Just under seven weeks remain on the regular season schedule. Some injury and transaction news to monitor…
1. Does Diaz have time to return?
Mets closer Edwin Diaz, who suffered a torn patellar tendon during the World Baseball Classic, has been throwing off the base of the mound and is about a week out from his next wave of tests, per Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. He could be cleared for full mound work early next week, which at least creates the possibility that he’d return to the mound before season’s end. The Mets won’t rush him but will allow him to take the hill if he’s up to full strength, despite the fact that 2023 has become a lost season.
Diaz alone couldn’t have salvaged the 2023 campaign, but losing him for the majority (if not all) of the season was still crushing news back in March. The 29-year-old Diaz signed the largest contract for any relief pitcher in history this winter (five years, $102MM with two opt-out opportunities) after pitching to a 1.31 ERA with a staggering 50.2% strikeout rate in 62 innings last year.
2. Albies exits with hamstring issue:
Braves second baseman Ozzie Albies exited last night’s game after experiencing cramping in his left hamstring, per the team. The Braves dubbed the move “precautionary” in nature and figure to have an update on Albies’ status today. It doesn’t sound particularly concerning at the moment, but Albies has been one of the key cogs in a juggernaut Atlanta lineup this year, batting .267/.327/.514 with 28 home runs, 21 doubles, four triples and an 11-for-11 showing in stolen bases. Given Albies’ importance to the lineup and the Braves’ massive 11-game lead in the NL East, it’s understandable to see the team play things safe. If Albies requires a few days off or even a trip to the 10-day IL, the Braves would likely turn to deadline acquisition Nicky Lopez, who replaced Albies in last night’s game and would provide standout glovework at the position in his stead.
3. Recent DFAs back on the market?
A handful of veterans have been designated for assignment over the past few days, any of whom could be of interest to contending clubs seeking depth ahead of the Sept. 1 deadline for postseason eligibility. Tigers lefty Chasen Shreve is on release waivers, for instance, and could bulk up a team’s left-handed depth in the bullpen. His 4.79 ERA isn’t much to look at, but the 33-year-old Shreve has a solid 23.3% strikeout rate, a terrific 6.7% walk rate and an above-average 46.8% ground-ball rate in 41 1/3 innings. Catcher Carson Kelly hasn’t yet passed through waivers after being designated for assignment by the Diamondbacks, but his $4.275MM salary should make him a good bet to clear. He has enough service to reject an outright assignment and retain the remainder of that salary. Kelly hasn’t hit well in 92 plate appearances this year, but he’s a career .257/.346/.471 hitter against lefties, and he has roughly average framing marks with plus blocking grades from Statcast in his career.
Orioles righty Mychal Givens has missed the bulk of the season due to knee and shoulder injuries, and Baltimore designated him yesterday. His $5MM salary should allow him to clear, at which point the veteran will surely become a free agent. He pitched to a 6.60 ERA in 15 rehab frames and has allowed five runs in his four MLB innings this year, but Givens has a lengthy track record and would be available on a minor league deal. Once he clears waivers and is released, a new team would only owe him the prorated league minimum for any MLB time. It’ll also be worth keeping an eye on Red Sox righty Dinelson Lamet, who cleared waivers and was assigned outright to Triple-A. Like Kelly and Givens, Lamet has enough service time to reject that outright assignment and retain his entire salary, if he chooses.
Is Hader looking at Diaz money? Or do his bad years keep any offers like that away?
Dennis Lin wrote in the Athletic that Hader wants to become the highest paid reliever of all time. Personally, I think he’s gonna get it
If he continued to struggle after 2022, then yes. But he’s having one of the best seasons for a left-handed closer ever.
Agreed. But even in 2022, by the postseason, he’d figured it out and was back to his dominant self..dude’s a BEAST. Wish the Pads could resign him, but it doesn’t feel feasible.
Bad years? He had 2 bad months during the last few weeks of his wife’s pregnancy and after the birth of his first child.
Hader is going t get paid. Maybe not record money like Diaz, but top 3 or 4 all time for a reliever. I don’t see the Padres being able to keep him.
Lol Mets,
When Diaz returns the trumpets need to be playing Taps to put the Mets 2023 Season and Roster to its final rest as the historic dumpster fire that it was. Nobody can fix this mess. Nobody has been fired yet?? Dan Vogelbach is still the all time worst DH??? How is this possible?
LOLRobrock30.
How do you not know that firing people before the season is over won’t change the outcome, and nobody is going to do that do that just because some random bozo says they should.
How is this possible?
At the Mets country club accountability is nowhere to be found with Wilpon holdovers still running things. LOL
>How do you not know that firing
> people before the season is over
> won’t change the outcome
It did for the Phillies. Just last year. Almost won the World Series, too (Lost 4-2).
Phillies 2022 Managers:
Joe Girardi (22-29)
Rob Thomson (65-46)
Jack McKeon took Marlins to WS Championship over the Yankees in 2003
1989 Blue Jays. Cito taking over for Jimy Williams.
You could exhume Connie Mack, Joe McCarthy, or John McGraw and replace Buck Showalter with one of them, but the Mets still wouldn’t win this year.
Blue Baron: They were a different breed. So we’re the players. But none of them, especially, McGraw,, would put up with the crap that goes on today. Even with millionaires now playing the game, they still would’ve kicked butt.
@avenger65: And today’s MLBPA wouldn’t have put up with the crap that went on back then.
The players were horribly underpaid and exploited by owners, who illegally restricted their freedom to sell their services to the highest bidder through the reserve system.
Imagine what the greats like Cobb, DiMaggio, Foxx, Gehrig, Greenberg, Ott, Williams et al would have been worth with basic rights like free agency and salary arbitration.
“The crap that goes on today,” as you put it, amounts to the MLBPA collectively representing the players and, appropriately, having a seat at the table with ownership and input into decisions made for MLB as a whole.
What part of that do you have a problem with?
#tankszn. They need to get into the top 6 picks for next years MLB draft. The Mets exceeded the luxury tax this year, by 40 mil. If they are not in the top 6 picks, their first selection will drop 10 spots. If they end up in the top 6, then their second selection will drop 10 spots. They are doing all possible things to lose. And mets fans seem to be ok with this?
How do you know how Mets fans feel about it? And what do you suggest they do if they aren’t OK with it?
cry more
@Idosteroids: You’re doing enough crying for all of us.
Like it matters as the Mets don’t know how to develop or draft talent.
They drafted Dom Smith in front of Aaron Judge and Gavin Cecchini in front of Cory Seager in back to back years. They haven’t developed a pitcher really since Seth Lugo and their position players arrive not knowing how to play a position except for Alvarez. Look at Baty, Rosario, Vientos etc. Lol
@robrock30
The 2013 first round is below, every MLB team was wrong on Aaron Judge including the Yankees who chose Eric Jagielo before him. Phil Bickford was taken before Judge!!!! Braves might have the best development organization in baseball and they took Jason Hursh over Judge. Scouting is an absolute crapshoot. Harping on drafting Dom Smith? Really?
2013 Amateur Baseball Draft by Baseball Almanac | Baseball Draft Menu
Rd # Phase Player Name Drafted By POS Drafted From
1 1 JR Mark Appel Houston Astros RHP Stanford University
1 2 JR Kris Bryant Chicago Cubs 3B University of San Diego
1 3 JR Jon Gray Colorado Rockies P Oklahoma
1 4 JR Kohl Stewart Minnesota Twins RHP St. Pius X High School (Houston, TX)
1 5 JR Clint Frazier Cleveland Indians OF Loganville High School (Loganville, GA)
1 6 JR Colin Moran Miami Marlins 3B UNC
1 7 JR Trey Ball Boston Red Sox LHP New Castle High School (New Castle, IN)
1 8 JR Hunter Dozier Kansas City Royals SS Stephen F. Austin
1 9 JR Austin Meadows Pittsburgh Pirates CF Grayson High School (Grayson, GA)
1 10 JR Phil Bickford Toronto Blue Jays RHP Oaks Christian High School (Westlake Village, CA)
1 11 JR Dominic Smith New York Mets 1B Junípero Serra High School (Gardena, CA)
1 12 JR DJ Peterson Seattle Mariners 3B New Mexico
1 13 JR Hunter Renfroe San Diego Padres RF Mississippi State University
1 14 JR Reese McGuire Pittsburgh Pirates C Kentwood High School (Kentwood, WA)
1 15 JR Braden Shipley Arizona Diamondbacks RHP Nevada
1 16 JR J.P. Crawford Philadelphia Phillies SS Lakewood High School (Lakewood, CA)
1 17 JR Tim Anderson Chicago White Sox SS East Central Community College
1 18 JR Chris Anderson Los Angeles Dodgers RHP Jacksonville
1 19 JR Marco Gonzales St. Louis Cardinals P Gonzaga
1 20 JR Jonathon Crawford Detroit Tigers RHP University of Florida
1 21 JR Nick Ciuffo Tampa Bay Rays C Lexington High School (Lexington, S.C.)
1 22 JR Hunter Harvey Baltimore Orioles RHP Bandys High School (Catawba, N.C.)
1 23 JR Chi Chi Gonzalez Texas Rangers RHP Oral Roberts
1 24 JR Billy McKinney Oakland Athletics OF Plano West High School (Plano, TX)
1 25 JR Christian Arroyo San Francisco Giants SS Hernando High School (Brooksville, FL)
1 26 JR Eric Jagielo New York Yankees 3B University of Notre Dame
1 27 JR Phillip Ervin Cincinnati Reds OF Samford
1 28 JR Rob Kaminsky St. Louis Cardinals LHP St. Joseph Regional High School (Montvale, N.J.)
1 29 JR Ryne Stanek Tampa Bay Rays RHP University of Arkansas
1 30 JR Travis Demeritte Texas Rangers SS Winder-Barrow High School (Winder, GA)
1 31 JR Jason Hursh Atlanta Braves RHP Oklahoma State
1 32 JR Aaron Judge New York Yankees OF Fresno State
I wanted the Mets to draft Aaron Judge back then and was with several other posters back then on the MLB Mets message board posting for this. I could not understand how he dropped that far down. What a physical adonis he is.
@WampumWalloper: Don’t waste your time with RobRock. He’s a Mets-hater who magically–with just the benefit of hindsight–is an expert talent evaluator who knows more than MLB front offices and scouts. Which is why he spends all of his time trolling Mets articles like so many other doofuses on this site.
@rct That’s exactly why I stopped responding. People are masters at WASTING TIME. The amount of time they waste on hating the Mets would be spent so much better on something more productive in their personal lives, but this is what they choose to do with it. You better own a mansion with a yacht and your family well taken care of before THIS is what you decide to do with your time.
Agreed, as for next year’s draft, I think the line that Scherzer put out there was a smokescreen given to him by Eppler and Cohen. If there’s any way they can entice both Yamamoto and Ohtani, they’ll do it. Ohtani would cost them the first rounder anyway since he’ll be on the QO. It doesn’t matter if they finish with a record in the bottom six. That won’t prevent them from making a play for Ohtani if he’s willing to play home games on the East Coast.
Anthopoulos’ strategy is to draft pitching (Bickford). Only year he didn’t, he drafted damaged goods in catcher Max Pentecost. Atlanta knows how AA operates. The difference is AA is surrounded by better baseball people now than he was back then in Toronto.
@phenmenalajs, 100% agreed. There is no crying in baseball, but there is lying, and what was said was what had to be said to get Scherzer to say yes.
I want Shohei on the Dodgers, but the Mets could be solid with Senga, Yamamoto, free agent to be Kenta Maeda, and Quintana.
The Mets have been the Masters at Wasting Everyone’s Time for a long while ( Not mine ) and now are also the Masters at Wasting Steve Cohen’s $. Don’t worry about me I live the good life and I enjoyed the ’69 & ’86 Championships so I have got mine thank you very much. Don’t care about them much since 1993 when I gave up my full season’s tix.
Hey Cohen’s Wallet,
Maybe Mayor Adams should locate the migrants over there by Citi Morgue since Steve Cohen is playing hardball over his parking for the Soccer Stadium on City owned Parkland which he needs a waiver to get licensed for his Casino. LOL
Hey Rob rock
You sound way too bitter, it’s a sport! It’s meant to be enjoyed, a pass time. You’ve made it your goal to bash them EVERY chance you get, thats sad in so many ways not to mention it shows how much you care even though you claim they haven’t wasted (YOUR TIME)
I dont like muting people on here, I rather just ignore but you are way too annoying. Answer back if you want to make yourself feel better even though once muted I won’t be able to see the sorry comment, but I know you’ll comment since you won’t be able to take it and will want other people to see you said SOMETHING back. Go ahead, have a blast talking to yourself 🙂 LOL
@idosteroids “doing all things possible to lose”…you have some inside knowledge that the players are trying to lose? Please share.
The Mets traded :
an aging 3B who had lost his starting position
two OF’s who are both 4th OF types
two RP’s, one whose contract is up at the end of the season and one who they picked up off the scrap heap
two SP’s, both advanced in age, one who seemingly digressed from LY, and the other who spent half the year on the DL
Heading into the trade deadline with a losing record, the Mets shed some dead weight along with aging ball players, and players in the last year of their contract.
You are implying that this was all done to protect a draft position? Forget about tall rubber boots, need hip waders for BS that deep.
It must be nice, however, to be able to trade away $200 million in salaries, to get a fresh start.
We’re talking about Edlose Diaz right?
You pay a closer a record contract and he doesn’t even make a pitch (after his signing) before you start a dismantle that makes an expensive closer a luxury and not a necessity. What a waste.
As Cohen stated, the Mets will try to stay competitive next year which makes Diaz a necessity. He can obv. afford him. The dead money for Scherzer and Verlander are a waste but it bought them some good prospects at leasr.
Yeah, good point. I guess since in that market and with that budget, they’ll never really truly be rebuilding, and they’ll benefit from having another star to market amidst the turnover.
They’ll have a fully rested and healthy Diaz next year. If a similar collapse happens again, Diaz may likely be worth his contract in a trade (even tho he has a full NTC until after ’25) for a contending team. We’ll see how crazy the Josh Hader and Aroldis Chapman sweepstakes get this offseason.
Mets would be wise to let Diaz continue to build strength and sit for remainder of the year. WBC insurance is already paying salary, why risk a relapse for meaningless games?
Amen, brother! Keep Diaz on the shelf. Mets have a bad habit of rushing players through Syracuse this year and meet with failure. It would wise not to rush Diaz’s return in a lost season.
Astros should get on Shreve; montero needs a mysterious ‘arm fatigue’ timeout to see if he can get back on course. Crane too cheap to hit the reclamation pile too?
God is not perfect. He gifts human beings with extraordinary athleticism but on occasion forgets to include the brains.
Maybe have a thing where Diaz throws out a ceremonial first pitch at a game if he’s not ready yet? Bring in Timmy Trumpet for it. Could be a nice little fan-service thing and a sign he’ll be back in 2024.
And after he’s throws the first pitch, his teammates can all jump on him as he stands there without making an effort to brace himself for their impact.
The Mets won on ESPN last night but that was dwarfed by the Yankees’ bullpen meltdown that cost the Bombers a winnable game in Miami.
Tho NY tabloids aren’t aware of it yet, the days for Aaron F’in Boone are numbered.
Yankees gonna Yank ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
That’s the way this year has gone. I wouldn’t put the Holmes’ diarrhea of an outing on Boone though. This Atlanta series though… and Sevy pitching…