Mets Rumors

Jerry Blevins Announces Retirement

By Connor Byrne | April 27, 2021 at 7:00pm CDT

Veteran reliever Jerry Blevins has retired from baseball, he announced Tuesday on Twitter (click here to read his statement). The left-hander had been with the Mets on a minor league contract.

Now 37 years old, Blevins entered the pros as a 17th-round pick of the Cubs in 2004. He never pitched for the Cubs, however, as they traded him to the Athletics as part of a deal for catcher Jason Kendall in 2007. Blevins debuted in the majors that year, which began a fairly long run in Oakland. He stuck with the A’s through 2013 and notched ERAs ranging from 2.48 to 3.70 in four different seasons as a member of the club.

Despite his solid production in an A’s uniform, they moved on from him heading into 2014, sending Blevins to the Nationals for outfielder Billy Burns. That proved to be the lone season in Washington for Blevins, whom the Nationals traded to the Mets for outfielder Matt den Dekker before the 2015 campaign.

Blevins missed almost all of his first season as a Met because of a fractured pitching arm, but he returned to deliver outstanding results over the next two years. In a 91-inning span from 2016-17, Blevins put up a 2.87 ERA with a 30.6 percent strikeout rate and a 9.9 percent walk rate. However, Blevins couldn’t replicate that success in 2018 – his last year with the Mets – and then reunited with the A’s on a minor league deal in the ensuing offseason. Oakland wound up trading Blevins to Atlanta before the 2019 season, which will go down as his final year in the majors. Although Blevins threw 32 1/3 frames of 3.90 ERA ball that season, he couldn’t make it back to the bigs on a minors deal with the Giants in 2020 or with the Mets this season.

In all, Blevins appeared in parts of 13 MLB seasons and posted a 3.54 ERA with 508 strikeouts in 495 1/3 innings. Blevins was especially tough on lefties, whom he held to a weak .213/.270/.313 line. MLBTR congratulates Blevins on a very solid career and wishes him the best in his post-playing days.

East Notes: Andujar, Nelson, Smith, Turner

By TC Zencka | April 25, 2021 at 4:43pm CDT

The Yankees announced a pair of roster moves after today’s 7-3 loss to the Indians. For starters, they optioned Nick Nelson to their alternate site. The 25-year-old right-hander appeared in six games, once as an opener, giving up 10 earned runs in 8 1/3 innings. The demotion comes after a two-inning, three-earned-run outing in today’s ballgame. In addition, the Yankees activated third baseman Miguel Andujar from the injured list and optioned him to their alternate site. Andujar was beset by a bout of carpal tunnel syndrome in his right wrist. Slowed largely by injures, the 26-year-old has hit just .193/.219/.257 across 114 plate appearances since his breakout rookie season in 2018. Let’s stay on the East Coast, but move over to the Senior Circuit…

The Mets activated right-hander Drew Smith from the injured list and optioned him to their alternate site, per Anthony DiComo of MLB.com (via Twitter). The 27-year-old has been spotty, but intriguing in small samples for the Mets. Though he made just eight appearances last year, he has logged 35 innings in 35 appearances with a 4.11 ERA/4.08 FIP going back through 2018. Injuries have been the bugaboo for Smith, who missed all of 2019 after undergoing Tommy John surgery. His shoulder has been the issue of late, though hopefully, with some time at the alternate site, Smith can prove his readiness and soon get back to a big league mound.
Star shortstop Trea Turner was removed from today’s game after getting plunked in the arm. He has a contusion on his left forearm, but testing came back negative, per Jesse Doughtery of the Washington Post (via Twitter). Turner may miss a game, but it sounds as if the Nats expect him to be okay. That’s critical for the Nationals, as Turner has taken over as their 3-hole hitter with Juan Soto on the shelf. The speedy shortstop looks at home in the middle of the order with a 120 wRC+ and 1.0 bWAR produced through 75 plate appearances prior to today’s game.

Mets Notes: Carrasco, Syndergaard, Betances

By Anthony Franco | April 24, 2021 at 8:14pm CDT

Carlos Carrasco is expected to make his regular season debut by the second week of May, Mets manager Luis Rojas told reporters (including Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News) this afternoon. The righty completed a four-inning simulated game today, per the skipper.

Acquired from the Indians in the Francisco Lindor offseason blockbuster, Carrasco was delayed by elbow discomfort early in Spring Training and then suffered a right hamstring tear during his rehab. That setback has thus far kept Carrasco from debuting for his new team, but it seems he’s only a couple weeks away from doing so. The 34-year-old was very effective last year for Cleveland, tossing 68 innings of 2.91 ERA ball with a strong 29.3% strikeout rate and a passable 9.6% walk rate.

Mets starters have more than held their own in Carrasco’s absence. New York entered play today ranked fifth with a 2.61 rotation ERA, while the group’s 2.90 SIERA is best in the league. Jacob deGrom has been incredible as usual, while Marcus Stroman, David Peterson and Joey Lucchesi all have solid peripherals (and in Stroman’s case, a stellar ERA). Taijuan Walker has struggled with his control but has so far done well keeping runs off the board.

Of course, Carrasco isn’t the only key starter working his way back from injury. Noah Syndergaard continues to rehab from March 2020 Tommy John surgery. He hit a milestone in that process, with Rojas telling reporters the hard-throwing righty pitched an inning in a scrimmage today (via Tim Healey of Newsday). The 28-year-old is hoping to return to game action by the end of June.

The news was not so positive for reliever Dellin Betances. The right-hander has been out since April 8 with a right shoulder impingement, and he apparently wasn’t in line to return anytime soon. The Mets transferred Betances to the 60-day injured list this afternoon (per Anthony DiComo of MLB.com). That frees up a 40-man roster spot but rules Betances out until at least the second week of June. It continues a nightmarish couple of seasons for the 33-year-old, who has managed just 12.2 disappointing innings since signing with the Mets over the 2019-20 offseason.

Neil Walker Announces Retirement

By Connor Byrne | April 20, 2021 at 4:42pm CDT

Longtime major league second baseman Neil Walker has retired from baseball at the age of 35. Walker broke the news to Sweeny Murti of WFAN as a guest on the “30 for Murti” podcast.

A Pittsburgh native, Walker was a first-round pick (No. 11) of his hometown Pirates in 2004. Five years later, Walker made a 17-game big league debut, and he became both a regular and a consistently solid contributor beginning the next season. During a 3,386-plate appearance run from 2010-15, the switch-hitting Walker put up five seasons of at least 2.4 fWAR (including a career-high 4.1 in 2014, when he won a Silver Slugger Award) and batted .273/.338/.443 with 93 home runs.

Walker’s time with the Pirates concluded when they traded him to the Mets for left-hander Jon Niese prior to the 2016 campaign. The move didn’t work out at all for the Bucs, with whom Niese’s production spiraled, though Walker continued to perform well in Queens. He batted .275/.344/.462 and smacked 33 HRs over 757 PA in a Mets uniform in parts of two seasons, but with the team out of contention late in 2017, it traded him to the Brewers for the stretch run.

Walker didn’t re-sign with the Brewers, instead returning to New York n a one-year, $4MM guarantee with the Yankees. With a .219/.309/.354 line in 398 trips to the plate, Walker turned in his worst offensive season as a regular in 2018. He enjoyed somewhat of a bounce-back campaign the next season on a $2MM deal as a member of the Marlins, though he still had to settle for a minor league contract with the Phillies going into 2020. While Walker did make it to the majors for a 12th straight season, he struggled enough over 18 games that the Phillies designated him for assignment in September.

Although Walker had a less-than-ideal ending, he still enjoyed a far more successful and lucrative career than the vast majority of major leaguers. He’ll end with a .267/.338/.426 line, 149 homers and 21.6 fWAR/19.6 rWAR across 1,306 games and 5,152 trips to the plate. Walker also earned nearly $52MM in the bigs, per Baseball-Reference.com.

MLBTR congratulates Walker on an impressive career and wishes him the best in retirement.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Jay Bruce Announces Retirement

By Anthony Franco | April 18, 2021 at 11:05pm CDT

Yankees first baseman Jay Bruce has announced he’s retiring from baseball (via Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic). Today’s game against the Rays will be the final outing of Bruce’s 14-year MLB career.

“After 14 incredible seasons, I’ve decided to make the very difficult decision to retire from baseball. All I ever wanted to be ’when I grew up’ was a baseball player, and to say that I got to live out my dream would be the understatement of a lifetime. This sport gave me more than I could’ve ever asked for,” Bruce wrote as part of his announcement (the full statement is available at the above link).

A first-round pick of the Reds in 2005, Bruce would quickly become one of the sport’s most promising young talents. He was a top 100 prospect in each of his first three years in pro ball, eventually becoming Baseball America’s #1 farmhand entering the 2008 season. Bruce made his major league debut in May of that year and hit a decent .254/.314/.453, earning a fifth-place finish in National League Rookie of the Year balloting.

Two years later, Bruce settled in as the middle-of-the-order bat many evaluators expected he’d become. Between 2010-13, the left-handed slugger hit a very productive .262/.337/.489 (119 wRC+), earning back-to-back All-Star selections in 2011-12 and a pair of Silver Slugger awards and down-ballot MVP support in 2012-13. Bruce fell off a bit in 2014-15, but he rebounded offensively in 2016 and earned his third and final All-Star selection.

The bulk of Bruce’s career was spent with the Reds, but he continued to produce for a few years after leaving Cincinnati. He hit a career-high 36 home runs during a 2017 season split between the Mets and Indians and popped 26 homers as recently as 2019. He was an above-average hitter during his time with the Mets, as well as in his brief stints in Cleveland and Seattle.

Unfortunately, Bruce’s production has fallen off as he’s entered his 30’s, with increasing struggles to reach base at a passable clip. He didn’t perform well with the Phillies last year and had to settle for a minor-league deal with the Yankees over the offseason. A Spring Training injury to Luke Voit opened up an opportunity for Bruce to begin the year as New York’s first baseman, but he’s stumbled to a .118/.231/.235 line in 39 plate appearances as a Yankee.

Struggles in his final couple seasons notwithstanding, Bruce had a very strong career. Not including any stats he may accrue in this afternoon’s game, the Texas native concludes with a .244/.314/.467 slash line across 6642 MLB plate appearances, making him six percentage points better than the league average hitter by measure of weighted runs created plus.

Bruce had five separate seasons in which he was at least fifteen points above average at the plate. The well-respected veteran had 1455 hits, including 319 home runs, scored 839 times and drove in 951 runs. Altogether, Bruce was worth around 20 wins above replacement and accrued just shy of $103MM in career earnings, per Baseball Reference. MLBTR congratulates Bruce on a fine career and wishes him the best of luck in his future endeavors.

Quick Hits: Odorizzi, Posey, Miggy, Mazara, Rays

By Mark Polishuk | April 17, 2021 at 11:01pm CDT

Jake Odorizzi was linked to the Mets last winter, though in a recent podcast appearance alongside former Twins teammate — and current Met — Trevor May on The Chris Rose Rotation, Odorizzi indicated that the team’s initial interest was generated by team president Sandy Alderson. (Mike Puma of the New York Post has an account of Odorizzi’s comments.) Once Jared Porter was hired as the Mets’ GM, however, the interest dissipated, and the situation didn’t reignite after Zack Scott took over the job after Porter’s resignation. “Early on, I thought I was going to be a member of a certain team, then some people took over that team and they pretty much hated me, so it fell through. It was Trevor’s team,” Odorizzi said.

Odorizzi reportedly drew interest from several teams beyond only the Mets, but he didn’t end up finding a new club until early March, when he signed a two-year deal with the Astros worth $23.5MM in guaranteed money. The long wait didn’t sit well with the right-hander, who described his free agent stint as “the single most frustrating time I’ve had in baseball. At certain points you think you are going to be a member of a certain team and then it falls through or whatever maybe and it’s like, ’All right, now what?’ And it’s March and I am still sitting at the house. It’s like, ’What the hell is going on right now?’ ”

Mets Activate J.D. Davis From Injured List

By Anthony Franco | April 17, 2021 at 1:32pm CDT

The Mets are reinstating third baseman J.D. Davis from the injured list, Tim Healey of Newsday was among those to note (Twitter link). Infielder José Peraza was optioned to the team’s alternate training site in a corresponding move. Additionally, right-hander Franklyn Kilome has cleared waivers and been sent outright to the alternate site.

Davis returns from a hand injury after the minimum amount of time on the shelf. The 27-year-old figures to resume his role as New York’s top option at the hot corner. Peraza’s contract was selected from the alternate site to add infield depth when Davis went on the shelf, but he’ll ultimately head back without having gotten into a game. Peraza will keep his spot on the 40-man roster, though.

Kilome lost his 40-man spot to accommodate the Mets’ addition of Peraza last week. A former top prospect in the Phillies’ system, Kilome has seen his stock tumble quite a bit in recent years. He’ll remain in the New York organization and hope to pitch his way back onto the roster.

NL Injury Notes: Braves, Myers, Betances, Cain

By Connor Byrne | April 14, 2021 at 6:43pm CDT

The Braves don’t have a timetable yet for injured right-handers Mike Soroka and Chris Martin to return, per David O’Brien of The Athletic. Soroka missed almost all of last season with a torn right Achilles, and as he was working his way back, the Braves had to shut him down because of shoulder inflammation. Martin went on the IL with the same issue on April 10 (retroactive to April 7). Between their injuries and Max Fried’s placement on the IL because of a hamstring strain, the Braves are without three of their most important pitchers.

Padres right fielder Wil Myers left their game Tuesday with right knee inflammation and was not in their starting lineup Wednesday. Myers has been dealing with patellar tenonitis, but it’s not believed he’ll miss much time or require surgery, according to Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Even though Myers has had to play through discomfort, it hasn’t had an obvious effect on his production. On the heels of a massive rebound in 2020, he has begun this year with a torrid .341/.438/.659 line and three home runs in 48 plate appearances.
Mets reliever Dellin Betances, on the 10-day IL since April 8 with a right shoulder impingement, is still a ways from returning. Betances hasn’t begun throwing, and he won’t travel with the Mets for their April 16-22 road trip, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com reports. Injuries have been a constant problem over the past few years for Betances, a four-time All-Star who has thrown only 13 1/3 innings dating back to his final season with the Yankees in 2019. The Mets had high hopes for a Betances bounce-back effort when they signed him to a $10.5MM guarantee during the ensuing winter, but he yielded 10 earned runs in 11 2/3 innings in 2020. So far this year, Betances has made one appearance and thrown one inning, in which he allowed an earned run and a walk.
The Brewers have placed center fielder Lorenzo Cain on the 10-day IL with a strained left quad and recalled outfielder Tyrone Taylor, the team announced. There’s no word on how much time Cain will miss, but he strained his other quad during the spring and was limited to seven exhibition games as a result. The 35-year-old has gotten off to a slow start this season with a .154/.214/.423 line in 28 plate appearances.

NL Injury Notes: D-backs, Carrasco, Lamet

By Connor Byrne | April 12, 2021 at 9:34pm CDT

Diamondbacks right-hander Zac Gallen will make his first start of the season on Tuesday, Steve Gilbert of MLB.com tweets. The Diamondbacks had to open the year without Gallen, their No. 1 starter, as a result of a hairline fracture he suffered in his right forearm roughly three weeks ago. Gallen thrived with the Marlins and D-backs during his first two years in the majors, in which he combined for a 2.78 ERA and struck out 28.5 percent of batters in 152 innings.

Here’s more regarding Arizona and a couple of other National League teams…

The Mets’ Carlos Carrasco suffered a torn hamstring last month, but manager Luis Rojas said Monday that the righty “is doing really good right now,” per Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. Carrasco is stretched out to throw four innings and will soon report to the Mets’ alternate site to begin fielding work, according to DiComo. Still, there isn’t an exact timeline for the offseason acquisition’s Mets debut. It was reported when Carrasco went down that he would need six to eight weeks to recover, so he could still be another month-plus away.
Righty Dinelson Lamet won’t rejoin the Padres’ rotation until he pitches at least one more time at their alternate site, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune tweets. Lamet has been delayed while working back from elbow issues that brought a premature end to a breakout 2020 effort in which he put up a 2.09 ERA/3.16 SIERA in 69 innings and finished fourth in NL Cy Young voting. The Padres have roared to an 8-3 start without Lamet, but he should make the World Series hopefuls even more formidable upon his return.
The Diamondbacks placed first baseman Christian Walker on the 10-day injured list Monday with a right oblique strain and recalled infielder/outfielder Andrew Young to take his spot, per a team announcement. Whether Walker will need more than 10 days to recover isn’t known, but oblique problems often lead to extended absences. Before going on the IL, Walker amassed 44 plate appearances and hit .179/.250/.282 – a far cry from the .271/.333/.459 line he posted in 243 PA last year.

NL Notes: Tatis, Mets, Lugo, Thor, McCutchen

By Mark Polishuk | April 10, 2021 at 3:00pm CDT

As if Joe Musgrove’s no-hitter wasn’t enough good news for the Padres, Fernando Tatis Jr. was taking grounders prior to yesterday’s game and is now also taking part in hitting and running drills. Tatis is on the 10-day IL recovering from a slight tear in his left labrum, though the ugly-looking injury may only keep Tatis out of action for a relatively short amount of time. Tatis’ shoulder inflammation has decreased to the point that he has been able to do some fielding work, and he could keep gradually ramping up his baseball activity as long as his shoulder remains sound, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune wrote yesterday.

Manager Jayce Tingler sounded cautiously optimistic talking to Acee and other reporters today. “We want to take it day by day, but we feel confident if we can continue down this road, we’re going to be in a good position for him to be activated” by April 16, Tingler said. That would be the first day Tatis would be eligible to leave the injured list, and it would put Tatis on pace to be in the lineup as the Padres began a big series with the Dodgers.

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