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Noah Syndergaard Likely To Work In Relief Upon Return From Injured List

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The Mets have been without Noah Syndergaard over the past two seasons as a result of his March 2020 Tommy John surgery. He’d embarked upon a minor league rehab assignment in May, but renewed elbow inflammation forced the club to shut him down for an additional six weeks.

Syndergaard is throwing again in hopes of a late-season return, but it seems the setback has cost him a chance at making it back as a starter. General manager Zack Scott suggested this evening the team is hoping to get the hard-throwing righty back as a reliever at some point next month (via Anthony DiComo of MLB.com).

Allowing Syndergaard to work in shorter stints upon his return would reduce the amount of time he’ll need to ramp up arm strength in preparation. The 28-year-old still hasn’t begun a rehab assignment, and he’ll surely need multiple weeks to build back up even if he’s working toward a bullpen workload. With a little less than eight weeks remaining in the season, it seems the club would rather shorten that process and get Syndergaard back in some capacity as quickly as possible.

The Mets got good work from the starting rotation early in the season, but that hasn’t been the case in recent weeks. Since July 18 — when New York placed Jacob deGrom on the injured list due to forearm inflammation — Mets starters have a 5.79 ERA that ranks 26th leaguewide. Marcus Stroman and Tylor Megill have pitched well lately, but Taijuan Walker has been bombed over his past five starts and Rich Hill hasn’t missed bats since being traded to New York.

deGrom was shut down from throwing for two weeks following his own setback on July 30. The two-time Cy Young award winner is still hoping to pitch this season, but he’s facing similar time pressures as Syndergaard. There’s no indication at this point that the Mets are considering bringing deGrom back as a reliever as well. That said, there’s still plenty of uncertainty regarding his projected timetable.

The Mets’ rotation woes have contributed to a disastrous few weeks that has seen them fall to third place in the NL East. New York is still only 2.5 games back of the Phillies (and a half game behind the Braves), so there’s plenty of opportunity to right the ship. Getting some sort of contributions from Syndergaard — even if it’s not in the role hoped for entering the season — would be a nice boon to their chances of climbing back atop the division.

The final two months of the year are also critical to Syndergaard personally. He’s slated to hit free agency at the end of the season. His late-season form will certainly have an effect on the market he’ll find. Before the injury woes, Syndergaard looked like one of the top starting pitchers in this year’s class thanks to a 3.73 ERA/3.25 FIP between 2018-19.

Javier Baez Leaves Game Due To Left Hip Tightness

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The Mets have now dropped seven of their last eight games following today’s 3-0 shutout loss to the Phillies, and the bad news continued beyond the box score for New York.  Javier Baez left the game due to left hip tightness, as the shortstop had to be removed following a painful at-bat in the top of the fifth inning.  After hitting a grounder, Baez remained in the batter’s box in obvious discomfort, and immediately left the field.

Baez is currently considered day-to-day with the injury, and manager Luis Rojas provided some hope in telling reporters (including The Athletic’s Tim Britton) that “we’re more optimistic now” postgame than at the time Baez left the game.  Rojas initially feared an oblique injury, similar to the one that has sidelined Francisco Lindor and may have provided the impetus for the Mets to acquire Baez at the trade deadline in the first place.

While Baez has gotten off to a slow start with his new team, the last thing the reeling Mets need is to lose another player to the injured list.  Jonathan Villar is the likeliest candidate to take over at shortstop should Baez need a day or two to get better, but if an IL stint is indeed required, the Mets are suddenly quite thin at shortstop since Lindor, Luis Guillorme, and Jose Peraza are all still recovering from injuries.

NL Health Notes: Freeman, Rodgers, Lindor

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Freddie Freeman left Saturday’s game with “an upper respiratory infection”, according to Mark Bowman of MLB.com. Bowman also points out that Freeman tested negative for COVID-19 and that he may have caught an unspecified “bug” that his kids have at the moment. The Braves’ superstar first baseman is having yet another excellent season, with a wRC+ of 136. If he can maintain that level of production for the remainder of the campaign, it would mark an amazing ninth straight season with a wRC+ of 132 or higher. Freeman is out of the lineup today but hasn’t been placed on the IL, which suggests the Braves expect a short absence. In fact, Bowman says he could have played today, though the team will play it cautious and let him rest a bit longer. The club is in the midst of a three-team pennant race, sitting two games behind the Phillies and just half a game behind the Mets.

More notes from the National League…

  • Brendan Rodgers was removed from last night’s game after being hit on the hand but seems to have avoided significant injury. Rockies Manager Bud Black says that the x-rays came back negative, per Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post. The infielder is finally getting a good run of playing time from the club and making good on his prospect pedigree. He’s been on Baseball America’s Top 100 every year since 2016. Through 227 plate appearances this season, he’s slashing .286/.348/.485, for a wRC+ of 110. The club has no need to rush him back, as they are well out of contention, 12 1/2 games out of a playoff spot.
  • Francisco Lindor’s return timeline is still murky, even to himself. “I don’t know when I’ll be back,” Lindor said, per Newsday’s Tim Healey. “I would love to sit here and say, I’ll be back at home. Or I would love to say, I’ll be playing rehab [games] next week. I don’t know. I honestly don’t know.” Before going on the IL with an oblique strain in mid-July, the star shortstop was mired in his worst season to date, slashing .228/.326/.376 for a wRC+ of 97, although that was mostly caused by an ice-cold start to the year. Since May 29th, his wRC+ has been an excellent 133. The Mets acquired Javier Baez at the deadline to try and cover for Lindor’s absence but have nonetheless slid out of the top spot in their division. They will surely be hoping for Lindor to recover as soon as possible, as the NL East pennant race seems destined to go down to the wire.

Mets Sign Zack Godley To Minors Deal

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The Mets have signed right-hander Zack Godley to a minor league contract, according to Michael Mayer of the Metsmerized website (Twitter link).  Godley had been pitching in the Indians organization on a minor league deal but was released by the team earlier this week after he enacted an opt-out clause in the contract.

The signing represents something of a full circle moment for Godley, who was initially a 50th-round draft pick for the Mets in 2009 but he decided against signing and instead attended the University of Tennessee (and was a 10th-round pick for the Cubs in 2013).  Best known for his time as a workhorse in the Diamondbacks rotation in 2017-18, Godley ran into some injury problems and has since become a journeyman, beginning with a move to Toronto after the Blue Jays claimed him off the D’Backs roster in August 2019.

Since then, Godley has pitched for the Tigers, Red Sox, Brewers, and Indians organizations, tossing 28 2/3 MLB innings with Boston in 2020 and then only 3 1/3 innings for Milwaukee this year — over those 32 frames, Godley has a 9.00 ERA and a whopping 11 homers allowed.  At the Triple-A level this season, Godley has a more respectable 4.00 ERA over 54 combined innings with the Brewers’ and Indians’ top affiliates, but he has still surrendered nine home runs.

Godley is likely little more than a depth option for the Mets, though another call to the big leagues might not be out of the question considering how New York is still dealing with some major injury absences to its regular starting rotation.  The return of Carlos Carrasco and the acquisition of Rich Hill have stabilized things to some extent, but the Mets are still awaiting Noah Syndergaard’s return from Tommy John rehab and ace Jacob deGrom’s return date is still up in the air.

Nick Tropeano Elects Free Agency

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Nick Tropeano has elected free agency after being passed through outright waivers by the Mets, according to the MLB.com transactions tracker. New York designated the 30-year-old for assignment last Friday to clear roster space to accommodate their deadline day acquisitions.

As a player who had previously been outrighted in his career, Tropeano had the right to elect free agency while retaining the remainder of his $1.1MM salary for this season. He’s now free to explore opportunities around the league.

Tropeano saw a bit of big league time with the Giants and Mets this season, tossing eight innings of three-run ball. He only struck out two batters in that tiny sample of work, but the right-hander showed far better bat-missing ability in some time with the Pirates last year. Over 15 2/3 frames with Pittsburgh, Tropeano pitched to a 1.15 ERA with a strong 28.8% strikeout rate and 14.9% swinging strike rate.

Given his decent performance over the past couple seasons, Tropeano should have little trouble finding another opportunity on the open market. While he broke in as a starting pitcher with the Astros and Angels, Tropeano has worked exclusively in relief over the past two years, managing a cumulative 1.52 ERA/3.52 FIP over 23 2/3 innings.

NL East Injury Notes: deGrom, d’Arnaud, Anderson

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Mets ace Jacob deGrom spoke with reporters today, including Tim Healey of Newsday Sports, about his mounting injury woes. He said that his recent elbow inflammation is a separate issue to the forearm tightness that initially landed him on the IL. That forearm tightness caused deGrom to be sidelined on July 18th. A week later, it was reported that he threw off a mound without issues. But a report a few days later revealed the unfortunate development that his rehab would have to be halted for two weeks.

At this point, deGrom seems to think he can come back but doesn’t seem to be overflowing with confidence. When asked if he could miss the remainder of the season, “I would say no, not right now,” he said. “It depends on hopefully the next image of the inflammation.” Before getting injured, deGrom was pitching even better than his own absurdly-high standards, with a microscopic ERA of 1.08 over 92 innings, coupled with outstanding strikeout and walk rates of 45.1% and 3.4%, respectively. The health of deGrom figures to be an extremely important detail in the NL East stretch run, as the Mets are now just 1 1/2 games ahead of the Phillies and 2 1/2 ahead of Atlanta.

More news from around the NL East…

  • Travis d’Arnaud is apparently back to full health and rehabbing, according to Mark Bowman of MLB.com. d’Arnaud has been out of action for more than three months now, after tearing a ligament in his thumb back in early May. Bowman says that his thumb is now fine and that the catcher’s rehab is “just a matter of getting conditioned to play.” A healthy and productive d’Arnaud is potentially a game-changing addition for Atlanta in the upcoming pennant race. Although he had a slow start to this season before getting hurt, his 2020 was superb, slashing .321/.386/.533, for a wRC+ of 144 and 1.6 fWAR in just 44 games. Currently, Atlanta is giving time behind the dish to Stephen Vogt and Kevan Smith, neither of whom are providing much value.
  • Bowman also relays that Ian Anderson will begin a rehab assignment on Thursday. Anderson went on the IL a few weeks ago with shoulder inflammation. Before getting hurt, he was putting together a solid season. Over 96 innings, he had an era of 3.56, producing 1.9 fWAR, which is second only to Charlie Morton among Atlanta pitchers.

Mets To Claim Jake Reed Off Waivers From Rays

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The Mets are claiming reliever Jake Reed off waivers from the Rays, reports Anthony DiComo of MLB.com (Twitter link). Tampa Bay designated the right-hander for assignment over the weekend.

Reed’s time with the Rays was extremely brief, consisting of just a single appearance with Triple-A Durham. Prior to that, he’d spent some time with the Dodgers organization, signing a minor league deal and being selected to the big league roster in early July. Reed made six appearances with Los Angeles, working 5 1/3 innings of three-run ball before being designated for assignment. Tampa Bay plucked him off waivers but will lose him themselves just a week later.

This season, Reed has worked 22 1/3 innings of 5.24 ERA ball across three Triple-A affiliates. He was bombed in eight appearances with the Angels’ top affiliate in Salt Lake but pitched far better after signing with the Dodgers. Reed has punched out a solid 28.3% of batters faced at the level this season, while walking just 7.1% of opponents. He also still has all three minor league options years remaining, so the Mets can shuttle Reed back and forth between Queens and Triple-A Syracuse if he can stick on the 40-man roster.

Pirates Claim Anthony Banda From Mets

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The Pirates announced they’ve claimed left-hander Anthony Banda off waivers from the Mets. Pittsburgh already had a vacancy on the 40-man roster. New York designated Banda for assignment over the weekend.

Banda’s tenure with the Mets proved a fairly short one. New York acquired the 27-year-old in a minor league trade with the Giants in early July. He was selected to the roster a couple weeks later but let go after making five relief appearances totaling 7 1/3 innings. Banda was tagged for eight runs (six earned) on fourteen hits in that time, although he did strike out seven while issuing a single walk.

This marks the fifth consecutive season in which Banda has gotten big league work, although he’s not picked up more than 25 2/3 frames in any single year. A one-time top 100 prospect while coming up in the Diamondbacks system, Banda has been set back by injuries and struggles at the highest levels in recent years. He carries a 4.99 ERA in parts of five Triple-A seasons but was quite good up through Double-A. Banda is out of minor league options, so he needs to stick in the big leagues or wind up back on waivers moving forward.

Injury Updates: Guillorme, Rendon, Trout, Walsh, Ohtani, Schwarber, Lamet

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The Mets placed Luis Guillorme on the IL today with a left hamstring strain, according to Mike Puma of The New York Post. RHP Geoff Hartlieb was added to the roster in a corresponding move. Guillorme has been a solid contributor on a Mets team that has dealt with its fair share of injuries this year. Across 57 games, Guillorme has racked up a wRC+ of 116 while filling in at second base, third base and shortstop. The timing isn’t so bad for the Mets, as they just strengthened their infield by adding Javier Baez in a deadline deal with the Cubs. As for Hartlieb, he’s produced solid results at Triple-A this year. Despite a walk rate of 10.5%, he has an ERA of 1.86, thanks to a hefty strikeout rate of 34.2%. His numbers at the major league level aren’t as good, but in a very small sample size of six innings.

Other injury updates from around the league…

  • Jeff Fletcher of The Orange County Register provides some updates from manager Joe Maddon on various injured Angels. Anthony Rendon “still isn’t doing any baseball activity,” since going on the IL almost a month ago. “I spoke with him yesterday and he wasn’t highly optimistic about things,” Maddon is quoted as saying. This seems to be yet another in a series of disappointments for Rendon this year. He’s been injured multiple times and, even when healthy, played well below his usual level from recent years. There’s also a murky update on Mike Trout and his injured calf. Doctors have told him he’s “free to do more work when he no longer feels discomfort,” which seems to imply that the discomfort remains. The update on Jared Walsh, out with a right intercostal strain, is slightly better. The first baseman “has been able to hit and throw.” As for Shohei Ohtani, who was recently hit on his thumb by a foul ball while in the dugout, Maddon says they expect him to start again on Thursday or Friday.
  • The Red Sox swung a trade before the deadline to add Kyle Schwarber, even though he was on the IL at the time with a hamstring injury. But it doesn’t seem like he’s too far removed from making his Boston debut. Pete Abraham of The Boston Globe spoke to Alex Cora, who said that Schwarber is “close” to a rehab assignment. The plan is for Schwarber to get work at first base, since the Red Sox already have their outfield and DH slots filled by Alex Verdugo, Jarren Duran, Hunter Renfroe and J.D. Martinez. The first base playing time has largely been going to Bobby Dalbec and his wRC+ of 74. Before going on the IL, Schwarber’s wRC+ was sitting at 137. Assuming he can play passable defense, that would be a tremendous upgrade for the team. But he’s played only one major league game at first, which was back in 2017.
  • Dinelson Lamet is going to begin a rehab assignment on Wednesday, according to AJ Cassavell of MLB.com. The plan seems to be to prepare Lamet for a bullpen role, since there’s not much time remaining in the season to build him back up for a full workload, and because he’s struggled to stay healthy this year. The righty was utterly dominant in 2020’s shortened season, throwing 69 innings with an ERA of 2.09 and a superb strikeout rate of 34.8%. This year, in between stints on the IL, his numbers have faded to an ERA of 3.67 and 25.5% strikeout rate. The club will be hoping that a smaller workload will help Lamet bridge some of that gap.

Draft Deadline Notes: Rocker, Ulloa, Zavala

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The 4PM CT deadline for teams to sign their draft picks has now passed. The biggest storyline is that the Mets and first-round pick Kumar Rocker could not come to an agreement. Reports indicate that there was a dispute between the team and Rocker’s camp about a health issue, though the exact nature of any supposed injury is not known for sure.

Mike Puma of The New York Post says the Mets didn’t make Rocker an offer. Speculatively speaking, that would indicate that the difference of opinion about the alleged medical issue was wide enough that they were nowhere near finding common ground.

Draft notes from elsewhere…

  • Ian Browne of MLB.com passes on some words from Chaim Bloom about team’s inability to sign second-round pick Jud Fabian. “We knew that if we were unable to sign him, we would be able to get the pick again next year. That made it worth the risk in our minds.” The Red Sox will receive the 41st draft pick in next year’s draft as compensation.

Earlier Updates

  • The Astros failed to sign fourth-round selection Alex Ulloa, according to a team announcement. Since the Astros were not allowed to make a selection in the first or second round as punishment for 2017’s sign stealing scandal, this is perhaps even more of a disappointment than it would appear on its surface. Ulloa is an 18-year-old shortstop out of Florida’s Calvary Christian Academy.
  • The Rangers agreed to terms with second-round selection Aaron Zavala, according to Jim Callis of MLB Pipeline. In a later tweet, Callis provided further context. The outfielder signed for $830K, less than half of the $1.95MM slot value for his pick. Callis adds that, similar to the Rocker situation, there was a post-draft medical issue. But unlike with Rocker, the two parties were able to put pen to paper in this instance.

 

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