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Reds Claim Matt Reynolds, Designate Ryan Hendrix

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The Reds announced that they have claimed infielder Matt Reynolds off waivers from the Mets. Right-handed pitcher Ryan Hendrix has been designated for assignment in a corresponding move, reports Mark Sheldon of MLB.com.

Reynolds, 31, made his major league debut with the Mets in 2016. Since then, he’s bounced around to the Nationals and Royals, as well as a stint in the minors for the White Sox. He returned to the Mets on a minor league deal and was selected to their 40-man roster a couple of weeks ago when Brandon Nimmo and Mark Canha tested positive for Covid-19. As they returned to reclaim their roster spots, Reynolds relinquished his, being designated for assignment last week.

Reynolds hasn’t hit much at the major league level thus far in his career, putting up a line of .212/.282/.323 in 131 games. However, his Triple-A numbers are much more encouraging, coming in at .282/.363/.434 in 585 games at that level. The Reds will be hoping Reynolds can carry some of that production up to the majors. Their infield has taken a number of hits in the early going this year, as Mike Moustakas, Jose Barrero, Jonathan India, Donovan Solano and Max Schrock are all on the injured list. Reynolds has played all over the infield in his career, while also seeing limited action in the outfield corners.

Hendrix made his major league debut last year, throwing 31 2/3 innings out of Cincinnati’s bullpen. His 5.97 ERA was on the high side, but he at least paired that with a decent 24.6% strikeout rate and tolerable 11.3% walk rate. Things have gone sour this year, however, as his ERA has shot up to 8.10, with a 22.2% walk rate. We’re talking about a miniscule sample of 3 1/3 innings, but the Reds are nonetheless willing to take the risk of Hendrix clearing waivers and sticking with the organization. The 27-year-old does have an option, which could give him some appeal to teams in need of pitching depth.

Injury Notes: Bell, Voit, deGrom, Walker

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Josh Bell left today’s 5-2 Nationals loss to the Giants due to tightness in his right hamstring.  Bell walked and advanced to third base during the bottom of the second, but was replaced in the field for the top of the third inning.  Nationals manager Davey Martinez said Bell was undergoing an MRI, which would mark the second MRI of the week for the first baseman after tests were negative on his left knee.  Soreness in that left knee also forced Bell to make an early exit from Washington’s game on Wednesday.

Given that previous injury, Martinez told reporters (including Bobby Blanco of MASNsports.com) that “I want to be cautious” with Bell’s status.  More will be known when the MRI results are in, but the Nationals might still opt to sit Bell on Sunday with an off-day coming up Monday, in the hopes that two days of rest will get him ready for Tuesday’s game with the Marlins.  Apart from Bell and Juan Soto, the Nats are almost entirely off to a slow offensive start, so any time missed for Bell (batting .345/.446/.509 over his first 67 plate appearances) is a big loss for the D.C. lineup.

More injury news from around baseball….

  • Luke Voit has been bothered by a lingering right biceps problems, the Padres first baseman told The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Jeff Saunders and other reporters.  With only a .143/.315/.167 slash line over his first 54 PA, Voit bluntly described himself as “a waste of an at-bat right now.  I’m not doing the team any good.  I played through injuries last year and it’s really hard.”  Voit isn’t in tonight’s lineup, and while manager Bob Melvin indicated that Voit could be available to pinch-hit, a trip to the injured list might be necessary.
  • In an update on Jacob deGrom, the Mets ace underwent MRI and CT scans yesterday, manager Buck Showalter told The New York Post’s Mike Puma and other reporters.  The MRI came a few days earlier than initially expected, though regardless, it doesn’t seem as though the Mets will have a plan of action in place anyway until doctors have fully reviewed the results.  A stress reaction in deGrom’s right scapula during Spring Training resulted in a four-week shutdown, and these test results will mark the next step in the right-hander’s recovery process.  If all goes well, deGrom could be cleared to start throwing, and a possible timetable could be floated for deGrom’s 2022 debut.
  • Taijuan Walker is much closer to his return, as Showalter told reporters (including MLB.com’s Jake Rill) that the right-hander is tentatively set to face the Phillies on either Friday or Saturday.  Walker tossed two innings in his first Mets start of the season but has since been on the 10-day IL recovering from shoulder bursitis.  After throwing a side session yesterday, Walker is now lined up for either a minor league rehab start or a simulated game on Tuesday.

Mets Activate Mark Canha, Designate Matt Reynolds For Assignment

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The Mets made a few roster moves today, as relayed by Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. Mark Canha was reinstated from the Covid IL, while Matt Reynolds was designated for assignment to create room on the 40-man roster. (Players on the Covid list don’t count against a club’s 40-man roster.) Right-handed pitcher Jake Reed, who began the season on the injured list with an oblique strain, was reinstated and optioned to Triple-A Syracuse.

Canha, along with Brandon Nimmo, both tested positive for Covid-19 and landed on the shelf April 15th. Both players were asymptomatic. Under the league’s 2022 health-and-safety protocols, players who test positive are subject to a 10-day absence from the club, though it’s possible to be reinstated in less time if the player has gone 24 or more hours without a fever, received a pair of negative PCR tests, and been given approval from a team physician and the MLB/MLBPA joint committee (a panel of one league-appointed and one union-appointed physician). That seems to have been the case for both players, as Nimmo was activated yesterday and Canha today, just four and five days after their IL placement.

Signed by the Mets to a two-year, $26.5MM deal in the offseason, Canha is off to a great start in his Queens residency. In his first 26 plate appearances, he’s hitting .381/.500/.381, for a wRC+ of 174.

Reynolds was signed to a minor league deal in the offseason and had his contract selected when Nimmo and Canha went on the IL. The 31-year-old has 251 career plate appearances in 131 games, hitting .212/.282/.323. A second round pick of the Mets in 2012, Reynolds has become a bit of a journeyman, spending time with the Nationals, Royals and White Sox in recent years, before returning to the Mets. In 21 Triple-A plate appearances this year, he’s hit .118/.238/.294.

Jacob deGrom Slated For Followup MRI Next Week

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Mets ace Jacob deGrom is slated to undergo a followup MRI on his ailing right shoulder next Monday, the team told reporters Tuesday (Twitter link via Anthony DiComo of MLB.com). If that round of imaging goes well, it’s possible he’ll be cleared to begin throwing shortly thereafter.

The Mets haven’t received an inning from deGrom so far in 2022, as he’s been shelved after being diagnosed with a stress reaction in his right scapula back on April 1. The original recommendation was for a four-week shutdown. A two-time Cy Young winner, deGrom pitched to a superhuman 1.08 ERA with a 45.1% strikeout rate and 3.4% walk rate in 92 frames last year before being shut down in early July with a forearm issue that eventually proved to be a season-ender.

There’s still no timetable on deGrom’s return and won’t be until that MRI next week is complete, although the Mets have not yet placed him on the 60-day injured list. That leaves open the possibility that he could return before the early-June point that such a move would necessitate.

Even without deGrom and right-hander Taijuan Walker, who’s currently out with a case of bursitis in his right shoulder, the Mets’ rotation hasn’t missed much of a beat so far in 2021. Righty Tylor Megill has gotten out to a magnificent start, hurling 11 shutout innings while brandishing an improved heater that has enjoyed a velocity spike of nearly two miles per hour. Former Cleveland star Carlos Carrasco, who struggled mightily in his first year with the Mets last season, has looked like his old self for his first two trips to the mound. Trade acquisition Chris Bassitt, meanwhile, has allowed just one run through a dozen frames. Max Scherzer has had a pair of sharp outings to begin his Mets career, and lefty David Peterson has yet to allow a run through 8 1/3 frames.

The 33-year-old deGrom is being paid $33.5MM in the penultimate guaranteed season of a five-year, $137.5MM contract. He can opt out of that deal at season’s end — a right he’s said he still plans to exercise even after missing the early portion of the season on the injured list. The right-hander’s current contract would pay him $30.5MM in 2023 and gives the Mets a $32.5MM option on the 2024 season.

Injury Notes: Buxton, Walker, Tatis

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Twins center fielder Byron Buxton exited Friday’s game with what initially looked like it could be a notable knee injury, but an MRI over the weekend ruled out any structural damage. Manager Rocco Baldelli told reporters Monday morning that Buxton is feeling optimistic and that within the next day or two, the Twins would be “talking about a specific plan for getting him back out there” (Twitter link via Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com). President of baseball operations Derek Falvey joined the booth as a guest during the broadcast of today’s game and added that the hope is for Buxton, who has not been placed on the injured list, to rejoin the lineup at some point during the Twins’ upcoming series against the Royals. The Twins will travel to Kansas City for a three-game set running from Tuesday through Thursday.

The latest on some more health situations around the game:

  • Righty Taijuan Walker is headed out on a minor league rehab assignment this week and is expected to start for the Mets’ Class-A Advanced affiliate on Wednesday, tweets Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. Walker, who landed on the injured list last week due to a case of bursitis in his pitching shoulder, may only need the one rehab appearance before being cleared to return. DiComo suggests the 29-year-old right-hander will likely line up to start one of next week’s games against the Cardinals. Walker’s first outing of the season lasted just two innings, but it seems he’ll be able to make a swift return to the rotation, barring any setbacks of note during his rehab outing. Walker posted a 4.47 ERA in 30 appearances for the Mets in 2021.
  • Padres star shortstop Fernando Tatís Jr. has progressed to participating in light on-field baseball activities, writes AJ Cassavell of MLB.com. The two-time Silver Slugger award winner simulated taking ground-balls during infield practice before tonight’s game against the Reds, throwing the ball across the diamond to first base. Tatís is still wearing a brace and has yet to progress to fielding or swinging a bat as he rehabs from the mid-March surgery he underwent to repair a fractured scaphoid bone in his left wrist. The Padres initially placed a three-month timetable on his return to the field, though Cassavell writes Tatís recently opined he’s ahead of schedule in his recovery. The organization won’t make any firmer timetable until he begins to swing a bat, which manager Bob Melvin says will be the final baseball activity the team allows him to take. Tatís is on the 60-day injured list and ineligible to return until the first week of June. In all likelihood, he’ll be out for a bit beyond when he’s first eligible to return, but it’s welcome news that he’s progressed to getting some pre-game work in on the field.

Brandon Nimmo, Mark Canha Test Positive For Covid-19

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Mets outfielders Brandon Nimmo and Mark Canha are both out of the lineup and likely headed to the injured list after testing positive for Covid-19, reports Mike Puma of the New York Post (Twitter link). Both players are asymptomatic. Newsday’s Tim Healey first reported this morning that tweets that a member of the Mets’ staff had tested positive and that a few players were deemed close contacts and undergoing testing.

Under the league’s 2022 health-and-safety protocols, players who test positive are subject to a 10-day absence from the club, though it’s possible to be reinstated in less time if the player has gone 24 or more hours without a fever, received a pair of negative PCR tests, and been given approval from a team physician and the MLB/MLBPA joint committee (a panel of one league-appointed and one union-appointed physician). Asymptomatic players are not subject to regular testing under the 2022 protocols, but it’s possible that Canha (who told reporters last year that he is vaccinated) and Nimmo were deemed close contacts of the staff member(s) in question.

With both Nimmo and Canha sidelined for at least the next few days, manager Buck Showalter tells reporters that outfielder Nick Plummer and infielder Matt Reynolds are with the team (Twitter link via Puma). Showalter also added that one member of his coaching staff tested positive (Twitter link via Healey).

Plummer is on the 40-man roster, but Reynolds was not previously on the 40-man. Neither Nimmo nor Canha will count against the 40-man roster while on the Covid-related injured list, however, making it easier to add Reynolds to the roster. The Mets have Jeff McNeil starting in left field, Travis Jankowski in center, Robinson Cano at second base and J.D. Davis at designated hitter today. Dominic Smith’s left-handed bat is somewhat surprisingly absent from the lineup against right-hander Zach Davies, but Showalter tells reporters that’s simply because he wanted to get Davis some at-bats amid a lengthy stretch of predominantly right-handed opponents (Twitter link via Puma).

Injury Notes: Walker, Fletcher, Alcala

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The Mets have placed right-handed pitcher Taijuan Walker on the 10-day injured list with shoulder bursitis per MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo. Walker started yesterday’s game against the Phillies, pitching two scoreless innings with four strikeouts before leaving the game with shoulder irritation. Though the right-hander himself indicated he’d be alright following an MRI earlier today, it appears the team will be taking a more cautious approach. DiComo adds that Walker will miss at least a couple turns through the rotation as he will stretch out on a rehab assignment when he’s cleared to pitch again.

Electric closer Edwin Diaz will return from the bereavement list and take the roster spot vacated by Walker, sparing the Mets from any further roster shuffling for the time being. With New York’s rotation already thinned following Jacob deGrom’s untimely IL stint, the team will presumably have to rely on internal options— perhaps long reliever and last-year starter David Peterson— to patch over some rotation gaps early in the season.

Some other injury developments from the young season…

  • The Angels announced that they have moved infielder David Fletcher to the 10-day IL with a left hip strain. Infielder Andrew Velazquez, acquired in an offseason waiver claim from the Yankees, has been recalled to man the shortstop position in tonight’s game against the Marlins. It’s an inauspicious start to the 2022 season for Fletcher, who struggled offensively (.622 OPS) across 157 games in the first year of his five-year extension.
  • Twins right-hander Jorge Alcala is also headed to the 10-day IL with right elbow inflammation, per MLB.com’s Do-Hyoung Park. Elbow discomfort has followed Alcala around since this spring, so down time may do some good for one of the more quietly effective members of the Twins’ pitching staff the past few seasons. Right-hander Griffin Jax, who saw a plenty of action out of the team’s rotation last year, has been called up from Triple-A in a corresponding move.

Mets Outright Yennsy Diaz

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Mets right-hander Yennsy Diaz went unclaimed on waivers and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Syracuse, per the team’s transactions page. He’ll remain with the organization but will no longer occupy a place on the 40-man roster.

Diaz was one of three pitchers acquired from the Blue Jays in exchange for Steven Matz during the 2020-21 offseason, coming to the organization alongside righties Sean Reid-Foley and Josh Wincowski — the latter of whom has since been traded to the Red Sox as part of the three-team deal that netted outfielder Khalil Lee. The Mets designated the 25-year-old Diaz for assignment last week after acquiring righty Adonis Medina from the Pirates.

Diaz appeared in 20 games with the Mets last season, pitching to a 5.40 ERA with lackluster 18.8% strikeout and 10.7% walk rates. Diaz did average a robust 95.5 mph on his heater during that time, but his four-seamer also had bottom-of-the-scale spin rate and was hit hard by opposing batters. The 6’1″, 210-pound righty was also hit hard in a small sample of 17 Triple-A frames last year, but prior to 2021 he’d posted solid results as a starter up through the Double-A level in the Blue Jays’ system.

Baseball America regularly ranked him near the back end of Toronto’s top 30 prospects, praising his fastball velocity but noting that a lack of plus secondary pitch limits him. Diaz leaned on a changeup in the minors and in last year’s 20 big league frames, and he’ll now be able to work to refine that offering or perhaps experiment with some new offspeed options as he works back toward the Majors. He’s the second righty to clear waivers and stick around as depth in as many days; the Mets outrighted Jordan Yamamoto to Syracuse yesterday.

Outrights: Yamamoto, Selman

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A pair of players designated for assignment as teams set their Opening Day rosters recently passed through waivers unclaimed.

  • The Mets have outrighted Jordan Yamamoto to Triple-A Syracuse, tweets Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. The right-hander doesn’t have the requisite service time to refuse the assignment, so he’ll remain in the organization and try to pitch his way back onto the roster. New York acquired Yamamoto, formerly a decently-regarded pitching prospect, in a minor deal with the division-rival Marlins in February 2021. Unfortunately, he spent the bulk of his first season in Queens on the injured list. Yamamoto has pitched to a 6.05 ERA in 96 2/3 MLB innings, but he’s performed well up through Double-A and doesn’t have much experience at the minors’ top level.
  • The Athletics have outrighted southpaw Sam Selman to Triple-A Las Vegas, according to their transactions tracker at MLB.com. Like Yamamoto, he’ll have to stick in the organization by virtue of never having previously been outrighted and not having reached three years of MLB service. The 31-year-old reliever has pitched 54 2/3 innings over 59 MLB appearances with the Giants and Angels the past three seasons. He owns a 4.77 ERA and hasn’t posted particularly strong peripherals, but Selman has handled left-handed batters well throughout his big league tenure. The A’s already have Adam Kolarek, Sam Moll, A.J. Puk and Kirby Snead as lefty bullpen options on the 40-man roster, but Selman will try to pitch his way back into that mix during his time with the Aviators.

Mets Have Not Engaged Brandon Nimmo In Extension Talks

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The Mets have not approached outfielder Brandon Nimmo about a potential extension, despite his apparent willingness to stay in New York, per Tim Healey of Newsday (via Twitter). Nimmo will reach free agency after this season, his age-29 season. Nimmo is an on-base machine when healthy, but he’s only once appeared in more than 100 games in a season.

It’s certainly possible that New York is ready to let Nimmo walk after the season. The Mets proved their willingness to take a hard line with departing free agents with Michael Conforto, Nimmo’s longtime running mate in the outfield. Conforto remains a free agent now.

Furthermore, this winter’s signings of Mark Canha and Starling Marte protect New York somewhat against Nimmo’s potential departure. Center fielders are in short supply leaguewide, which could make Nimmo an intriguing target despite his injury history. And the duo of Marte and Canha don’t perhaps carry enough glove to man the position full-time. But they ought to be enough to provide the Mets leverage in a potential Nimmo negotiation. According to Nimmo’s comments, however, that discussion is entirely hypothetical.

When healthy, Nimmo has been a first-class performer, posting a 135 wRC+ for his career and roughly 4.4 fWAR per 600 plate appearances. On the other hand, Nimmo’s never actually had 600 plate appearances in a season. Therein lies the issue facing the Mets in deciding whether or not to offer Nimmo a long-term deal.

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