Outfielder Mike Tauchman is in camp with the Mets on a minor league deal. If the club doesn’t give him a roster spot at the end of camp, he can seek out opportunities elsewhere. Will Sammon of The Athletic reports that Tauchman has a March 25th opt-out in that deal. The Mets start the season on March 26th.
The Mets have two outfield spots spoken for. Juan Soto will be in left field and Luis Robert Jr. in center. The right field job was seemingly left open by design, as the Mets wanted to give prospect Carson Benge a chance to earn a spot. Benge has not yet made his major league debut, so the club needed to have some contingency plans. Tyrone Taylor is on the roster and could step up but he also would be a good fit as a glove-first fourth outfielder. Brett Baty is going to be in a super utility role and will be in the mix as well. Tauchman was brought in to give the Mets another option without taking up a roster spot. MJ Melendez was added to the roster but he has an option remaining and could be sent to Triple-A.
Benge is doing what he can to get the job, with a .367/.406/.433 line in spring so far. That’s held up by an unsustainable .440 batting average on balls in play but it’s encouraging nonetheless. Tauchman is putting up even better numbers. With a .400 BABIP, he has a .333/.481/.619 line in spring action so far.
Sammon floats the idea of both players cracking the roster but also notes it may not be realistic. With Francisco Lindor trending towards being ready on Opening Day, the roster is tight. Backup catcher Luis Torrens will have one of the four bench spots. Taylor and Mark Vientos are out of options and should have two more. The final spot could go to a backup infielder like Ronny Mauricio.
Mauricio does still have an option remaining, so the Mets could send him to Triple-A and add Tauchman to the bench. Doing so would leave them without a bench infielder, so the Mets would have to be comfortable with the versatility of their starters. Second baseman Marcus Semien and third baseman Bo Bichette are both former shortstops, with Bichette being an everyday guy there as recently as last year. Baty can play second and third. Vientos give them some cover at the hot corner. Jorge Polanco is expected to play a lot of first base but he also has recent experience at second and third.
It’s unknown how the Mets feel about that jumble but it’s theoretically possible they could feel comfortable without Mauricio in the mix. If he were sent to Triple-A, he could get some regular playing time, which he hasn’t had for a while. He missed 2024 due to a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. Last year, he was still rehabbing that knee to start the year and then was mostly kept in a bench role once he was healthy. Vidal Bruján is only on the roster and out of options but the Mets may try to get him through waivers.
If the Mets don’t find a spot for Tauchman, he could find one somewhere else. He’s not a star but has been pretty solid for the past three years. Since the start of 2023, he has a combined .255/.359/.381 line, which translates to a 111 wRC+. He doesn’t have huge power but he has drawn walks at a strong 13% clip, while keeping his strikeouts down to a 21.3% clip. His defensive grades have been strong as well. FanGraphs credited him with 4.1 wins above replacement in 310 games over that span.
Despite the solid production, teams have somewhat surprisingly been averse to investing in him. The Cubs non-tendered him after 2024 despite a fairly modest $2.9MM projected salary from MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz. He spent 2025 with the White Sox and had another decent campaign but he was once again non-tendered, with Swartz projecting a $3.4MM salary.
Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images
Figure out a way to carry em both. Spring can be an illusion but Benge has made a big impression
Absolutely. Keep both Benge and Tauchman. Mauricio to Syracuse.
Tauchman hopefully opts out and joins the Astros.
Why?
Because we need a LHB.
Ain’t got anyone better than Tauchtman? Or with more upside? I’ll never understand the fascination w this guy
What’s fascinating about wanting a good hitter on your team?
Everything. What’s so fascinating about trying to persuade someone to try stay away from your favorite players when it’s not going to work?
… what?
Astros71. : Bad idea. He can hit. Great 4/5 outfielder. Must be kept.
Still seems odd he needed a minors deal.
I’d rather pay him $2.6 million than Josh Lowe, for example, and Lowe cost a decent bullpen arm to acquire.
Yeah, I am leaning toward that as well. Only issue is that Tauchman basically duplicates Baty. If they are keeping Benge up, he needs to play nearly every day. Then Tauchman becomes the fourth OFer. Though they could rest the other folks with this alignment as well.
Vientos might be the biggest question mark as to keep or not at this point. He might have made a booboo competing in the WBC
Rest Polanco, Baty first, Tauchman DH
Rest Bichette/Semien, Baty 3rd/2nd, Polanco 1st, Tauchman DH
Rest Robert, Benge CF, Tauchman RF, Baty DH
Rest Lindor, Semien SS, Baty 2nd, Tauchman DH
Your lineup ideas are interesting, but I’d use Polanco as predominantly DH, Baty at first.
I like the idea of not having a true DH. Getting guys a day a week off their feet is big.
Let a guy DH the day before an off day and that’s a nice mini break. Even taking DH the day after an off day is a nice break.
Rotating DH seems like an advantageous practice.
Says teams that don’t have a Schwarber on their roster…
the team also wants to give Robert plenty of rest to try and avoid injuries, so Benge can slide to CF those days and Tauchman can play right. IMO he should make the team and either Vientos is traded away or Brujan is put on waivers.
MUST bring Tauchman north as first bat off the bench. Polanco DH and Baty at first. Mauricio to AAA. As article says, Semien or Bichette can play short in a pinch. Vientos is a problem. Ask him to go to Syracuse voluntarily like Alvarez did.
Alvarez did not go voluntarily, Senga did. Alvarez had (and still has) options remaining.
Thanks for the correction. The talk was that Alvarez accepted it in a good state of mind and he’s hit ever since he got back. Vientos’ value is at an all-time low right now and he’s got no place on this team the way things are shaking out. Both C. Pache and even Melendez look like players more likely to contribute than Vientos.
“look like”?? Based on what? A few spring games? (And early spring, no less). Pache and Melendez have little to no upside, and have never managed to hit at the level that Vientos hit both in ’24, and for 25 – 30% of last season.
After making it a point to hang on to Vientos rather than trade him, the Mets aren’t going to simply cut him loose for nothing by DFAing him.
he’s out of options, so it’s not his call. he’d have to get through waivers first.
You’re correct. In that case, I think he’s gotta go, even though he might prosper somewhere as a DH. Basically a guy who hit well one year and had a great post season. No position. If the Mets kept him, who is he supposed to take at bats away from? Stearns is over a barrel on this one and the return may remind us of the McNeil deal.
He won’t when the Astros need a left handed bat.
They probably don’t need Mauricio. He should start on the farm. They don’t need a bench infielder with Baty in the super UTIL role and Bichette likely able to fill in at SS/2B in short stints (despite detractor’s criticism of his defense).
It genuinely shouldn’t be this hard for Tauchman to get a job. Still surprised he needed to settle for a minor league deal with an invite
If Tauchman opts out CLE SHOULD be first in line because we have a total bum named Nolan Jones who the FO have an illogical obsession with. Tauchman would be a huge upgrade over Jones, and the FO needs to finally confess they’ve been wrong about Jones all along.
He needs to be on the team. Mauricio and Vientos should not be blocking his path to the opening day roster.
Have to keep Tauchman. Benge is benefitting from a huge and unsustainable BABiP. If you let Tauch go, you deplete your depth behind Benge in the event that Benge struggles and needs to go back down.
This whole opening day roster stuff is completely overblown by the fans and media. Ron Darling said once that every team has two or three roles and roster spots that they’re still trying to figure out after opening day. Most teams don’t figure it out the 1st or 2nd week of May. The good teams might get it sorted by the 3rd week of April. The bad teams take longer, and some teams never figure it out. A little bit of roster roulette in and thru April is part of the process.