The Mets have claimed catcher Ben Rortvedt off waivers from the Dodgers, according to a report from Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. Right-hander Dedniel Nunez was transferred to the 60-day injured list to make room for Rortvedt on the 40-man roster.
Rortvedt was designated for assignment by the Dodgers earlier this week in order to make room for Evan Phillips on the club’s 40-man roster. Rortvedt made his big league debut with the Twins back in 2021, and since then has bounced between the Yankees, Rays, and Dodgers organizations at the big league level. His best season came in 2024 as a member of the Rays, where he slashed .228/.317/.303 with a wRC+ of 87 and 1.4 fWAR in 112 games. Rortvedt graded out as an above average catcher in terms of blocking and pitch framing, though he threw out baserunners at a below average clip.
Overall, Rortvedt has a strong reputation defensively as a catcher and that’s why he managed to catch on with the Dodgers as their primary option to backup Will Smith down the stretch and into the playoffs when Dalton Rushing was injured. Rortvedt even made some appearances in the postseason with the Dodgers and went 3-for-7 with a double during the playoffs for Los Angeles, earning himself a World Series ring with the club this past fall. He re-signed in L.A. on a small MLB guarantee and in the weeks since then has rode the DFA carousel around the league as teams try to sneak him through waivers to serve as a depth catcher. He’s been claimed by the Reds, then re-claimed by the Dodgers, and is now being claimed by the Mets.
Now that he’s headed to New York, Rortvedt still figures to be the third catcher on the team’s depth chart behind youngster Francisco Alvarez and well-regarded defender Luis Torrens. Rortvedt does not have options remaining, so the Mets will either have to designate him for assignment or carry three catchers on their roster if an injury doesn’t open up a spot for him at some point before Opening Day. In the meantime, however, he’ll join the Mets in Spring Training, working with the team’s pitchers and preparing for the 2026 season. For as long as Rortvedt remains in the organization, he’ll likely push catcher Hayden Senger further down the club’s depth chart. Senger made his MLB debut last year and slashed just .181/.221/.194 in 33 games as a 28-year-old last year, but does provide the Mets with optionable depth behind the plate.
Competition for Hayden Senger and MJ Melendez
MJ Melendez doesn’t catch anymore
He would be the emergency catcher in addition to other positions.
2025 world champ
This was so stupid of the Dodgers. Rare dumb move. They did not have to sign Phillips yet.. Wait, put someone one the 60 man, and keep Rortvedt – and sign Phillips and transfer him to 60 man. What am I missing here?
Great move by the Mets
They also have Austin Barnes on a minor league deal in Spring training. Neither one will be on the opening day roster unless Alvarez and Torrens get hurt. Is Rortvedt decent on defense? If so they may try to stash him in AAA.
Yes, he’s pretty good. That’s the only reason he has a MLB career.
Everyone has tried to stash him in AAA. No success yet.
The Dodgers will reclaim him then. They undoubtedly will have an additional pitcher or two on the 60 day IL by then to create space on the 40 man.
This has to be super annoying for a player to endlessly be DFA’d and claimed by another team.
The good part for Ben is he’s getting paid through the process wherever he ends up.
It’s 26 man room that’s the issue for him, not 40 man.
In the Dodgers case, it’s the 40 man. They want him, but don’t have room on the 40 man.
I’m not as up to speed on other organizations depth charts.
The 40-man was why they DFAed Rortvedt to begin with (as they needed the spot to add Evan Phillips), but the 26-man is why they’ll likely have to DFA him again (after the Mets almost certainly DFA him and the Dodgers likely reclaim him).
They actively do not want to keep him on the 26-man roster. They have no room for him on the active roster, but he has no more minor league options left, so they’d have to DFA him to keep him.
So this is going to be weird, as any team that picks him up only wants him to DFA him themselves.
Ben there, done that.
David Stearns has proven he can efficiently maximize and successfully implement a small market “less is more” baseball strategy.
But, as far as running a big market team with higher aspirations and an impatient billionaire(David Cohen) staring over his shoulder, he’s fairly unproven.
He went to the LCS in his first year and the Mets have one of the best farm systems in baseball. Mets also have the fourth best WAR prediction for 2026 by Fangraphs and have only two long term deals on the books (one of them being Lindor, which he had nothing to do with) giving them financial flexibility in the future.
It’s his third season with the Mets. Of course he’s unproven. Not sure this needs to be said on every Mets article, especially one about signing Ben Rortveldt. But he’s done a good job so far. No one will ever be happy until he wins a WS, which takes time.
“He went to the LCS”..You do make some solid points, but the Mets did just blow up their team after completely missing out on a watered down, expanded(again) MLB playoff.
I’m not sure I buy into this “best farm” stuff, because their(recent) farm has produced a couple pitchers who’ve looked decent, short term.
But, for me the “best” farms have a few(young) position players doing well in the Majors. For me, “best” is more than a projection or prediction, but it also means you have 1st & second year studs already in MLB, not just projected to be there soon.
You don’t follow Prospects, Farm Systems, and Minor League Baseball too much I guess. McLean will be a future Ace or co Ace. He was the Mets Ace at then end of last year. Benge is all but penciled in to start with Soto and Robert on the OF. Tong will be in the Rotation before mid Season. Stearns refused to give I. And trade him to the Brewers for Peralta because he knows his high ceiling. He was MILB Pitcher of the Year last year. Reimer at 3rd or 1st and Ewing in CF are their 4th and 5th prospects. They’re projected to be very good starters and will be in AAA. Clifford is the #6 Prospect and will be in AAA. He’s the Mets #1 Power Prospect who can play 1st or OF. Wenninger is the #9 or 10 Prospect and had a huge year in AA and will start in AAA. Watson and Santucci and two SP’s right begging him that will be solid mid Rotation Pitchers. Dylan Ross, the #18 Prospect, is a hard throwing strong RP who was great in AAA last year and should make this year’s Pen but has tough competition and options so he may be blocked and spend the year shuttled between AAA and the Majors this year. Outside of Benge all of these players are blocked by great to good Pitchers and Players in the Majors.
Also know that Stearns used two of the top Prsopects (Sproat and Jett) to get one of the top 10 SP’s in MLB, Peralta. Stearns also has to see what young former Prospects Vientos and Mauricio will play and how they’ll do. Also take into consideration Baty had a good year and Alvarez was a top 5 MLB Prospect not too long ago. He’s still 24 and a top 10 Catcher in the MLB. Show me the homegrown Team the Dodgers are winning World Series with. Also know that small Market Teams, like the Pirates for example, have to play their top Prospects because they don’t have the money to fill out their Team with top Free Agents. Or can’t afford to trade their top Prospects for Players on expiring contracts, like the Mets did with Peralta, because they know they’ll lose them automatically on Free Agency the following year. If you follow any of the MLB Rankings the Mets are a top 10 Farm System and a few have them in the top 5. Do some research and not just guess and make blanket opinions.
John Stearns was an excellent catcher for the Mets also!
A bit hard to figure out – trying to stash a guy in AAA if he clears waivers that will cost over $2.5 mil with the tax hit?
Maybe somebody’s interested in Torrens In trade? Then they’d save a bit over $2 mil.
Would much rather have Torrens. His defense is outstanding and he had a bit of bad luck with the bat. Almost all of his statcast numbers offensively were above average. He’s the perfect backup catcher.
I don’t think he’s replacing Torrens. This is more insurance who will compete for a no..3 role if they can hold onto him.
“What is 2.5 million to Steve Cohen”…Ask anyone in the hospitality industry, billionaires are the cheapest, most frugal people out there.
I doubt you get to be a (self-made)billionaire by treating $2.5 million like it’s couch change or nothing.
mlbf
“I doubt you get to be a (self-made)billionaire by treating $2.5 million like it’s couch change or nothing.”
How about once you get there?
Do you think, maybe, we could find some examples of billionaires spending money recklessly?
Oh, here’s one
“the McCourts paid Vladimir Shpunt several hundred thousand dollars over five years to apply his “V energy” and help the Dodgers to victory”
LA Dodgers owners paid Russian scientist for psychic baseball boost | US news | The Guardian share.google/ac44H0Bc76Q2L2LVh
Okay, so who was saying the Dodgers had a good chance of sneaking Rortvedt through waivers? Confess!
Most humans are incapable of admitting to mistakes. Look it up, and call him out.
*raises hand*
I did think it was possible considering he’s produced a statline that’s 3rd string catcher tier at best. 1.25M is a lot for that level of play when nearly any ol’ AAA guy can do what he does for less.
I wouldn’t say good. But since he passed all the way through to the Dodgers when the Reds put him on waivers, there was a chance.
There’s a chance of you winning the lottery, but I wouldn’t call it a meaningful chance.
BD
“who was saying the Dodgers had a good chance of sneaking Rortvedt through waivers? ”
“Good chance” doesn’t mean 100% chance
See above for an explanation of the concept of chance. I believe the right answer was a quite small chance. But since I was so obviously wrong…
BS
“There’s a chance of you winning the lottery, but I wouldn’t call it a meaningful chance.”
“See above for an explanation of the concept of chance.”
This?
This isn’t an explanation of the concept of chance
“But since I was so obviously wrong…”
We’ll never know what the chance was? Was it a 100% chance he’d get claimed? Or a 3% chance? Impossible to know.
BS
If I understand your logic correctly it’s something like this:
Just because you’re in a relationship doesn’t mean it’s a meaningful one.
Actually, it is. If an argument is based on a “chance“ of something happening, without saying what the chance of it happening is, then it is a meaningless argument. No statistics required. High, medium or low would do in a situation like this.
Uh, what?
BSLA
“I believe the right answer was a quite small chance.”
But you don’t know if it was a small chance or large chance or a 1% chance or a 100% chance
And that it happened doesn’t tell you.
That’s the point
So this
“Okay, so who was saying the Dodgers had a good chance of sneaking Rortvedt through waivers? Confess!”
“is a meaningless argument”
So whether I was right or wrong, I was still wrong?
Got it.
BSLA
“So whether I was right or wrong, I was still wrong?
Got it.”
What [on earth] are you talking about?
You obviously don’t got it
It’s impossible to know if you were right or wrong about how much of a chance there was that Rortvedt would be claimed.
That’s a different question than, “will Rortvedt be claimed?”.
It’s really a moving target. Every team is shifting and changing priorities constantly at this point. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Mets put him on waivers.
Maybe they have room on the club for him. If not, be can’t be optioned to the minors and will have to go on waivers. Maybe he shows them enough to start the season with them. And if he does that’s awesome for him, and yet a bummer for Dodgers fans who wanted him in the Dodgers organization.
Honestly, I do get it. Completely. I noticed long ago that the worst sin you can commit in an MLBTR discussion is to be right about something and say so. And yes, I am deliberately jerking a few chains here. Maybe it will change some thinking for the next time this comes up. Probably not. It was a bit of fun either way.
This is what on earth I am talking about.
ADF: Sure, there’s a fair chance the Mets will DFA him again before the end of spring training, along with a better-than-even chance some other team will claim him, just based on what we’ve seen so far. The entire point I was making is, the player is clearly in sufficient demand that he was claimed every time a team tried to sneak him through waivers, and the Dodgers attaching a modest salary to him wasn’t likely to give them a significant edge in doing so. This turned out to be an accurate prediction.
Fair enough. He’s definitely making the rounds.
LA to Cincy, to NY. He might need to go to Chicago before heading back to the West Coast lol
David Stearns’ long term plan of stealing all the Dodgers’ #3 catchers is working great so far.
more about signing more former Yankees
Take that Dodgers!
They will. When NYM DFA’s him.
Of course they did
This guy seems to bounce around more than most. I’m surprised I thought when Yankees got him I was excited. He just can’t do enough to stay on a roster. Good luck in Queens
Until he moves again.
I think if he can make it back to the Dodgers they can sort out his swing. They did somewhat last year, but he didn’t get the time needed.
MLB should simply allow teams to carry an emergency catcher who can only be used if the other two are out of the game. That way this ridiculous third catcher DFA can end up.
It’s obvious every single team covets a depth catcher. Just make it official.
Why is needing a depth catcher ridiculous? Why should a rule change be necessary? Rortvedt seems like the exception, not the rule.
If you want to stop the Dodgers roster shenanigans (or at least make them spend even more money), this is how you do it. Don’t let them get away with anything that can be stopped by another team.
Claim him only to designate him? Give him a break.
Maybe Mets will keep 3 catchers and DH Alvarez vs lefties and trade Vientos to Pirates for a good pitching prospect.