The Mets announced a series of roster moves today, including the previously-reported claimed of right-hander Rico Garcia off waivers from the Yankees. Righty Dedniel Núñez was transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man roster spot for Garcia. It was recently reported that Núñez will require Tommy John surgery. The Mets will need to open an active roster spot for Garcia once he reports to the club. The Mets also recalled catcher Francisco Alvarez and optioned fellow backstop Hayden Senger. Additionally, left-hander Richard Lovelady has been sent outright to Triple-A Syracuse. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment last week. He has the right to elect free agency though it’s not yet clear if he has done so.
Alvarez got out to a bit of a slow start this year. The Mets optioned him to Triple-A about a month ago, as he was sitting on a .236/.319/.333 slash line at that time. He had hit just three home runs, after having missed the first month of the season due to a hamate fracture.
The optional assignment has seemingly lit a fire under him. He has 12 home runs in 29 games since being sent down, leading to a gargantuan .255/.352/.623 batting line for Syracuse. Now that he’s in a groove, the Mets have called him up and will see if he can carry that over at the major league level.
While the optional assignment ended up being relatively brief, it will be costly for Alvarez. He came into this year with two years and six days of service time, putting him on track for free agency after 2028. By spending a month in the minors, he won’t be able to push his service clock to the three-year line in 2025. That means the Mets have gained an extra year of club control over Alvarez, pushing his path to free agency until after 2029. He was going to reach free agency after his age-26 season but that will now be pushed until after his age-27 season. He is on track to qualify for arbitration this winter as a Super Two player, giving him four passes through arb instead of the usual three, but the delayed free agency is a hit to his career earning power.
As for Lovelady, he’s a veteran lefty who is out of options, which has led to him being on the fringes of a few rosters this year. He started the year with the Blue Jays but was designated for assignment after two appearances. He elected free agency and signed a minor league deal with the Twins, pitched well at Triple-A for a couple of months and then opted out of that deal. He has bounced on and off the Mets roster since then, twice getting added and then cut after a brief stint in both cases.
For the whole season, Lovelady has a 10.80 earned run average in 8 1/3 innings, though mostly due to allowing four earned runs in his second outing of the year. During his time in the Twins’ system, he tossed 20 2/3 Triple-A innings with a 1.31 ERA, 26.5% strikeout rate, 8.4% walk rate and 60.4% ground ball rate. Every other time he has cleared waivers this year, he has elected free agency, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if he does so again in the coming days.
Photo courtesy of Vincent Carchietta, Imagn Images
It’s better to have “loveladys” and get DFA’d and ultimately outrighted, than never to have “loveladys” at all.
A lot of the posters on this website, admittedly. Including me!
Didn’t he changed his name to Dicky Lovelady?
he did! a couple months or so ago he asked henceforth to be called Dicky. and I, for one, am appalled that MLBTR isn’t honoring that simple request. Shame, MLBTR!
If Alvarez turns into the player they hope he will, I’m sure he will remember the Mets costing him a year of FA for a weekend in AAA…
“Mets costing him a year”..Did the Mets cause Alvarez to be in AAA or did his previous subpar play(both defensive and offensive)cause him to be in AAA?
I suspect you’re the type to suspect conspiracy when the clouds turn gray and it rains. Alvarez’s previous play makes it hard, if not ridiculous, to claim the Mets “cost him” a year of FA.
Nice narrative. He sucked. He needed to improve. He already cost the Mets with his subpar play. Cancel the victimhood narrative because Alvarez will be rewarded by the Mets if and when he succeeds.
Alvarez will remember he sucked. He owes the Mets, nothing to the contrary. Play better.
He was hitting .236/.319/.333 before being demoted and played 21 games in AAA with stops at single A and AA as well for a total of 29 games. Thats a long weekend, and he didnt do much to help his case to not be demoted. Players under 24 who struggle should be demoted to get “right” its a fairly common occurrence in the baseball world especially if they have the options remaining
Back in the day, players were demoted a lot more often and quicker than today. Of course, the agents didn’t run the game so much then.
He wasn’t producing, plain and simple. If the Red Sox had a better option Connor Wong would probably be in Worcester right now too
He was horrendous. He should have been optioned a month before he was. His at-bats were entirely uncompetitive. Watches fastball strikes, wails at every slider. And with a big smile walks back the bench like it meant nothing. He should get another “the best” tattoo. Maybe it means he’s the best triple A catcher.
He throws his bat well! Usually the net behind 3b
He’s a hobo.
Alvarez shouldn’t of been sent down in the first place. Even when slumping he is a better hitter then Torrens. Hopefully they keep Chavez away from Alvy. I’d rather him strikeout 200 times a year and bat .210 with 30 homeruns then him hit .230 with 5 homeruns
“Alvarez shouldn’t of been sent down”…Exactly. I’m positive your baseball knowledge is greater and more acute than a guy(Stearns)who has led several playoff and division winning teams. Steve Cohen must be nuts waiting years to get him.
I can’t for the life of me figure out why you’re still here in the MLBTRADERUMORS.COM comments section and not running some team’s front office.
Clearly, Major Leagues team’s are not doing their due diligence and searching the comments section for genius front office talent.
Getting sent down wasn’t just about the numbers. He needed a wake up call. This needs to happen more around baseball but teams are afraid to step on kids’ toes.
Mark my words, someday my Lovelady jersey will be worth more than I paid for it.
Hopefully it works out better than that Stubby Clapp jersey did…
There is still a guy in Syracuse, 21 years later (!), who occasionally shouts “Subbbbaayy” during games. Stubby only played there for a couple of months, and he wasn’t exactly good, but what a lasting impression.
Bye bye Dicky Loveday
Why is this loser on the roster at ALL!!!!! Alejandro Carrillo
Secondly why did we bring Garcia back???
Is it because we always go for Yankees even if they suck like Rojas and Mendoza??
“He has 12 home runs in 29 games since being sent down, leading to a gargantuan .255/.352/.623 batting line for Syracuse.”
Minor correction, but these are his full season minor league stats and includes his rehab stints in A, AA, and AAA earlier in the season. Since he was sent down in late June, he has 11 HR in 19 games. Slash of .299/.397/.836/1.233.
@rct: you ae correct. This time down he had 11 HRs in 19 games. The other games were ramp up games post-injury.
But it was his framing skills and blockinf skills which were deteriorating which finally had the Mets pull the mlb plug on him temporarily.
It was a wake-up call, and he needed it. His play was getting sloppy. And he got the at-bats away from the pressure to work on as Alvarez himself said “ melding his new swing together with his old swing to find his power again “
Hopefully it works for him for the rest of the year. If he actually becomes the best catcher in baseball, arbitration will take care of him.
I feel like they rushed him back from his injury too quickly. Then first game back he hit an opposite field HR. It boosted his confidence but in some ways it was detrimental to his approach. His AB’s left a lot to be desired for a while before the demotion. Watched fastballs down the middle of the plate then swung at breaking balls way off the plate so there were far too many 0-2 counts which are very difficult to overcome. People forget how young he is especially for a catcher. I have no doubt he will be a very productive player as long as he remains focused and stays confident yet humble.
“push,” “pushing,” and “pushed” in three consecutive sentences. It might be time to consult a thesaurus.
Don’t push it.
Push it good, push it real good.
“…leading to a gargantuan .255/.352/.623.”
In what world is that gargantuan?
@padam I agree; in the world of sports where everything at every moment must promote and sell the sport in the biggest way possible no matter how ordinary the event.
I am a sports fan by the way, but I do like reality; kind of miss it now a days.
International League average OPS this season is 752, so 975 is maybe “only” massive instead of gargantuan, but it’s really good.