The Mets have acquired utilityman Pablo Reyes from the Red Sox in exchange for cash considerations, as announced via the MLB.com transactions wire. Reyes was designated for assignment at the end of April but cleared waivers and was outrighted to Boston’s Triple-A affiliate.
This marks the second time that Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns has acquired Reyes, as Reyes signed a minor league deal with the Brewers in January 2021 when Stearns was still in charge of Milwaukee’s front office. Reyes played in 58 MLB games for the Brew Crew during the 2021-22 seasons before landing in Boston, with a brief stopover with the A’s sandwiched in between.
Reyes has hit .249/.309/.349 over 572 Major League plate appearances, suiting up in six of the last seven MLB seasons (an 80-game PED suspension kept Reyes off the field entirely in 2020). A career-high 185 of those plate appearances came just last season, as Reyes got into 64 games with the Sox as part of the team’s revolving door at both middle infield positions. Reyes hit .287/.339/.377 in those 185 PA, translating to a 93 wRC+ since Reyes’ lack of power undermined his solid batting average and on-base numbers.
Defensive versatility has been Reyes’ calling card moreso than his bat, as he has gotten at least a bit of action at every position on the diamond except catcher over the course of his Major League career. However, he has exclusively played as an infielder (and occasional mop-up pitcher in blowouts) since the start of the 2022 season. The Mets traded Zack Short to the Red Sox a few weeks ago and just released Joey Wendle earlier this week, so Reyes fills New York’s need for utility infield help. Francisco Lindor and Jeff McNeil are locked into everyday duty in the middle infield roles while Brett Baty has seen most of the third base work despite struggling at the plate, and Mark Vientos has been hitting well in a bid to stick in the majors and cut into Baty’s playing time.
Since Reyes is out of minor league options, the Mets will have to keep him on the active roster unless they first designate him for assignment before trying to send him to Triple-A. In the event that Reyes clears waivers and is then outrighted off the 40-man, he has the right to elect free agency rather than accept that assignment, since he has been previously outrighted in his career.
Baty going down?
“Baty going down”…I thought I’d read Baty was optioned a few days ago and I was surprised to see him still up in yesterday’s game. Was he recalled(due to injury)or am I wrong that he was optioned a few days ago?
He hasn’t gone down. Yet.
And he hit a home run today, so now it’s going to be difficult to demote him, at least tomorrow.
He also made a fantastic play in the 9th inning to keep it a tie game.
No. At the beginning of the season they had Short and Wendle. Both are gone now. This just fills that void.
Baty might go to AAA and Iglesias brought up.
If they were going to bring up Iglesias, they wouldn’t have gotten this guy.
Nah. This guy is minor league filler. Look at his stats, he doesn’t belong in the majors. Teams often make moves that aren’t meant to have effect upon the major league team.
This story is wrong. Technically, the Mets as Syracuse purchased his AAA contract from Worcester, and Reyes is on the Syracuse roster directly and NOT on the Mets 40-man. He may have no options left but he is firmly in the organization. He will serve as the replacement for Iglesias/Bannon/Brosseau when any of them are brought up to New York which would require an add to the 40-man.
I think they would be making a mistake to promote Acuna. He isn’t ready yet, and why burn MLB time in a lost season. Same with their prospect pitchers.
mets backup infielders last and this year: guillorme, wendle, short, reyes
braves last&this year: grissom, guillorme, short, wendle
red sox this year: grissom, reyes, short
what a little carousel these three cities are putting on
All the teams are a little bit… short… on backup infielders HARHARHAR I’m so funny
Sure. The Shecky Greene of MLBTR.
Thanks Lester, you prompted me to look up ol’ Shecky. I hadn’t realized he passed away last year at 97. He had a good career despite a rough life. RIP
Remember when the Mets tried to buy a WS last year? haha
“Remember when the Mets tried to buy”…It seems people are unhappy when teams don’t “try” and also when they do. Personally, I commend the Mets for realizing that their plan(in ’23) of buying older “name” free agent pitchers to win wasn’t working and changing course. It shows they didn’t let their egos get in the way of good common sense. I don’t blame teams for using every asset at their disposal to win games, since winning games is their stated goal.
Remember when half the teams in baseball didn’t spend any money to try to improve?
That approach never works
Good to see Reyes getting another chance in the majors, he’s a good guy.
Hamilton has settled into the utility role for the Red Sox, so less need for Reyes.
Suspended for PEDs = good guy, eh?
Everybody for PEDs deserves a second chance!
They need at least a couple “chances” to learn how to beat the PED test, right?
Doesn’t alter what I said. We are all more than a single decision.
Guillerme to the Red Sox next?
Only fitting.
Do they really hate Iglesias or is this his minor league replacement so they can call him up?
I like Iglesias and so does Keith Hernandez who said so on the broadcast the day they DFA’s Wendle.
Jose Iglesias is never going to be a power hitter, but he has been playing second short and third at Syracuse and fields each well. He is the consummate professional and will come thru with a big hit when needed.
But the Milwaukeeness of Stearns comes through again. I am surprised he missed out in Eric Lauer ( cough, choke ).
I like Iglesias too. He’s well past his prime but they need to give him a shot. He’s the best backup infielder they have.
This must be a favor to the guy to play a few more MLB games before he’s cooked and plays in mexico, There’s no way he’s better than some of the vets at Syracuse.
Tonight after the Yankees win the Red Sox will be 10 games out of first place. I said it before the season started that they would be out of it by mid May. The Yankees and Orioles are better than we are are and show no signs of letting up and there is no way with the talent level on the Red Sox now that this team will be able to make the playoffs. This will be year 1 of Breslow. Full throttle 2 next off season ? Thank you Greg for a successful Red Sox season where we are out of it by the end of May! This should be great for attendance this year! I know injuries are hurting this team but the Yankees don’t even have their ace Cole back yet. By mid June they will be 12- 14 games out. Then we can await the sell off at the trade deadline. This is what happens when you go into cheap mode over the winter and hire a 5th rate GM when no one worth their weight wanted the job. What they did to Dave Dombroski was wrong and we have had people in way over their heads acting as GMs.
Minor deal, no major headlines here