The Mets have signed outfielder Taylor Kohlwey to a minor league contract and invited him to spring training, the team announced Friday.
A 21st-round pick by the Padres back in 2016, Kohlwey made his big league debut this season and went 2-for-13 with a pair of singles. The 29-year-old has minimal big league experience but a strong track record of getting on base in the upper minors, evidenced by a career .296/.387/.444 slash in parts of four Triple-A seasons. Kohlwey has walked in 12.1% of his Triple-A plate appearances and fanned at a lower-than-average 17.5% rate.
He’s played primarily left field in his professional career but also has nearly 1800 innings in right field, more than 750 innings in center and more than 800 innings at first base. He marks yet another depth pickup for new president of baseball operations David Stearns, who’s been active in minor league free agency, on the waiver wire and with big league signings on the fringes of the Mets’ 40-man roster early in the offseason. The Mets have yet to make any major splashes under Stearns, though they’ve been connected to several of the top remaining free agent names — most notably NPB ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
We got the wrong Padre Outfielder
The Long Island loudmouths will not accept this. Stearns must pay. There will be a rally in Wantagh tonight, followed by a sing-a-long
Waiting for LFGMets #FireEverybody to check in.
#BaronforVP2032
#Gabbard+Barron2032
*Baron. Thanks!
Yikes my apologies! The bumper stickers and yard signs will not go to print for another few years, I will make sure they are up to spec!
Beers and wings at Boss Crokers, then sing-a-long at the LIRR. See you there.
I’m hear at Nathan’s to help Vogelbach train for the hot dog eating contest against Joey Chestnut.
OK 10centBeerNight…let me clear my throat..hem,hem…Dude,rage! There ya go, a Mets fan raging about another depth signing. Please give us something new next time around…
He can’t…..same thing every time…..Long Island loudmouths…..Stearns must pay…..blah blah blah….ad nauseum
Mets pivoted quickly from Ohtani.
Braves signed Zach logue to minor league deal. Who cares! Depth moves but all teams
@DannyDimes2023,,
The difference being the moves they’ve already made at the big league level to improve a 100-win team.
His fan base is in Southern California.
The Yankees get Juan Soto while the Mets get Taylor Kohlwey…. Doesn’t Steve Cohen see anything wrong with that?
Would you have preferred the Mets traded Acuña, Jett, Megill, Peterson and Vasil for one year of Soto? If so, please go sit in the corner and watch golf or curling instead of baseball.
@SeeUonTheUlnarSide the Yankees gave up thier 5th best prospect and garbage. The equivalent would have been Blade Tidwell, David Peterson, Jose Butto, Megill, and Matt Allan. I’d do that every day of the week
If you seriously think the Yankees gave up garbage, you need to take a better look at the individuals involved in that trade.
Just because the Mets didn’t land Soto doesn’t mean you have to be sour grapes for the team that did. The Yankees gave up a lot to land Soto, both from a depth and talent perspective.
The Mets have stated repeatedly that they need to bring the farm system back to prominence. That is way more important than dealing for 1 year guaranteed of Juan Soto.
I’m really excited with all these acquisitions we should have the best triple AAA team.
Mets making some great moves. Cohen was right he only cares about winning 2-3 years from now. He doesn’t want to win now.
We will be lucky to win 70:games with the retread Mets
Interesting to think that, had the Yankees been able to get Grisham without Soto (assuming it’s for fungible minor leaguers, arguendo), that adding Soto actually makes them a little worse in 2024 than not adding Soto, and makes their projections even worse in 2025 and after.
Verdugo and Grisham are both 2 win OFers. Dominguez rates to come back in mid-season. And as modest a talent as Stanton is these days, playing 80 games at DH when he’s healthy is probably a plus rather than a minus, salary aside since you can’t do anything about it.
Soto’s a 5 win DH. Making Grisham or Verdugo a 4th OFer costs the Yankees a win. Sending King away costs around 2 wins, Losing Clarke and Vasquez, another win—and on top of that they’ll probably get negative value from the 3 pitchers they sub in for the three pitchers. Call it a cost of another half win. So far, the Yankees have gained all of half a win by adding Soto.
On top of that, though, is the $33m the Yankees are paying Soto rather than the strictly money cost to a free agent who doesn’t require talent in exchange, to acquire. Call it 3.5 wins that the Yankees AREN’T getting for that $33m.
Overall, the addition of Soto and Grisham (6 wins, total) compared to just Grisham (2 wins, total, plus all the assets and cash retained), is the lesser option.
And that’s even before we figure the value of 6 years of Drew Thorpe.
Startling to think that adding Juan Soto is a negative, but the way the Yankees went about it and the prices they’ve paid in talent and salary make it an obvious own-goal.
Cashman doesn’t know how to build a complete team
@D-fan He really doesn’t. There’s just lunging in this direction, then that direction. The Cole deal is working out, but not much else has. Rodon was desperation after Hal was booed at the Stadium. Trading Montgomery to snag a CFer to give Judge some relief was bad planning. And it now looks like the Yankees are spending big to replace their collapsing DH with another DH in Soto, and for another astronomical price.
Imagine having Soto and Judge in 3 years when both are (or should be) full-time DHs. Ugh.
Ohtani just signed with the WWE…2yrs/1 billion
Dumpster diving? Tommy Pham is still out there and plays hard. Who knows?