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Offseason In Review: New York Mets

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Under second-year owner Steve Cohen, the Mets had the spending spree many fans originally envisioned and are now reaping the benefits with one of the game’s most formidable rosters.

Major League Signings

Total 2022 salary added: $83.903MM
Total overall spend: $259.27MM

Trades and Waiver Claims

Notable Minor League Signings

Notable Losses

While many teams around the league opted to wait until the new collective bargaining agreement had been hammered out to make their biggest offseason splashes, the Mets had no such reticence. By the time commissioner Rob Manfred locked out the players, the Mets had spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars on the free-agent market.

The early strike is all the more remarkable given that the Mets entered the offseason without a general manager in place. Owner Steve Cohen was in the market for a new baseball operations leader for a second straight winter. As he did following the 2021 season, Cohen set his sights high, showing interest in names like Billy Beane, David Stearns and Theo Epstein. However, a meeting with Epstein didn’t prove fruitful, and the Mets were denied permission to speak to Beane, Stearns and a host of other potential candidates as they cast a wide net.

Eventually, former Angels GM and Yankees AGM Billy Eppler was tabbed as the new head of baseball operations. A managerial search followed, and though the Mets interviewed several frequent candidates — Rays bench coach Matt Quatraro and Astros bench coach Joe Espada among them — it was veteran skipper Buck Showalter who was brought in to steer the new Cohen/Eppler-led ship on the field.

Both Eppler and Showalter represented departures from the inexperienced hires at their positions the Mets had made in recent years. Brodie Van Wagenen went from agent to general manager with no front office experience, while quickly ousted GM Jared Porter had never held the top job in a baseball operations hierarchy before his hiring. (Ditto also departed Zack Scott, who went from assistant GM to acting GM following Porter’s firing.) In the dugout, the Mets had previously hired (and near-immediately dismissed) a first-time skipper in Carlos Beltran, and he was replaced internally by another rookie manager, Luis Rojas. With several recent implosions, some of them unforeseeable, the Mets opted for more experience at those two critical leadership positions.

Within a week of joining the organization, Eppler had a trio of signings to announce. In a span of 48 hours, the Mets agreed to terms on a four-year, $78MM deal with Starling Marte and a pair of two-year deals with outfielder Mark Canha ($26.5MM) and infielder Eduardo Escobar ($20MM). The signings of Marte and Canha, in particular, closed the door on the Mets’ relationship with former All-Star right fielder Michael Conforto. New York already had Brandon Nimmo and several other outfield options on the roster, plus a crowded DH mix. Escobar joined a similarly cluttered collection of infield options, with J.D. Davis also vying for at-bats at third base, Jeff McNeil and Robinson Cano at second base, and Dominic Smith and Pete Alonso at first base.

It was a frenzied strike that got its own fair share of buzz and ostensibly looked to set the stage for subsequent trades, but the Mets’ pre-lockout fireworks were only just getting started.

A week after agreeing to terms with Marte, Canha and Escobar, the Mets jumped into the bidding on three-time Cy Young winner Max Scherzer. The most commonly held belief seemed to be that the deep-pocketed Dodgers would hang onto Mad Max, whom they acquired alongside Trea Turner at the 2021 trade deadline. Few teams can go toe-to-toe in a bidding war with Dodgers ownership, after all, and Scherzer himself at the ’21 deadline was reportedly unwilling to waive his no-trade protection to approve a deal to either New York team (despite interest from both).

Scherzer’s reasons for nixing a trade to New York might never be fully known, but a record-shattering average annual value on a three-year deal from the Mets put to bed any hesitation he might have been feeling. The $43.33MM annual rate at which Scherzer signed absolutely trounced the prior record of $36MM and set a new high-water mark at which all future marquee free agents will surely take aim when seeking short-term deals.

We’ve yet to see it this season, of course, but the eventual debut of a Scherzer/Jacob deGrom-led rotation will give the Mets one of the greatest one-two punches of all-time. (That, unfortunately, will be put on hold even further with Scherzer set to miss six-to-eight weeks because of an oblique strain). With five Cy Young Awards and a dozen All-Star nods between them, Scherzer and deGrom are two of this generation’s most dominant performers. Cohen spent considerable resources to make it happen, but adding those two to an in-house group including Taijuan Walker, Carlos Carrasco, Tylor Megill and David Peterson, among others, gave the Mets a wealth of rotation options even after bidding farewell to Noah Syndergaard and Marcus Stroman.

Of course, the Mets ultimately didn’t prove to be done bolstering the starting staff. With the Athletics widely known to be shopping the majority of their well-compensated veterans, the Mets made the first strike after the transaction freeze, plucking righty Chris Bassitt away in exchange for a pair of minor league right-handers.

J.T. Ginn was considered among the best arms in New York’s system, having been selected in the second round of the 2020 draft. The Mississippi State product turned in a 3.03 ERA in 92 innings across the Mets’ two Class-A affiliates in 2021. Righty Adam Oller, meanwhile, was a former 20th-rounder by the Pirates who’d been out of affiliated ball entirely, only to parlay a terrific indie ball showing into a minor league opportunity with the Mets. He posted excellent numbers in the minor league system last season, vaulting into late-blooming prospect status, and he’s already made his big league debut in Oakland.

It was hardly an inconsequential return for the A’s, and yet the Mets are surely thrilled to have made the deal. Beyond the fact that Bassitt has been flat-out exceptional in Queens — seven starts, 42 1/3 innings, 2.34 ERA, 26.9% strikeout rate, 7.0% walk rate — the Mets learned in Spring Training that they were in for another protracted absence from deGrom. Having added Bassitt to the mix became all the more important with deGrom sustaining a stress reaction in his right scapula, and Bassitt has been a large reason that deGrom’s absence hasn’t been felt as acutely as most would’ve anticipated.

The rest of the Mets’ post-lockout moves generally focused on the bullpen. New York native Adam Ottavino signed on for a reasonable one-year pact, and Eppler & Co. made a rare crosstown deal with the Yankees that swapped out righty Miguel Castro for lefty Joely Rodriguez. That trade was interesting beyond the fact that it was a nearly unheard of Yankees/Mets deal; Rodriguez had re-signed with the Yanks as a free agent over the winter and, as such, wasn’t eligible to be traded without his consent prior to June 15. As we reported at the time, Rodriguez agreed to the trade after his agent negotiated a $500K bonus to do so.

The Mets also added righty John Curtiss, knowing full well that he won’t pitch this season after last summer’s Tommy John surgery. But he’ll make scarcely more than the league minimum in 2022 with a similarly affordable $775K option for 2023. For a pitcher with a 2.86 ERA, 24.1% strikeout rate and 5.2% walk rate in 69 1/3 frames from 2020-21, it’s an eminently reasonable roll of the dice. Curtiss can be controlled through 2025 via arbitration as well, further adding to the appeal.

It was something of a surprise that the Mets’ post-lockout dealings generally stopped at this point, however. There was plenty of talk throughout the lockout that the club could be open to adding another big bat of note, with names like Kris Bryant, Freddie Freeman and Seiya Suzuki among those connected to the Mets in reports. There was undoubtedly some tactical element from various agencies with some of the many players connected to them — it never hurts to have the big-spending Mets linked to your client — but there was surely an openness from Eppler and his staff to creatively find ways to add to the roster as well. The Mets, for instance, were said to be exploring scenarios that would’ve seen them eat Eric Hosmer’s contract in order to acquire further pitching help and young talent from the Padres — though the deal obviously didn’t come together.

Beyond that scenario, there were plenty of others discussed. Reports throughout the lockout suggested that the Mets, having signed Marte, Canha and Escobar already, could look to trade from a newfound corner outfield/infield logjam. Dominic Smith, J.D. Davis and Jeff McNeil all had their names hit the rumor mill at various points, with Davis in particular tied to a handful of teams looking to add to their DH mix. The Twins, Angels, Cubs and A’s were among the clubs reportedly interested in Davis, who hasn’t gotten his bat going this year amid sparse playing time. Smith, too, has struggled at the plate without a regular role. Given that the Mets were at least contemplating moves regarding the pair of now-struggling sluggers, one can imagine it’s possible their names will again surface in trade talks this summer.

By hanging onto that entire group and also adding several high-priced veterans — led by Scherzer — the Mets entered the season with a staggering, franchise-record payroll of $279MM. Their luxury-tax ledger is even loftier, sitting at $288.775MM in the estimation of Roster Resource’s Jason Martinez (or $287.966MM at Cot’s Contracts). That puts them just inches away from the newly implemented fourth tier of luxury-tax penalization, which sits at $290MM and has been offhandedly referred to as the “Cohen tax.” One of the sticking points for owners around the league during collective bargaining talks was the addition of a fourth tier of luxury penalization, reportedly due largely to a pervasive desire to prevent Cohen from bucking industry trend and spending at over-the-top levels.

Whether their proximity to that threshold will become the norm or is a one-off dalliance due to the fact that it was established after the Mets had already done the bulk of their offseason spending remains to be seen. It’s all but a given, however, that the more conservative payrolls that were the norm under the Wilpon ownership group are a thing of the past. Cohen’s Mets will always be threats to spend at the top of the free-agent market and won’t be afraid to take on salary via trade. That’ll be particularly worth keeping in mind as the trade deadline rolls around this year. The Mets don’t have too many obvious needs — as one would expect from a first-place team in a strong division — but it seems unlikely that finances will serve as the primary roadblock to Eppler acquiring any help the Mets might need a couple months down the road.

Mets Sign Trevor Cahill To Minor League Contract

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The Mets recently agreed to a minor league deal with veteran starter Trevor Cahill, as Joel Sherman of the New York Post first reported. According to the righty’s transactions tracker at MLB.com, he has been assigned to the team’s Florida complex.

Cahill will presumably head to Triple-A Syracuse at some point, but Sherman notes that he’ll first need time to build into game shape. That’s no surprise, as he hasn’t pitched since last June. A member of the Pirates at the time, Cahill landed on the injured list with a left calf strain. He was quickly transferred to the 60-day IL and didn’t return, quietly hitting free agency at the end of the year.

Before the injury, Cahill made nine appearances (including eight starts) for the Bucs. He managed just a 6.57 ERA over 37 innings, striking out a below-average 19.3% of opposing hitters. The sinkerballer induced grounders at a typically robust 55.2% clip, though, and he’s been excellent at keeping the ball in the yard throughout his career.

Cahill doesn’t throw hard or miss many bats, and his results have been inconsistent in recent years. Yet the 12-year big league veteran has continued to earn opportunities as a depth arm, having reached the majors each season since 2009. After an early run as a rotation stalwart with the A’s and Diamondbacks, Cahill has suited up for eight different clubs over the past seven seasons.

He’s a perfectly sensible veteran depth option for the Mets, who have taken some hits to their star-studded rotation. Jacob deGrom has still yet to pitch recovering from the stress reaction that arose in his throwing shoulder late in Spring Training. He is throwing but not yet ready for a minor league rehab assignment, and a specific timeline is still unclear. (Jon Heyman of the Post noted yesterday that he’s not likely to be available until some point in July). Making matters worse, New York just lost co-ace Max Scherzer for six-to-eight weeks because of an oblique strain.

Tylor Megill is also on the injured list because of biceps inflammation, although the prognosis seems more promising there. Anthony DiComo of MLB.com tweeted last night that Megill is tentatively expected to play catch today, his first time throwing since hitting the IL a week ago. If all goes according to plan, it doesn’t seem the 26-year-old is in for too long an absence.

For the moment, New York is set to rely on a primary starting five of Chris Bassitt, Carlos Carrasco, Taijuan Walker, David Peterson and Trevor Williams. That’s a solid group — particularly for a team down three of its top arms — but New York has already had to call on their depth options and the minor league ranks have thinned out. Further rotation injuries could put the organization in a precarious spot, so they’ll add Cahill as an insurance option.

Joe Panik Retires

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Former All-Star infielder Joe Panik has decided to retire, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. That concludes an eight-year MLB career for the Yonkers native.

Panik went to St. John’s University and was a first-round pick of the Giants in 2011. A contact-oriented second baseman with good strike zone awareness but limited power, Panik was seen as a solid but not top-tier prospect. He hit his way up the minor league ladder quickly, reaching the majors midway through the 2014 campaign.

The lefty-hitting Panik staked a claim to the regular second base job in San Francisco almost out of the gate. He made a brief debut in May, returned to the minors for a month, then was called up for good in late June. From that point forward, he played regularly at the keystone. Panik hit .305/.343/.368 through his first 73 games. He continued his regular role into the postseason for a San Francisco club that won its third World Series title in five years.

Panik remained the Giants second baseman for the next few seasons. He followed up his rookie showing with an excellent .312/.378/.455 campaign. Paired with sure-handed defense, he earned an All-Star nod that year. Panik’s offense took a step back in 2016 but he continued to play well on the other side of the ball, picking up the National League Gold Glove award for second basemen.

After another solid season in 2017, his offensive production dipped as he dealt with injuries (including repeated concussion issues). Panik became more of a veteran role player than a true regular from that point forward, still offering a high-contact bat but without great results on balls in play. The Giants designated him for assignment in August 2019, ending his eight-year tenure in the organization. He hooked on with the Mets for the stretch run and performed fairly well.

Panik signed successive minor league contracts with the Blue Jays heading into 2020 and ’21. He made the Opening Day roster both times, but the Jays dealt him to the Marlins last July to offset some salary in the deal that landed Adam Cimber and Corey Dickerson in Toronto. Panik finished out the season with the Fish, appearing in 53 games.

At just 31 years old, it seems likely Panik could’ve found another minor league deal had he wished to continue playing. He left the Miami organization late last season to attend the birth of his daughter, though, and Heyman writes that he’s now “enjoying family life.” Panik steps aside having appeared in 818 big league games and tallied more than 3000 trips to the plate.

All told, he was a .264/.328/.372 hitter. He only hit 42 home runs, never more than ten in a season, but he also had a minuscule 10.1% strikeout rate that’s less than half the MLB average. Panik also tallied 136 doubles, 19 triples, scored 340 runs and drove in 258. He has the aforementioned Gold Glove and All-Star selection and was a regular on a World Series winner. MLBTR congratulates Panik on an excellent career and wishes him the best in his post-playing days.

Max Scherzer Likely Out Six To Eight Weeks Due To Oblique Strain

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The results of Max Scherzer’s MRI are in, and the news isn’t great for the Mets. The team announced Thursday that Scherzer has suffered a “moderate to high grade internal oblique strain” and is expected to miss six to eight weeks. He’ll be placed on the injured list alongside co-ace Jacob deGrom (stress reaction in his scapula) and right-hander Tylor Megill (biceps inflammation).

It’s a brutal blow for the Mets, who sit at 25-14 and currently hold a six-game lead over the second-place Phillies in the National League East. Scherzer sustained the injury last night when throwing a slider to Albert Pujols, telling reporters after the game that he’d been experienced some tightness before feeling a “zing” down his side on the final pitch to Pujols. The three-time Cy Young winner immediately called for the training staff and could be seen plainly stating, “I’m done” when the staff reached the mound.

The Mets shattered precedent to get Scherzer into Queens, signing the 37-year-old righty to a three-year deal worth $130MM and giving him the highest annual salary in baseball history in doing so ($43.33MM). Owner Steve Cohen and first-year general manager Billy Eppler surely had visions of the game’s most formidable one-two punch at the time, dreaming of a playoff rotation fronted by Scherzer and deGrom.

It’s possible that duo could yet lead the Mets’ staff in the postseason, but deGrom hasn’t pitched yet in 2022 thanks to that shoulder injury. The team announced earlier this week that his latest MRI revealed “continued healing” but did not provide a timetable for his return. It’s now possible that the Mets won’t have that vaunted duo healthy and on the same roster until after the All-Star break, depending on Scherzer’s recovery.

Even in the absence of Scherzer, deGrom and Megill — whose injury should be downplayed, given the strength of his early performance — the Mets still have a solid starting staff on paper. Chris Bassitt and Carlos Carrasco have been outstanding early in the season, and the Mets have gotten quality work from Taijuan Walker and (in more limited opportunities) lefty David Peterson, too. It’s likely that Williams and Peterson will be the choices to follow the trio of Bassitt, Carrasco and Walker while the Mets navigate this latest batch of injuries.

While that’s a solid group, it obviously pales in comparison to a full-strength contingent of Mets starters. And, more concerning, the depth beyond the current quintet begins to look more questionable. Veteran left-hander Mike Montgomery is pitching with the Mets’ Triple-A affiliate but has been tagged for a 5.52 ERA through seven starts. Twenty-five-year-old Thomas Szapucki has been sharp through six Triple-A starts but has totaled just 21 innings in those outings. Righty Jordan Yamamoto has been a depth option for the Mets in the past, but he was removed from the 40-man roster earlier this season and only just made his minor league debut — 1 2/3 shaky innings in High-A — after missing time on the minor league injured list. Former Angels righty Felix Pena was brought in on a minor league deal, but like Montgomery, he’s struggled in Triple-A.

Given the manner in which injuries have already cut into the team’s depth, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Mets poke around the market for some depth options. Major trades this time of year are uncommon but not unheard of. Otherwise, the Mets could turn to some recently DFA’ed arms (e.g. Jharel Cotton) or veterans who’ve recently opted for minor league free agency (e.g. Drew Hutchison, Carlos Martinez) in an effort to at least stockpile some experienced options in the upper minors.

Max Scherzer Undergoes MRI Following Last Night’s Early Exit

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11:40am: Scherzer indeed sustained an oblique injury, tweets Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The severity of the injury isn’t yet known, although as Heyman points out, even Grade 1 oblique strains can sideline players for upwards of a month. Of course, every injury is different, and there are certainly instances of players returning far sooner than that. The Mets figure to have a formal announcement on Scherzer’s status at some point today.

8:00am: Mets ace Max Scherzer pulled himself from last night’s game midway through a sixth-inning at-bat against Albert Pujols (video link). After throwing a 2-2 slider to Pujols, Scherzer immediately motioned to the dugout that he was done, calling for a trainer and promptly exiting the game. The Mets announced that Scherzer was dealing with discomfort in his left side, and Scherzer told reporters after the contest that he’d felt tightness in his side throughout the day and felt a “zing” during the Pujols at-bat (video link). “I just knew I was done,” said Scherzer. The three-time Cy Young winner added that he doesn’t believe the injury to be a “major strain.”

That’ll be determined this morning, it seems, as MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo writes that Scherzer is headed for an MRI to determine the extent of the injury. While Scherzer himself downplayed the potential severity, it’s obviously a point of concern that he both pulled himself from the game and is now undergoing a round of imaging to determine whether a trip to the injured list will be necessary.

The 37-year-old right-hander inked a record-setting three-year, $130MM contract with the Mets over the winter, making him the highest paid player (on an annual basis) in Major League history. Thus far, Scherzer has been the co-ace the Mets hoped to be acquiring when doling out that deal, pitching 49 2/3 innings of 2.54 ERA ball with a 30.6% strikeout rate against a 5.7% walk rate. He’s been a major reason that the Mets’ rotation, even without Jacob deGrom, ranks fifth in the Majors in ERA and second in FIP. Scherzer and his rotation-mates have also combined for the seventh-highest strikeout rate and the lowest walk rate of any starting staff in the big leagues.

At present, the Mets are the only team in the NL East with a winning record, and at 25-14 they hold a healthy six-game lead over the second-place Phillies. That said, even a brief absence for Scherzer, placing him on the shelf alongside deGrom and righty Tylor Megill (biceps inflammation), would be a notable blow. The Mets do have a deep staff that could potentially weather that trio of rotation injuries in the short-term, with lefty David Peterson presumably serving as the next man in line if Scherzer indeed misses time. Still, losing their $76.83MM one-two deGrom/Scherzer punch to the injured list before the pair is ever even healthy enough to take the mound on consecutive days isn’t a scenario the Mets hoped to face.

The Mets announced earlier this week that an MRI on deGrom, who has yet to pitch in 2022 due to a stress reaction in his right scapula, showed “continued healing.” He’s working through a throwing program and currently building up the distance from which he throws and the intensity level, but there’s no clear timetable for him to get back onto the mound and embark on a minor league rehab assignment. If Scherzer were to join deGrom and Megill on the IL, the Mets’ rotation would likely consist of Chris Bassitt, Carlos Carrasco, Taijuan Walker, Trevor Williams and the aforementioned Peterson.

Injury Notes: Perez, Matzek, McCann

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The Royals placed Salvador Pérez on the 10-day injured list between games of today’s doubleheader with the White Sox. Pérez suffered a sprained left thumb during the opening contest, and Kansas City quickly moved to replace him with Sebastian Rivero on the active roster. Kansas City’s franchise backstop is off to a slow start, much like the rest of the lineup. Pérez is hitting .206/.239/.397 through 34 games. He’s popped six home runs but drawn only four walks with 38 strikeouts, contributing to one of the lowest on-base marks in the big leagues.

While Pérez is out of action, the Royals will get their first extended look at rookie MJ Melendez behind the plate. The 23-year-old backstop led all minor league players with 41 home runs last season, combining for a .286/.386/.625 line between Double-A Northwest Arkansas and Triple-A Omaha. That’s obviously elite production for any player, let alone a catcher, and Melendez is now regarded as one of the sport’s most promising prospects. He was recalled for his first MLB promotion at the beginning of the month and will take the majority of the catching time while Pérez is on the shelf.

The latest on a couple other injury situations around the league:

  • The Braves placed reliever Tyler Matzek on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to May 14, due to inflammation in his throwing shoulder. That’s an ominous-sounding diagnosis, but an MRI this afternoon revealed no structural damage (relayed by Mark Bowman of MLB.com). Matzek will nevertheless be shut down from throwing for a couple weeks, indicating he’s likely to require a minor league rehab assignment even if he’s deemed alright to get back to action upon his next reevaluation. Matzek posted a 2.57 ERA in 63 innings for the World Series champions last season. He’s battled significant control woes in the early going this year, doling out nine walks among his 47 batters faced.
  • Mets catcher James McCann underwent successful left hamate surgery this morning, manager Buck Showalter informed reporters (including Anthony DiComo of MLB.com). The team announced last Friday that he’d require a procedure after being diagnosed with a fracture, projecting a recovery timeline of approximately six weeks. McCann, who signed a four-year deal over the 2020-21 offseason, hit .232/.294/.349 during his first season in Queens. He’s off to a slow start this season, hitting .196/.266/.286 through 21 contests. New York is relying on a Tomás Nido – Patrick Mazeika pairing in McCann’s absence.

DeGrom MRI Reveals “Continued Healing”; Still No Clear Timetable For Return

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Mets ace Jacob deGrom, who has yet to pitch this season and is on the mend from a stress reaction in his right scapula, underwent his latest follow-up MRI yesterday, the team announced. They issued the following statement in the wake of this latest test:

“He underwent follow-up imaging yesterday that revealed continued healing in the scapula. He will continue to build distance and velocity in his throwing program, and we will provide an update on his progress when appropriate.”

On the one hand, it’s somewhat encouraging that there’s been no setback and deGrom ostensibly appears to be progressing toward a return. On the other, it’s surely frustrating for all parties that there’s no clear indication as to when deGrom might get back on the mound at Citi Field. MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo wrote last night, after speaking to pitching coach Jeremy Hefner, that deGrom would require between three and five minor league rehab starts.

Of course, given the vague nature of the Mets’ statement, it’s not clear just when that minor league rehab work might begin. The Mets indicated that deGrom is still throwing, but the standard progression would be to go from flat ground, to mound work, to facing live hitters before jumping into a rehab game — with rest days smattered throughout that process. If deGrom is indeed slated for five rehab appearances, that could tack upwards of four weeks onto the process. Inferring a bit, it’s hard to see him back before mid-to-late June at this point, but the Mets have rather deliberately avoided making any definitive statements.

“We don’t want to mess around with reinjuring that type of situation, because then he’s done for the year,” Hefner told DiComo yesterday. “So we’re definitely going to play the long game with him to make sure that we have him for the rest of the season.”

Looking purely at the standings, no one would be able to tell that the Mets have been missing the game’s best pitcher this season. Their 23-13 record already gives them a hefty 5.5-game lead over the second-place Phillies in the National League East, to say nothing of the game’s third best winning percentage (.639, trailing only the Dodgers and Yankees). The Mets have received seven starts apiece from Max Scherzer, Chris Bassitt, Carlos Carrasco and Tylor Megill, and that quartet has combined for an outstanding 3.22 ERA in 162 innings. Taijuan Walker (four starts) and David Peterson (three) have also been excellent in their opportunities thus far.

On the whole, Mets starters rank sixth in the Majors in ERA — even without deGrom. They’re also ranked third in FIP and fifth in SIERA, in addition to possessing the seventh-best strikeout rate and second-lowest walk rate of any team in baseball. Given the group’s collective dominance, the Mets can afford to take a more cautious approach with deGrom. That may well have been the team’s approach regardless, but an outstanding rotation and comfortable first-place lead certainly quell any temptation to push deGrom that might crop up in a more tightly contested division and/or with broad-reaching struggles from alternative rotation options.

Boras: Michael Conforto Not Ruling Out Late-Season Return

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Michael Conforto was the most notable unsigned free agent of this past offseason. The outfielder rejected a qualifying offer from the Mets and didn’t find a deal to his liking before the league locked out the players in early December. The following month, he injured his right shoulder during training and remains unsigned.

Conforto underwent surgery last month, and reports at the time suggested the procedure would end his 2022 season before it began. That may not actually be the case, as his agent Scott Boras now tells Joel Sherman of the New York Post it’s not out of the question Conforto could make it back to the majors by September. “There is a possibility the swinging modality can be back to normal at a much earlier date than the throwing aspect,” Boras told Sherman. “He had his surgery in April. There’s a chance depending on how he progresses that (hitting in the majors late in the season) is a possibility.”

Based on those comments, it seems the path back for Conforto would be as a hitter only. If he’s still unable to throw by September, clubs certainly aren’t going to plug him back into right field (and probably wouldn’t risk him at first base either). Yet there’s apparently at least some chance he makes a late-season return as a designated hitter and/or bench bat, which hadn’t previously appeared possible.

Even if Conforto’s shoulder progresses well enough he could make it back to the diamond, he’d of course need to find a contract offer to his liking. Teams aren’t going to commit the kind of multi-year deal he’d been looking for entering the offseason, and Conforto and Boras may eventually decide it’s better for the 29-year-old to continue rehabbing on his own and look for a new team next year.

That said, clubs figure to keep an eye on Conforto’s progress over the next few months. While he posted only marginally above-average offensive numbers last season, he hit at a .261/.365/.478 level between 2018-20. Something approaching that production would be a boon to virtually every lineup, and a contending club looking for a bit more left-handed punch could have interest in a late-season pact if he’s healthy. That kind of arrangement, meanwhile, could allow Conforto to showcase his form for a few weeks (and into a possible postseason run) while still hitting the market next winter.

In any event, a resolution won’t be coming for several months. Conforto’s clearly not near an imminent return to game shape, and he’ll have to continue working on his own for at least the next two months. Any team would forfeit an amateur draft choice were they to sign Conforto now because he rejected the Mets’ QO. Certainly, no team is going to do that for a player with such an uncertain health status. Pick forfeiture will no longer apply once the draft concludes on July 19, however, so there’d be no penalty (aside from whatever guarantee he receives) for a team to add him after that point. The Mets won’t receive any compensation if he signs a post-draft deal.

Whether Conforto will sign anywhere this year won’t be known until at least after the All-Star Break, and quite likely for a while longer. That it’s even possible after news of his shoulder surgery makes for a surprising development, though, one that’ll be worth monitoring later in the season.

Mets Place Tylor Megill On Injured List, Select Colin Holderman

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The Mets announced a series of roster moves today, with righty Tylor Megill going on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to May 12, due to right biceps inflammation. Fellow righty Colin Holderman has been selected to take his place on the active roster. To make room for Holderman on the 40-man roster, righty Trevor May has been transferred to the 60-day injured list.

The Mets didn’t provide a timeline for Megill’s injury but did say that he will undergo an MRI today. More details and the next steps should be forthcoming once the results are known.

Megill, 26, wasn’t originally projected to open the season in the rotation, but injuries to Jacob deGrom and Taijuan Walker created an opening for him. Initially, Megill took that opportunity and ran with it, making two scoreless starts to begin the season and putting up an ERA of 1.93 after five total outings. However, his last two outings haven’t been as smooth, with Megill allowing 11 total earned runs in those. It’s possible that this injury was taking its toll on him and affecting his performance.

The Mets will need another starter to take Megill’s spot in the rotation, as today is their sixth of 16 consecutive games. David Peterson would seem to be the most likely candidate to be called up, given that he’s already made three starts for the club earlier this year and performed well. But in the short term, he pitched in Triple-A on Friday and wouldn’t be available to pitch on normal rest until Wednesday. Megill’s was scheduled to start tomorrow’s game, meaning the Mets will have to figure out who’s taking the ball for that contest.

In the meantime, Holderman will join the staff to try to cover some innings. A ninth round draft pick from 2016, he’s done both starting and relieving in his minor league career, though he’s only been working out of the bullpen this year. In nine Triple-A games, he’s thrown 12 1/3 innings with a 2.92 ERA, 26.5% strikeout rate, 6.1% walk rate and 61.3% ground ball rate. As soon as he gets the call to enter a game, it will be his major league debut.

The transfer of May to the 60-day injured list isn’t shocking, as it was reported a couple of weeks ago that he will be out of action for 8-12 weeks due to a stress reaction in the humerus of his throwing arm.

James McCann Out Approximately Six Weeks Due To Hand Fracture

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The Mets announced that catcher James McCann has a hamate fracture in his left hand (via Bob Nightengale of USA Today). He’ll undergo surgery and miss around six weeks. Patrick Mazeika has been recalled from Triple-A Syracuse in his place.

McCann has gotten off to a rough start, the second season of a four-year free agent contract he signed during the 2020-21 offseason. Through 21 games, the right-handed hitting backstop owns a .196/.266/.286 slash line. That’s a continuation of the .232/.294/.349 struggles he experienced during his first season in Queens, as McCann hasn’t managed to replicate the above-average form he showed for the White Sox in 2019-20.

Nevertheless, McCann has started 18 of New York’s first 33 games behind the dish. The veteran backstop is highly regarded for his work handling a pitching staff, and the Mets have gotten excellent results on the mound en route to their 22-11 start. While he’s out, New York will down to the light-hitting catching tandem of Tomás Nido and Mazeika.

It’s possible New York explores the catching market midseason. Even heading into the season, the Mets’ catching situation looked like a possible area for upgrade for a club hellbent on winning this season. McCann’s early offensive struggles and injury would only seem to increase the likelihood of an eventual external pickup. Willson Contreras and Christian Vázquez are among the impending free agent backstops who could be dealt by the end of July.

Acquiring a rental could allow New York to upgrade their catching corps for the stretch run without impeding the eventual path for top prospect Francisco Álvarez. One of the sport’s most talented prospects, Álvarez is viewed by many as the organization’s catcher of the future. At just 20 years old with only 24 games of Double-A experience under his belt, he probably won’t be a factor in the majors this year.

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