The Mets’ infield depth took a hit yesterday, as Nick Madrigal suffered a fracture in his left shoulder. That’ll rule the former fourth overall pick out for quite some time and leaves the club in need of a utility infielder.
Nevertheless, Tim Healey of Newsday reports that the Mets remain unlikely to circle back to Jose Iglesias. President of baseball operations David Stearns downplayed the possibility of re-signing Iglesias two weeks ago. While it was fair to wonder if the Madrigal injury changed the thought process, they’d face the same roster inflexibility that deterred them from a reunion in the first place.
In his earlier comments, Stearns pointed to a desire to have someone with minor league options taking the final bench spot. Iglesias, a player with well over five years of service time, cannot be sent to the minors without his approval. Madrigal still has an option remaining. He’s 85 days away from crossing the five-year service threshold himself and will add to that tally while he’s on the major league injured list. If he spends the first three months of the season on the IL, the Mets could no longer option him either.
The Mets have three bench spots ticketed to players who cannot be sent down: backup catcher Luis Torrens and outfielders Starling Marte and Jose Siri (or Tyrone Taylor if Siri plays center field). Aside from starting catcher Francisco Alvarez, the backup infielder is the only spot where the Mets can shuffle through position players unless they went to a 12-man pitching staff.
Iglesias was an excellent find for New York last year on a minor league deal. The Mets selected his contract at the end of May. The veteran shortstop hit .337/.381/.448 across 291 plate appearances while emerging as a clubhouse and fan favorite. Iglesias is a career .283 hitter, but his offensive approach (plenty of contact with minimal power and almost no walks) isn’t held in high esteem by most of today’s front offices. Teams surely do not expect him to repeat last year’s huge production, which came behind a .382 average on balls in play that is nearly 70 points higher than his career mark.
Madrigal’s injury does leave the Mets with an imperfect set of options for their final roster spot. There’s probably not a ton of playing time available for whomever that will be. Neither Francisco Lindor nor Pete Alonso take many days off. Mark Vientos will be at third base almost every day. There could be a few at-bats at second base, but Jeff McNeil had a big second half to earn the majority of the playing time there.
The Mets will want their utility player to be capable of playing up the middle, occasionally at shortstop. Ronny Mauricio and Luisangel Acuna are the best defensive options on the 40-man roster, but they’re among the organization’s more talented young hitters. It’s probably preferable for them to play regularly at Triple-A Syracuse than to get scattered big league reps. (Mauricio might open the season on the IL as he finishes his rehab from 2023 ACL surgery.)
The playing time caveat is also true of Brett Baty, who is a corner bat anyways. Jared Young is the only other infielder on the 40-man roster. He’s mostly a first baseman/corner outfielder. While he has some second base experience, he isn’t an option at shortstop. Donovan Walton and Luis De Los Santos are in camp as non-roster invitees, but Walton is also out of options, meaning the Mets couldn’t send him back down without putting him on waivers if they call him up at any point. That might bode well for De Los Santos, an offseason waiver claim whom the Mets outrighted off the 40-man as the corresponding move for the Madrigal signing.
Baty sucks. That’s my analysis.
Carry – He got a $92K car as a gift just for giving up his number …. he’s doing something right!
Sucks as a player what does Soto giving him a car have to do with performance
Fever: I heard someone got a massively expensive truck for giving up his number. Now I know who it is.
avenger – Not really expensive when you consider Ohtani gave Joe Kelly’s wife a $100K-$200K Porsche Panamera for his #17.
cr – Sucky players don’t typically get low numbers in the majors. Just the fact he was in a position to give a low number to Soto means he did something right!
And now Baty has a single digit number …. respect.
Solid work there.
One year ago, a lot of folks were “Mets-merized” by Baty’s Spring Training.
And, to be fair, Mark Vientos’ camp as well.
Spring Training 2024:
Baty: 3hr, 7 rbi, 11 k’s and .333 OBP in 61 PA (19 games).
Vientos: 5hr, 9 rbi, but 19 k’s and a .259 OBP in 58 PA (also 19 games)
Folks, like Mr. Limp Stick, were excited about small sample sizes like spring training stats, and how Baty was going to seize the job.
By Memorial Day, the roles were reversed.
This Memorial Day, it could be completely different: Vientos could be in Syracuse. He sure hits the ball VERY hard. But for the record, he whiffs a LOT. No one knows.
Baty does not suck.
Was he pressing most of last season? I think so.
For the record, who went 8 for 19 last spring, with a .500 OBP?
Joey Wendle.
Joey F’ing Wendle.
Again, solid work there, Big Stack.
We all know that spring training literally never correlates to big league success because there can be guys like baty where they look incredible but once they start facing pitchers on normal effort then they do nothing
Vientos isn’t going to be in Syracuse. Everyone with a brain knows.
We shall see.
So many people ready to give up on a great prospect who doesn’t even have a full seasons worth of ABs and only 80 games in AAA
I can’t think of an example where a prospect starts hitting randomly after struggling for so long
Does Jarred kelenic count? He had an ok season and now with the braves is kind of meh? Vientos and Mike trout had 1 bad season and then became great
Ever hear of Dante Bichette?
Baty sucks so does Stearns. This is the worst staff in the league.
Do you even like baseball or do you just like complaining?
I agree with your comment. Unfortunately, these comment sections are infested with people who are either drunk or 14 years old–hopefully not both.
Oh look at us we can pay 700 mil for one player but can’t even dish out 2-4 mil for a player who helped our team immensely this past year, and we can’t spend a few million on starting pitchers that will actually help the team. Nope instead we will sign montas who as usual stays injured, we will sign clay Holmes a pretty good closer to become a starting pitcher again after years and years of being nothing but a bullpen arm and when our players get injured we won’t replace them. Look I know I’m a braves fan, but this seems like very crappy roster construction, especially for a team who has world series aspirations….
How does overpaying a couple more 30+ year old players help the Mets ? Just cause they got Soto doesn’t mean they have to spend a billion + this offseason. They can piece together over the years or over the season as they go. Montas and Manaea should be back by early/mid may they can survive a month without.
If they have a terrible month, it can very much affect them. The point went way over your head.
If they sink that far then another pitcher is not gonna help much. They aren’t aces so they should be able to have a couple replacement starters to help get thru that period.
And also what happens when other players get injured toward the end of spring training? Then you’ll have to dig into minor league depth that might not help at all, or prospects that might not be ready when you could have just signed the players who you know can help right away? but by then they will have not had a spring training to ramp up so it’d be useless to sign them
Still panick buying is never a smart move. They have a couple guys that can fill in while they are on the DL in Butto, Megill, Canning and Blackburn not to mention Sproat in the minors if they really get desperate.
Sure doesn’t sound like a Braves fan. Braves every year without fail dip into the minors for pitching help and they are a develop and extend organization that doesn’t just go out and sign free agents. So why be sour on DS doing in NY what AA has done in Atlanta for years? They jumped at a generational player in Soto, but have added prospects in trades and are committed to development. Braves_saints_celtics you sound more like a disgruntled Mets fan in disguise than a Braves fan,,,
I am a braves fan lmao born and raised in Alabama so watching braves on tbs growing up was all I had. But I will say that I am a BASEBALL fan and I like good competition and good baseball whether the braves are playing or not…
You almost sound like a true Wilpon-era Met fan.
Is that suppose to be an insult LMAO. You seem like a casual fan if you think the Mets need to panick sign from the scrap heap that’s left in FA.
Panic signing is not signing players who were literally on the roster 5 months ago and produced at a very high level, but alright then
Iglesias is 35 and wanted a multi year deal. Even at 5MM he would cost the Mets around 11MM total with the penalties. He’s just not worth the price, it’s simple as that.
I see where you’re coming from, but the mets signing Soto they should have put a better rotation, and a better bench around him that’s just my take, guess that’s why I’m not a gm huh? Lol
The Wilponzies wouldn’t go anywhere near Soto and his asking price lol.
Why pay for the player when we have three young talented players that play the same positions that need their shots?
Prospects don’t always work out though, they may not fully be ready. I’m not championing for all sorts of different players the mets should sign, but Iglesias thrived with you guys, why not bring him back? And if he struggles let him go for one of the young bucks…
They don’t always work out but at some point you have to trust your talent evaluation and go with some youth. They work out a lot more than people let on. Imagine if the Braves didn’t give Harris, Riley, Strider or Albies shots because there was always some decent major league player the Braves could’ve signed every year.
I absolutely understand that. But as a braves fan, from the outside looking in, they are two totally different organizations in the way they’ve run the past few years. I guess I expect the mets to sign players more than the braves do and the braves to lean on prospects more than the mets do. Either way it’s gonna be fun this year. The braves, mets, and Phillies? It’ll be a dog fight man!
It will be. Should be a fun year for all of us with plenty of high end games to watch.
I have to agree with you. Iglesias was remarkably productive last year and exceeded all expectations. You really can’t go wrong bringing him back. Then you have the M’s and Jorge Polanco. Nightmare season in every way, and they bring him back. We’re in a much different timeline these days.
Sounds like Jose was a distraction with his ‘smash hit’ song.
“All the teams I’ve loved before”?
Can de Los Santos even play shortstop?
JDM sucked last year so that’s no great loss. Iglesias is never repeating what he did last year so it makes sense the Mets don’t want to pay him. His salary would effectively be taxed 110% as well and it reduces roster flexibility. Time for one of the kids to step up.
JD actually was good against lefties. He looks like a platoon DH ‘bat only’ for some team. That is a hard shoe to fit. Sucks for him.
JD actually was good against lefties. He looks like a platoon DH ‘bat only’ for some team. That is a hard shoe to fit. On to pickleball for him.
I’ll add that Iglesias was a non-roster invite last year, a minor league deal. And JD Martinez was signed at the very end of camp and came up near Memorial Day.
But agreed – time for a kid to step up.
OMG!
Yep. Madrigal going down is absolutely cause for panic city
It looks like the Mets need to work hard and get Marte traded to open up another flexible roster spot so they can sign Candelera.
Even if they traded Marte it would just be roster spots for Acuna and Baty.
Why aren’t the Yanks in on this guy? Is it the Mets or bust? At worst, you’ll get a GG caliber infielder.
OMG! Let it go already. Stearns wants the position open to up and coming players. He’s said it pretty consistently. Iglesias is a good player who will find somewhere to go, but not with the Mets.
Considering there’s only one up and coming player who rates to be ready to play in MLB as of Opening Day, Stearns must have a fairly high opinion of Acuna, at least in the backup role—-which I suppose doesn’t bode well for his long-term future, if he’s not good enough to warrant grooming in AAA for a full time role and considering the low cost of adding Iglesias in the interim.
The Mets will be fine. The pitching staff has no stars but lots and lots of average major league arms. That may not sound great but in fact it’s the right way to build a staff since loads of pitchers will inevitably get hurt. If they’re all essentially interchangeable a team can stay afloat, especially if it has one of the best lineups in the sport.
Senga is a star.
From your mouth to God’s ears, as my mom used to say. Senga was a star in 2023 but after essentially missing the entire season last year, I’m not sure what he is right now. If he’s a solid mid-rotation type who takes the ball 25 times, I think the Mets will gladly accept it.
I’m not sure the Mets really want to gamble on a 35 yer old who just had his best WAR ever, and will be going year to year from this point forward. If he’s healthy, he going to want to play. Iglesias gave great value last yea–but cam’t really be expected to repeat.
The roster sitch also means Acuna doesn’t get any MLB reps until someone gets hurt.
If Acuna is now the top backup IFer on the Depth Chart, and since Baty can’t play SS and probably shouldn’t play 2B at the MLB level until he’s had more time there in the minors, who do we think is behind Acuna on the Depth Chart for backup IFers?
I remember when people were saying the White Sox couldn’t decline Craig Kimbrel’s option because they just gave up Nick Madrigal for him.
Mariners could sure use Iglesias.
Anytime I have watched Iglesias play the team has loved him, he plays great defense, and is a hitting machine
Iglesias has a lifetime .283 batting average, and was a huge part of The Mets 2024 success. What exactly has he done to tick off the Mets Front Office? He wont cost much (Although I don’t know his asking price) and is every bit as good as everyone else the have brought in, and He wants to be there! He must’ve done something cause this makes no sense!
He’s not optionable. That’s all.
Never understood why Jose Iglesias keeps getting minor contracts and teams say he can’t hit. All he does is hit the ball.
Pinga!
Land that contract!