Mets Activate Mark Canha, Designate Matt Reynolds For Assignment
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
Mets Acquire Adonis Medina, Designate Yennsy Diaz For Assignment
The Mets have announced that they’ve acquired right-hander Adonis Medina from the Pirates in exchange for cash considerations and optioned him to Triple-A. To make room on the 40-man roster, fellow right-hander Yennsy Diaz was designated for assignment.
Medina was signed by the Phillies as an international free agent back in 2014 and caught the eye of some prospect evaluators, being labeled the 84th best prospect in the game by Baseball America in 2018. However, he struggled against the competition in the upper minors and was designated for assignment on December 1st, when the Phils signed Johan Camargo. The lockout followed shortly after that, meaning Medina floated in DFA limbo for over three months.
After the lockout was done, he was claimed by Pittsburgh but only lasted a few weeks as a Pirate. Earlier today, the Bucs signed Jake Marisnick and sent Medina back out onto DFA limbo. Now a Met, Medina will head to Triple-A to serve as rotation depth for a club that already has concerns in that department. Jacob deGrom went on the IL today and isn’t expected back for over a month. Max Scherzer has a tight hamstring that prevented him from taking the ball on Opening Day, though it seems like he will avoid the injured list for now. Last year, Medina mostly pitched in Triple-A, making 17 starts for 67 2/3 innings of 5.05 ERA ball. His ground ball rate was good at 45.7%, but the 18.5% strikeout rate was lacking.
As for Diaz, he came to the Mets just over a year ago as part of the Steven Matz deal. He split his time almost evenly between Triple-A and the majors, not showing anything especially impressive in either setting. His 5.40 ERA in the big leagues was over a full run better than his 6.75 Triple-A mark. His walk rate was around 11% at each level. He did put up a 24.7% strikeout rate in Triple-A, but just 18.8% in the bigs. However, he could still garner interest from clubs, given that he’s just 25 years old and has an option year remaining, meaning he can be stashed in the minors as depth.
Mets Sign John Curtiss To Major League Contract, Select Travis Jankowski
The Mets are signing reliever John Curtiss to a major league deal, general manager Billy Eppler told reporters (including Anthony DiComo of MLB.com and Tim Healey of Newsday). The team is also selecting outfielder Travis Jankowski to the major league roster for Opening Day. Curtiss will make $770K this season, and next year’s option is valued at $775K, reports Joel Sherman of the New York Post (Twitter link).
Curtiss isn’t expected to pitch for the entire 2022 campaign. The 29-year-old righty suffered a torn ulnar collateral ligament while pitching for the Brewers last August, an injury that eventually required Tommy John surgery. Milwaukee had just acquired Curtiss from the Marlins at that summer’s trade deadline. He’d had an excellent first half in Miami, pitching to a 2.48 ERA in 40 innings with a solid 24.8% strikeout percentage and tiny 5.6% walk rate.
Milwaukee no doubt envisioned Curtiss serving as an important bullpen piece both down the stretch and over the next few seasons, but he only managed six relief appearances as a Brewer. They non-tendered him in November, electing against carrying an injured pitcher on the 40-man roster all winter. Curtiss only has a bit more than two years of MLB service, so he’ll be controllable via arbitration even beyond the 2023 option year. The Mets will take a low-risk dice roll to see if Curtiss can be a member of the big league bullpen next year and beyond. While rehabbing, he’ll pick up a big league salary and MLB service time on the injured list.
Curtiss will spend the entire season on the 60-day injured list, but the Mets first have to clear a 40-man roster spot to sign him to a big league deal. To do so, they’ve designated utilityman Travis Blankenhorn for assignment. New York claimed the left-handed hitter off waivers from the Mariners in June. That concluded a series of waiver claims for the former third-round pick, who bounced from the Twins to the Dodgers to Seattle and then Queens in a span of a few weeks.
Blankenhorn has only tallied 28 plate appearances at the big league level. He owns a solid .253/.361/.460 slash in a pair of Triple-A campaigns, though, and can still be optioned to the minor leagues for another season. That could lead another club to acquire Blankenhorn via minor trade or waivers in the next week.
Once Curtiss’ deal is made official, the Mets will place him on the 60-day IL and free a 40-man roster spot. That’ll go to Jankowski, who cracked the Opening Day roster after signing a minor league contract this offseason. He adds a fleet-footed player with experience at all three outfield spots to the New York bench. He has played 400+ innings everywhere on the grass as a big leaguer, with the bulk of that experience coming in center field.
The 30-year-old will serve as a speed/defense specialist behind the starting outfield of Brandon Nimmo, Starling Marte and Mark Canha. The lefty-swinging Jankowski has never been much of a threat at the plate, as he owns a .239/.322/.318 line in a bit more than 1,100 big league plate appearances.