The Mets have signed right-hander Oliver Ortega to a minor league deal that includes an invitation to New York’s big league spring camp, MLB Network’s Jon Morosi reports (X link). Ortega was outrighted off the Astros’ 40-man roster in November, and since it wasn’t his first career outright, he chose to enter free agency.
The 28-year-old Ortega made his Major League debut in 2021, and he has a 4.03 ERA, 20.4% strikeout rate, and 10.8% walk rate over 58 career relief innings with the Angels and Twins. After Houston claimed him off waivers from the Twins in October 2023, Ortega’s tenure as an Astro came and went without a single game played in either the majors or minors. A pair of surgeries cost Ortega the entire 2024 season, as an initial procedure in Spring Training to remove loose bodies from his throwing elbow didn’t take, and he needed another surgery in late June to remove a bone spur from that same right elbow.
While a minor league deal doesn’t represent a huge commitment, the Mets seem satisfied enough with Ortega’s health situation to at least give him a look during Spring Training. Ortega’s career Triple-A numbers include a 3.61 ERA, 27.7% strikeout rate and 7.42% walk rate over 72 1/3 innings, so he might be able to tap into that potential if he can improve his control against big league hitters.
Depth, depth and more depth
Stearns talked about that last year, saying he believes in lots of depth, many layers of depth, and depth at every level.
@geofft none of that “depth” that he signed to minor league deals amounted to anything
You’re right… Jose Iglesias and Dedniel Nunez made zero impact….
@SeeUonTheUlnarSide Nunez was in the system already
Signed with the Mets in 2024. Again, your fandom is astounding.
spotrac.com/mlb/player/earnings/_/id/70821/dedniel…
@SeeUonTheUlnarSide he was in the Mets system since he was 21, it doesnt count
Nunez undoubtedly signed a 2024 contract with the Mets, but was already in the organization. He was signed by the Mets, was taken by the Giants in the Rule 5 draft, missed two seasons due to injury and the Covid pandemic so never actually played a single game in the Giants organization, and then was returned to the Mets.
so if alonso signs as a free agent would that not count as a signing? He been in the system for even longer than Nunez.
and no he was not there since 21. The giants claimed him for a year and returned him when he was 24 / 25, He was hurt so it didnt register any stats. For someone that claims they are never wrong you seem to be wrong a lot i noticed.
Another shrewd move by Stearns
@The McNasty1 its sad when an owner who has a net worth of over 20 billion dollars is bargain hunting
It’s sad when Mets fans are so caught up in Cohen’s net worth that we can’t enjoy the challenge of building a roster without a whole bunch of Mets fans crying about every signing and not allowing the rest of us the enjoyment and satisfaction of finding something valuable that others don’t see. All because some Mets fans think the penalties for being over the Tax thresholds aren’t a big deal and our farm system can just keep taking draft hits and QO signing hits. I wish all y’all would just disappear and let the rest of us enjoy the off-season without y’all’s consistent and persistent and constant bitching about Cohen.
@texas don’t lettem bait you, he’s not even a Mets fan. Just a troll doing troll things. I would say mute them but I don’t, I like the amusement. That’s all it is.
The ones who cry do not understand the value of a deep team and farm system. They only care about star power, then wonder why we finish in 4th because the pitching staff goes down with injuries.
I wish you disappear! Keep crying!
They cried last offseason and we made it to the NLCS from the depths of our usual MDW end of meaningful baseball.
Who needs Soto? We have Oliver Ortega! Sleepy Stearns shopping in the bargain bin. We need a suitable lefty DH, Winker should have been signed already. I’m not even going to mention how bad this starting rotation is. I give Dollar Tree David an F- for this offseason so far
You gave him an “F” last year, too. I give your Fandom and analysis a hard “F.”
You know Stearns’ pitching strategy worked great last year. WTF would you bash him now?
I’d like to ask to all the MLBTR commenters out there. Do you really think Stearns has any clue at what he is doing. Look at last years minor league signings. Who performed? There was Cooper Hummel, Andre Scrubb, Austin Adams, Cole Sulser, Luke Voit, Ji-man Choi, Yoan Lopez, Julio Tehran, etc. None of these guys contributed to winning MLB games for the NY Mets. If you want to say Iglesias thats fine, but outside of him there was no one else. Torrens chose to come to the Mets since the Yankees didnt give him a chance in the middle of the season. The fact of the matter is Stearns’s cost cutting moves don’t work
considering they made it to the NLCS on a year they were not supposed to even make the playoffs while paying what a 100M to players not on the team anymore i think was pretty successful. There seems to be a minor league signing you didnt mention. wasnt there a japanese guy they spent kinda big on that didnt make it out of the minors?
Also Adams did well away from the mets and Tonkin had some success outside of the mets. That is not on stearns as he brought the talent. The rest were lightening in bottle type signings and werent expected to do much which included iglesias in that list,
Also you are wrong about Luis Torrens as he was “traded” for cash considerations. he didnt have a say in anything.
Saying he didn’t do much with MILB FA deals last year *except* for Jose Iglesias is a real “well besides that, how did you enjoy the play Mrs. Lincoln?” kind of vibe. Can you name a minor league free agent signed last off-season who had a more successful season than Jose Iglesias? And if you want an answer to “who else”, you can easily point to Danny Young as a player who had more than a cup of coffee with the 2024 Mets after signing an MiLB deal in the offseason.
Seems really just ignorant of the off-season process to list a bunch of guys from the 2024 transactions logs as proof positive that Stearns is lost – these are moves every single team makes every single winter. Or I guess you’d also call Andrew Friedman of the Dodgers a loser because guys like Michael Peterson, Chris Owings, Elieser Hernandez, Chris Vallimont, Jonathan Arauz, Brendan Davis, Stephen Gonsavles, Matt Gage, Justin Wilson, & Travis Swaggerty didn’t have an impact on the 2024 Dodgers, right?
@DanzigInTheDark The Dodgers spend money on the right players. The Mets do not. The Dodgers won the World Series and the Mets did not. Your analogy is horrible
Name one minor league signing the dodgers made last offseason that worked out. Wont be hard for a “baseball expert.”
You cant because their team was intact from last year. were major league / big name free agents (atleast one that basically gifted himself to the team), trades, and callups from their own farm. None of their minor league signings were even decent contributors. They were so bad they were working claims for guys like Yohan Ramirez and trading for Cavan Biggio who couldnt even stick on the blue jays.
@Flyby Brent Honeywell Jr. did ok for them in his limited time there. That lefty they had (he played for the Mets, I forgot his name) had a phenominal year for them as well. They know talent
Anthony Banda
Banda – trade/considerations
mlbtraderumors.com/2024/05/dodgers-acquire-anthony…
Honeywell – waiver claim in season
mlbtraderumors.com/2024/07/dodgers-claim-brent-hon…
ill still wait for this minor league signing that actually contributed to the world series.
Calm before the Mets storm
Mets recently signed Rafael Ortega as well.
I am guessing that they can tell them apart.
Last season will turn out to be a curse for this franchise. You can’t get lucky once but it’s not going to happen when you are scared to spend money on players not named Juan Soto. Cohen is being used to drive up price for Yankees and for the third time they won’t pivot and spend that money elsewhere. This is currently one of the worst rotations in the league. Yet for some reason they won’t spend on a front line starter or bullpen help. Stearns will be the gettleman of baseball and it will take years for the Mets to get back on track. Someone please remind cohen that Luck runs out!!