playing for the Giants. Hope he catches on somewhere. If the Giants had a need for him it wouldn’t surprise me to see Zaidi (who never met a released player he didn’t like lol) sign him again.
Amos Otis for Joe Foy …
Supposedly got a cortisone shot in wrist (unsure location tbh) shortly before spring training. Thought I heard that during a spring training game broadcast. Could explain spring training performance, but can’t explain last year.
I’m curious how money is taxed when a player gets released.
Is Ruf required to pay New York taxes? Does he pay taxes in his home of record? Is he subject to the entertainment tax in either?
Same question if a player is traded and another team is paying part of his contract, how is that money taxed?
If he’s traded to the Nationals, they pay a Capitol gains fee.
This calls for a MLBTR chat with a former MLB player agent/GM. Can we get Dave Stewart on-board?
If not Dave Stewart maybe Annie Lennox?
I prefer to not be walking on broken glass and get some real answers.
Well played, Creatch!
Angels need to sign him ASAP!!!!!
I think someone like COL will offer Ruf a minors deal just to see if he can get his act together at AAA. I just don’t see him on anyone’s major league roster unless and until he puts up some convincing stats at a lower level.
The bigger issue here, i think at least, is what this may just be the beginning of…….that for Cohen, paying a guy 3 mil or 40 mil for that matter, to stay home or play for another team is simply chicken feed and what does that portend for MLB in general? What happens when Scherzer or Verlander cant pitch for some reason? Just go out and sign Shohei lol, payroll will be $500 mil within 2 years, but he doesnt care and thats an issue thats gonna destroy MLB eventually imho
Mets would have been better off just calling up Vientos last year. Ruf trade…
Yep. If Mets were ok with eating roughly $40M owed to Cano then they were going to have zero issues cutting Ruf and his $3M salary.
Giants.
Sorry about the double post. Not sure how it keeps happening
That’s a Ruff way to start the week
I expect the padres to sign him to a multi year contract
“.272/.381/.519 for a wRC+ of 142. That latter figure was one of the 15 best in the majors in that time period, among hitters with at least 400 plate appearances.”
That makes me tend to think wRC+ stands for worthlesslyRidiculousCounting+
What each has gotten thus far
METS:
Ruf
.152 AVG 0 HR 7RBI in 28 games
GIANTS:
Davis
.263 8 HR 14RBI in 49 games.
just looking there – Mets lose no matter what happens as it can only get worse for them on this trade. Davis played in a pitchers park nonetheless.
So lets look at the rest:
LHP Thomas Szapucki 60day DL
13.2 IP 1.98 ERA 16K 4BB
One can almost say that a Ruf for Szapucki straight up would be a loss for Mets as well – he was more productive than Ruf too.
LHP Nick Zwack
A+ 24yrs old
3..99 ERA 36K in 29IP 16BB
He still has some time to make it to MLB.
RHP Carson Seymour
A+ 24 yr old
3.99 ERA 43K in 29 IP 10BB
Almost uncanny that both pitchers were in same level with same innings pitched and ERA.
Seymour may have the edge on whiff ability and he as well could make MLB to add more punishment to METS in this deal.
This is a RUF move.
Surprise! Darin Ruf re-signs with Giants on a minor league deal and is recalled almost immediately from Sacramento. He started tonight (4/12) at DH, going 2-4, with a RBI.