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Mets Notes: Rotation, Rosario, Gimenez, Peterson

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Robert Gsellman’s first start as a member of the Mets’ rotation this week lasted just two innings, as the right-hander is still getting stretched out after opening the year in the bullpen. But manager Luis Rojas expressed confidence this week that the righty can “have some stamina for us” and “give us that depth to start a game” as he builds up (link via MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo). The 27-year-old Gsellman said he “felt like a little kid again” as he prepped for his first start since 2017, and DiComo notes that a move back into the rotation has long been something for which Gsellman has hoped. Righty Seth Lugo, too, has expressed interest in getting back into a starter’s role, but the Mets are more reluctant to alter his role given the resounding success he’s enjoyed as a late-inning weapon in recent years. Lugo has a career 2.50 ERA out of the ’pen and has punched out 28.3 percent of the hitters he’s faced in a relief role. Those numbers dip to 4.06 and 19.2 percent, respectively, in a nearly equal sample of innings as a starter.

More on the Mets…

  • Amed Rosario has struggled to begin the season while top prospect Andres Gimenez has thrived in his early looks at shortstop. However, Rojas told reporters yesterday that Rosario is still the team’s starting shortstop (link via Newsday’s David Lennon). Rosario was out of action due to what the Mets termed as a stomach illness, but Rojas acknowledged after the game that the team is also “looking to get him back on track” at the plate. Rosario is hitting .207/.207/.310 to Gimenez’s .286/.327/.388. Gimenez has also played sharp defense and is tied for the MLB lead with five steals, but for now, it seems as though he’ll continue to slot in around the diamond. That could mean a move back to second base once Rosario is well enough to return to the lineup, but a changing of the guard at shortstop still doesn’t sound imminent. Gimenez, 20, has been generally considered to be among MLB’s top 100 prospects for the past couple of seasons, although Rosario himself was regarded as an elite prospect prior to his own ascension to the Majors.
  • Left-hander David Peterson exited yesterday’s outing after just 74 pitches and revealed that he’s dealing with some shoulder fatigue (link via Mike Puma of the New York Post). Peterson, the Mets’ first-round pick back in 2017, had held the Nationals to a run one hit and a pair of walks through five strong innings. He said after the game that he’s not concerned with his shoulder issue. The Mets can ill afford any further hits to their rotation, particularly a loss of Peterson, who has been a godsend in the absence of Noah Syndergaard and Marcus Stroman. Through his first four MLB starts this year, Peterson has a 2.91 ERA and 3.96 FIP with a 17-to-8 K/BB ratio and just two homers allowed in 21 2/3 innings.

Jeff McNeil Removed On Cart After Collision

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3:54pm: McNeil has been diagnosed a bone contusion, manager Luis Rojas told reporters after the game (Twitter link via The Athletic’s Tim Britton). He’s not expected to require a trip to the injured list. He’ll be evaluated again tomorrow before any final decisions are made, though.

2:45pm: Initial X-rays on McNeil’s knee have come back negative, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweets. However, McNeil will still undergo an MRI for further evaluation.

12:27pm: Mets utilityman extraordinaire Jeff McNeil was carted off of the field after suffering an apparent leg injury in today’s game. He crashed into the outfield wall after making a sensational running catch.

Needless to say, there’s no indication at this point of the seriousness of the injury. McNeil attempted to leave on his own power but ultimately required additional medical attention. Any lasting absence for McNeil, of course, would be a brutal blow to an already reeling Mets club. He hasn’t shown the pop that he displayed in 2019 or even in 2018, but McNeil entered play hitting .293/.358/.362 through his first 67 trips to the plate in 2020.

The Mets have already lost Noah Syndergaard for the season due to Tommy John surgery, while Marcus Stroman has opted out of the 2020 campaign citing health and safety concerns. Also on the injured list for the Mets are Robinson Cano, Jed Lowrie, Jake Marisnick, Eduardo Nunez, Rene Rivera and Michael Wacha.

Final Offers For Mets Due At End Of Month

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The timeline for a prospective sale of the Mets has gained clarity. Final bids are due by the end of August, according to Scott Soshnick of Sportico.

There’s more to it than scratching out a number on a piece of paper, of course. As Soshnick explains, August 31st will also represent the point by which a bidding group must be firmed up with verifiable financial resources.

We haven’t seen much chatter on the Mets sale process in recent weeks. There was more gossip than news when last we checked in, including a strongly disputed report about the involvement of Sheldon Adelson and further sports celebrity support for the bidding group fronted by Alex Rodriguez.

While it remains unclear now who’ll come away with the New York club, the process is now set to reach a critical stage. At least five groups are known to be in pursuit, with varying degrees of interest and financial clout. Even as the Mets try to make a September run at the postseason in the final campaign under current ownership, the Wilpons and their advisors will be sifting through bids and deciding who’ll control the next phase of the organization.

NL East Notes: Nationals, Mets, Braves

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Nationals star Stephen Strasburg missed the beginning of the season with a nerve issue in his right hand, but it didn’t shelve him for long. The reigning World Series MVP made his season debut last Sunday, though the Orioles roughed him up for five earned runs on seven hits in 4 1/3 innings. It turns out that Strasburg may not have been at full strength during that outing, as manager Dave Martinez revealed Wednesday (via Byron Kerr of MASNsports.com) that the 32-year-old is still dealing with tingling in his hand. “I was a little bit concerned,” admitted Martinez, who added that “we will definitely have to keep an eye on it.” Strasburg’s scheduled to face Baltimore again on Friday, at least for now.

  • Oft-injured Mets infielder Jed Lowrie will undergo injections in his ailing left knee, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com tweets. The Mets won’t have a timeline for a potential 2020 debut for Lowrie until they see how those injections affect him. At this point, though, it’s clear the Mets can’t count on Lowrie to emerge as a late-season reinforcement. The club’s decision to sign him to a two-year, $20MM contract before 2019 has been an abject failure, as Lowrie has appeared in just nine games since.
  • The Braves aren’t expecting either second baseman Ozzie Albies or first baseman Matt Adams to return next week, manager Brian Snitker said Wednesday (via David O’Brien of The Athletic). Both players have been on the injured list since Aug. 5 (Albies for a wrist issue, Adams for a hamstring problem), though Albies is obviously the more important member of the club. After all, Albies turned in terrific seasons in 2018 and ’19 as a full-timer in the Braves’ lineup. They’ve primarily gone to Johan Camargo and Adeiny Hechavarria at the keystone in Albies’ absence.
  • Southpaw reliever Sam Freeman left the Nationals’ loss to the Mets on Wednesday with a flexor strain, Britt Ghiroli of The Athletic relays. There’s “a level of concern” over the injury, per Martinez, especially because Freeman underwent Tommy John surgery in the past. Freeman, whom the Nats signed to a minor league contract in free agency, has tossed five scoreless innings for them this year.

Mets Moving Robert Gsellman Into Rotation

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The Mets are set to give Robert Gsellman the start for tonight’s game, but it’s more than just an “opener” assignment for the righty, it seems. Manager Luis Rojas said in an appearance on WFAN 660 AM today that Gsellman will be stretched out to work as a starter moving forward (Twitter links via MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo). The plan is for him to pitch in the rotation for the remainder of the year.

The Mets were bullish on their rotation depth after signing Rick Porcello and Michael Wacha over the winter, but the lack of options beyond their top six starters has become a glaring deficiency in 2020. Noah Syndergaard will miss the entire season due to Tommy John surgery, while Marcus Stroman just opted out of the 2020 season earlier this week, citing health-and-safety uncertainties while playing amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Wacha, meanwhile, is on the injured list with another bout of shoulder troubles.

Despite the fact that Jacob deGrom is dominating (as usual) and former first-round pick David Peterson has impressed in his first three MLB outings, Mets starters have the sixth-worst earned run average (5.18) in all of baseball. Some of that is due to a porous defense that ranks near the bottom of the league in both Defensive Runs Saved and Ultimate Zone Rating — Mets’ starters have a much-better 4.14 FIP — but the team simply hasn’t gotten much help from Porcello, Wacha or Steven Matz to date.

The 27-year-old Gsellman is no stranger to starting games. He came up through the system as a starter and made 29 starts for the Mets across his first two big league seasons. He’s been better as a reliever — 4.60 ERA, 4.31 FIP in the rotation vs. 4.25 ERA, 3.97 FIP out of the ’pen — but the Mets are thin on alternatives at this point. Right-hander Walker Lockett could’ve been an alternative, but it seems he’ll continue in a long relief role for now. It’s possible that Lockett will piggyback off Gsellman’s starts early in the transition. Gsellman will be limited to about 45 pitches tonight, per DiComo.

Over at their alternate training site in Brooklyn, the Mets have right-handers Erasmo Ramirez, Corey Oswalt, Ariel Jurado and Yefry Ramirez as options with big league experience. Of that bunch, only Oswalt and Jurado are on the 40-man roster.

In parts of five big league seasons, Gsellman has tallied 309 innings of 4.43 ERA ball (4.14 FIP) with averages of 7.5 strikeouts, 3.2 walks and 0.96 home runs per nine innings pitched. He’s been clobbered when facing opponents a third time in a game (.329/.393/.537), so the Mets could look to limit him to two trips through the order more often than not even when he’s sufficiently stretched out.

Marcus Stroman Opts Out Of 2020 Season

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The Mets announced Monday that right-hander Marcus Stroman has opted out of the remainder of the 2020 season. The right-hander, who is a free agent at season’s end, called the move a family decision and cited the many “uncertainties” and “unknowns” of playing in the current health-and-safety atmosphere.

This obviously represents a major blow to the Mets’ hopes in 2020. While Stroman will forgo the remainder of his $12MM salary, it isn’t as if there’s an obvious way for the team to reinvest it for a player of similar quality — at least, not without giving up substantial prospect value via trade.

The decision puts a bow on the Mets’ end of last summer’s trade that brought Stroman to Queens. Adding him cost two promising young starters: Anthony Kay and Simeon Woods Richardson. The club remained competitive late in 2019 but was already in too deep a hole to make a postseason run. And now Stroman won’t throw a pitch in the 2020 campaign.

It all sets up several intriguing contract situations in the future. Stroman, who had been on the injured list, did not opt out until after he had reached six full years of MLB service. That means he’ll still qualify for free agency. Whether the Mets will extend Stroman a qualifying offer, as once seemed sure, remains to be seen. And it’ll be interesting to see how the open market treats the high-quality 29-year-old.

Stroman is now listed among the players around the game that have opted out of the 2020 season.

Mets Place Michael Wacha On 10-Day IL

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The Mets announced that right-hander Michael Wacha has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to inflammation in his throwing shoulder.  Catcher Ali Sanchez has been called up from the club’s alternate training site to take Wacha’s spot on the active roster.

After a strong debut start for New York on July 27, Wacha has struggled over his last two outings, and has an overall 6.43 ERA over his first 14 innings in a Mets uniform.  Despite a 3.60 K/BB rate, an 11.6 K/9, and some generally above-average Statcast numbers, Wacha has been hurt badly by the long ball, with three homers allowed over his 14 frames (1.9 HR/9).  The early returns suggest a troubling continuation of the homer problem that plagued Wacha last season, as his HR/9 went from 0.9 over the first six years of his career to a sudden 1.8 number in 2019.

Wacha’s absence leaves the Mets further short-handed in a rotation that already lost Noah Syndergaard to Tommy John surgery last spring and Marcus Stroman to the injured list due to a tear in his calf muscle.  Mets manager Luis Rojas told the New York Post’s Mike Puma and other reporters that Stroman was still at least another simulated game away from returning, so there isn’t enough time for Stroman to be activated prior to Wednesday, when Wacha was scheduled to start.  Erasmo Ramirez, Corey Oswalt, Franklyn Kilome, and Ariel Jurado are all available at the Mets’ alternate training site as potential fill-ins, both for Wednesday or potentially longer if Stroman needs more time.

Mets Make Handful Of Roster Moves

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The Mets announced a few moves before their loss to the Marlins on Friday. The club activated right-hander Robert Gsellman from the injured list, optioned lefty Daniel Zamora to its alternate training site, added infielder Luis Carpio to its 60-man player pool and outrighted outfielder Ryan Cordell.

Gsellman hasn’t pitched this season on account of a right triceps injury, which has weakened a New York bullpen that has begun 2020 in below-average fashion. Mets relievers ranked 24th in ERA entering Friday’s action.

Gsellman, for his part, has hardly been automatic when it comes to stopping runs, but he has given the Mets 143 2/3 decent innings in relief since 2018, and he averaged a career-best 95.4 mph on his fastball last season. He owns a 4.28 ERA/4.00 FIP with 8.09 K/9 and 3.27 BB/9 in 151 1/3 frames as a reliever.

Cordell joined the Mets on a minor league deal in January, but the team designated him for assignment Wednesday after he opened the season with four appearances and four trips to the plate. The former member of the White Sox cleared waivers after the Mets designated him, and he’s now in line to remain with the organization.

Injury Notes: Cano, Puk, W. Davis, M’s

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Let’s check in on a few injury notes from around the majors…

  • Mets second baseman Robinson Cano is hopeful that he’ll come off the injured list when he’s eligible on Aug. 14, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com tweets. Cano went to the IL on Tuesday with a Grade 2 left adductor strain, which halted what may have been a redemption story for the 37-year-old. While Cano endured a nightmarish first season as a Met in 2019, he got off to a blistering .412/.462/.559 start in 39 plate appearances this year prior to his injury.
  • Athletics left-hander A.J. Puk remains an exciting prospect for the club, but various arm injuries have prevented the 25-year-old from making a major league start. It doesn’t appear as if that will change in 2020. Manager Bob Melvin said that Puk, who’s working back from shoulder inflammation, is expected to pitch out of the bullpen if he takes the hill this year, per Shayna Rubin of the Mercury News. However, the A’s still don’t have a timetable for Puk’s season debut.
  • It appears the right shoulder strain that sent Rockies reliever Wade Davis to the IL over the weekend will keep him on ice for the foreseeable future. Manager Bud Black said Wednesday that Davis still hasn’t begun throwing yet, Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post relays. Davis’ injury is the latest setback in what has been a horrid Colorado tenure since he signed a three-year, $52MM deal with the club going into 2018. The three-time All-Star has recorded a 6.18 ERA/4.67 FIP in 110 2/3 innings as a Rockie.
  • With right-hander Kendall Graveman on the injured list because of neck issues, the Mariners are calling on lefty Nick Margevicius to step into their rotation, according to manager Scott Servais (via Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times). The 24-year-old Margevicius picked up 12 starts as a Padre in 2019, but his year didn’t go well. He wound up with 57 innings of 6.79 ERA/5.64 FIP pitching and 6.63 K/9 against 3.0 BB/9.

Rangers Trade Ariel Jurado To Mets

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The Mets announced this afternoon that they’ve acquired right-hander Ariel Jurado from the Rangers in exchange for a player to be named later and (not or) cash considerations. Outfielder Ryan Cordell was designated for assignment to open a spot on the team’s 40-man roster. Jurado has been assigned to the Mets’ alternate training site in Brooklyn.

Jurado, 24, was designated by assignment in Texas back on Friday when the team selected Greg Bird and Jimmy Herget to the big league roster. The former top prospect has logged 177 innings with the Rangers over the past two seasons but struggled considerably at the MLB level. Opposing hitters have clobbered him for a 5.85 ERA and posted a combined .305/.351/.502 slash against him in 782 plate appearances. Jurado has averaged 5.2 K/9, 2.7 BB/9 and 1.42 HR/9 to go along with a 47.9 percent ground-ball rate.

Obviously, that’s not a pretty collection of numbers, but Jurado has a solid minor league track record. He’s largely skipped over Triple-A — though he pitched well in the 22 2/3 frames he did log there — but put together a more palatable 3.96 ERA with 5.6 K/9, 1.9 BB/9 and 0.92 HR/9 in 302 1/3 innings of Double-A ball. Baseball Prospectus rated Jurado as the game’s No. 72 prospect back in 2017, and he’s consistently generated ground-ball rates comfortably north of 51 percent. Infield defense isn’t exactly the Mets’ strength, of course, but the organization is in need of some pitching depth after seeing Noah Syndergaard (Tommy John surgery) and Marcus Stroman (calf tear) go down with injuries. Offseason additions Rick Porcello and Michael Wacha have both struggled early as well.

Cordell, 28, went 1-for-4 with a stolen base and a pair of strikeouts in his short time with the Mets. Jake Marisnick’s hamstring injury opened the door for the former Rangers/White Sox/Brewers prospect to make the club as a reserve outfielder behind J.D. Davis, Brandon Nimmo and Michael Conforto. However, the Mets’ recent acquisition of Billy Hamilton apparently rendered Cordell superfluous in the club’s eyes.

Cordell has appeared in parts of three big league seasons, hitting a combined .205/.267/.333 in 291 trips to the dish. Those struggles notwithstanding, he’s put together a respectable minor league track record and is capable of playing all three outfield spots, so a club needing some depth might take a look at Cordell if he’s available on the waiver wire. New York will have a week to trade Cordell, release him or attempt to run him through waivers.

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