Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Mets Rumors

Mets Release Travis d’Arnaud

By | at

The Mets have released catcher Travis d’Arnaud, according to the MLB.com transactions page. He had been designated for assignment recently.

This goes down as one of the stranger transactional approaches in recent memory. The Mets somewhat surprisingly tendered d’Arnaud a contract, agreeing to a $3.515MM salary. Then the team elected to hang onto him and fully guarantee that amount after watching him in camp. Now, just over a month into the season, d’Arnaud is out the door. He’ll be paid in full by the Mets, though that amount would be offset by any MLB earnings (at the league-minimum rate) with another organization.

Injuries have thrown off a once-promising career path for the 30-year-old. Most recently, he worked back from Tommy John surgery that wiped out most of his 2018 season. He has had his share of success — in particular, a .268/.340/.485 stretch of hitting over 268 plate appearances in 2015 — but just hasn’t been consistent or consistently available.

The Mets had hopes that d’Arnaud would be able to rebound and at least discover the solid form he showed in 2017. But the club changed its assessment after watching ten games and 25 plate appearances of action over which the backstop recorded two singles and two walks while striking out five times.

To an extent, the move represents a vote of confidence in Tomas Nido, who has come up to become the primary backup to Wilson Ramos. Nido has yet to show that he’s capable of even palatable hitting in the big leagues, though he’s regarded as a quality defender.

It’s a bit of a risk given Ramos’s health issues and the uncertainty that comes with Nido, though there are some alternatives. Veteran Rene Rivera is on hand at Triple-A, which is a nice insurance policy. The Mets still control the rights to Devin Mesoraco, though he’s not active after he and the club failed to see eye to eye over the unwritten terms of their minor-league deal.

Mets Select Adeiny Hechavarria, Option Dominic Smith

By | at

4:35pm: Hechavarria recently triggered an opt-out clause in his deal, per Ken Davidoff of the New York Post (via Twitter), thus forcing the Mets to decide between bringing him onto the MLB roster and allowing him to become a free agent.

Notably, he has agreed to an advance consent clause with the Mets, Tim Britton of The Athletic tweets. If the club outrights Hechavarria, and he clears waivers, he will not be able to elect free agency while still receiving his full remaining MLB salary (as players with 5+ years of service are allowed to do by rule).

Righty Drew Smith was shifted to the 60-day IL to create 40-man roster space.

4:13pm: The Mets have selected the contract of veteran infielder Adeiny Hechavarria, the club tells reporters including Tim Britton of The Athletic (Twitter link). He’ll take the active roster spot of first baseman Dominic Smith, who was optioned back to Triple-A.

The 30-year-old Hechavarria is a slick-fielding shortstop who settled for a minor-league pact this winter. He’ll boost the club’s defensive flexibility, though he isn’t historically much with the bat. Hechavarria is off to a strong start at Triple-A (.348/.382/.446 in 102 plate appearances).

Smith, 23, has hit quite well in limited chances this year in the big leagues. Through 37 plate appearances, the former top prospect owns a .333/.459/.400 slash with six walks against just seven strikeouts. Unfortunately, he’s a bit buried on the depth chart. Carrying a lefty bench bat of this sort is something of a luxury for a National League team. It’s certainly possible to imagine Smith reemerging to play an important role if a need arises; he might also become interesting trade bait.

Mets Place Jeurys Familia On Injured List, Select Ryan O’Rourke

By | at

The Mets are placing right-hander Jeurys Familia on the 10-day injured list due to a shoulder injury, the team announced to reporters today (Twitter links via Anthony Rieber of Newsday and Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News). Familia has already received an injection in his ailing shoulder. In his place on the active roster, the Mets will select the contract of left-handed reliever Ryan O’Rourke. New York has an open 40-man spot, so an additional corresponding move will not be necessary.

Per MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo (Twitter link), Familia alerted the Mets to the discomfort in his shoulder this morning. He subsequently underwent an MRI that revealed a Bennett lesion/bone spur.

There’s no clear timetable on his return to the club at present, though the ailment helps to explain the rough start to the season for the 29-year-old. In 14 1/3 innings, Familia has been tagged for 11 runs (10 earned) on 16 hits and a sky-high 13 walks against 15 strikeouts. His current 95.5 mph average fastball is a career-low and down 0.7 mph from last season, and the extreme difficulty throwing strikes is out of character for the righty as well; over the past half decade prior to 2019, Familia had averaged 3.4 walks per nine innings pitched.

Familia signed the second-largest contract of any reliever this offseason at three years and a total of $30MM, but he’s clearly not off to the start he’d envisioned. With him on the shelf for a yet-undetermined period of time, it stands to reason that Seth Lugo and Robert Gsellman will be tasked with serving as the primary right-handed setup men to closer Edwin Diaz. Gsellman leads Mets relievers with 18 2/3 innings pitched, though the Mets’ rigid use of their relievers could shoehorn him into a more limited eighth-inning role.

The 31-year-old O’Rourke will be returning to the Majors for the first time since the 2016 season. The southpaw saw 47 innings worth of action with the Twins in 2015-16, but Tommy John surgery wiped out his 2017 season and much of his 2018 campaign. O’Rourke spent last year in the Orioles organization but was only able to toss 14 1/3 innings of rehab work in the minors by season’s end. He landed with the Mets on a minor league deal early in the offseason.

So far in Syracuse, O’Rourke has pitched to a 4.61 ERA with a 14-to-6 K/BB ratio in 13 2/3 innings of work. Lefties are just 3-for-16 with a pair of walks and nine strikeouts in 18 plate appearances against him (.188/.278/.188), and that type of performance against same-handed opponents is rather characteristic of the 6’3″, 230-pound O’Rourke. In his two seasons with Minnesota, he dominated left-handed batters, limiting them to an embarrassing .134/.244/.239 slash in 80 plate appearances. Right-handed hitters, however, fared much better against O’Rourke, hitting him at a .250/.350/.390 clip.

East Notes: LeMahieu, Holt, Inciarte, Cano

By | at

The Yankees announced today that an MRI showed inflammation in the right knee of infielder DJ LeMahieu. He suffered a contusion on Friday night and has been limited since. It’s a tough balance for the Yanks, who are already pressing numerous players into unexpectedly significant roles. While the preferred course might be to put LeMahieu on the shelf and bring in a replacement, the club is surely wary of keeping him out longer than needed and must also keep a close watch on 40-man roster pressures. It’s a tough spot — one that makes the club’s ongoing success all the more impressive (and frightening for the rest of the American League East).

Here’s more from the game’s eastern divisions:

  • Brock Holt’s path back to the majors has encountered another roadblock. The Red Sox utilityman is now dealing with a shoulder injury, as Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com was among those to report. Details aren’t yet known — he’s due for a medical exam tomorrow — but it seems Holt came down with the ailment recently. He has been working back after suffering a scratched cornea. Holt, 30, turned in a strong .277/.362/.411 slash in 367 plate appearances last year. His absence is amplified by the fact that both Dustin Pedroia and Eduardo Nunez are also on the injured list at the moment.
  • Braves outfielder Ender Inciarte left tonight’s game with a hamstring injury. Initial indications are that he is in good shape, skipper Brian Snitker told reporters including David O’Brien of The Athletic (Twitter link), but the true condition of the muscle will be more apparent tomorrow. It’s conceivable that a roster move will be needed. The club wouldn’t necessarily need to bring up an outfielder, though it’s already running out an eight-man bullpen. Adam Duvall surely wouldn’t mind an opportunity. He’s playing at Triple-A for the first time since 2015 and doesn’t seem to want to stay (.306/.388/.647 with seven home runs and 16:11 K/BB through 98 plate appearances).
  • It seems that Mets second baseman Robinson Cano has avoided a significant injury after being struck by a pitch on Sunday. X-rays on his hand were negative, so it seems the club needs only to wait for the swelling to subside before it’ll be able to slot him back in the lineup. Cano is off to a solid but hardly overwhelming start to his tenure with New York’s National League entrant. Through 108 plate appearances, he carries a .270/.324/.430 slash line with three home runs. UZR and DRS have soured on his glovework a bit in the early going, though it’s tough to put too much stock in a short-sample run of defensive metrics.

NL East Notes: d’Arnaud, Anderson, Kieboom

By | at

The Mets’ decision to cut Travis d’Arnaud so early in the season calls into question the decision to ever tender him a contract in the first place, Joel Sherman of the New York Post opines in a lengthy look at the process. The team’s stance is that it has spent the past two months — Spring Training included — evaluating d’Arnaud, though he’s received only 25 big league plate appearances in part due to a stint on the IL. General manager Brodie Van Wagenen simply stated a belief that Tomas Nido, recalled to replace d’Arnaud, “makes us better.” The defensive-minded Nido does give the team a glove-first backup to a more bat-first primary catcher in Wilson Ramos, though that much was always apparent — even from the time the Mets tendered d’Arnaud a $3.52MM contract while he worked his way back from Tommy John surgery. Van Wagenen asserted that he has no regrets about tendering d’Arnaud and added that he couldn’t let “a few dollars shortchange” the team or d’Arnaud from an opportunity to get a look at him this season, though as Sherman points out, those “few dollars” seem all the more costly given ownership’s track record of spending at a lesser level than one would expect from a team in the game’s largest market. More broadly, the column looks at whether d’Arnaud was a scapegoat of sorts and whether any reactionary moves might follow.

More out of the NL East…

  • Just a month into the season, the Marlins have “at least temporarily” moved Brian Anderson from third base back to right field, Jordan McPherson of the Miami Sun-Sentinel reports. The organization’s stance heading into the season was that Anderson would move back to his natural position, but manager Don Mattingly acknowledged that right field “turned into kind of a mess,” thus prompting the switch. Miami entered the season hoping that a combination of Garrett Cooper, Peter O’Brien, Austin Dean and Rosell Herrera could hold down the fort in right, however, so it’s hardly a surprise that the club ran into troubles there. The 28-year-old,  6’6″, 230-pound Cooper entered the season with all of 125 professional innings in right field and profiles better at first base, while O’Brien (also 28) is years removed from being an interesting power prospect with substantial defensive question marks. Mattingly wouldn’t comment on how long Anderson will be in the outfield, but the lack of solid in-house alternatives suggests that Anderson’s full-time move back to the hot corner won’t be anything close to “full-time” after all.
  • Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post looks at the timing of Carter Kieboom’s promotion in an attempt to determine what prompted the Nationals to make the move when they did. While Kieboom’s promotion ensures that he won’t be able to tally the 172 days of MLB service needed to reach one full year of service, Dougherty points out that service time considerations haven’t been a factor in the past when the Nats promoted star prospects like Bryce Harper, Victor Robles and Juan Soto. Rather, he speculates that perhaps Trea Turner’s timeline is closer to the eight-week time period than originally hoped, and the lack of offense from shortstop proved glaring. As for what’ll become of Kieboom, who has already homered twice, when Turner returns from his broken index finger, GM Mike Rizzo didn’t out keeping the 21-year-old Kieboom around. While Rizzo stated that Turner would return to shortstop once healed, he also indicated that the club could find a way to keep Kieboom on the big league roster at that point. The Nats kept Soto at the MLB level last year when he was initially promoted as an injury replacement, so there’s some recent precedent for that type of path. Turner is also still weeks away from a return, and it’s possible that other injuries on the roster will create a clearer opening for Kieboom to stick at the big league level even with Turner at shortstop.

NL Injury Updates: Yelich, Cano, Tatis

By | at

A few prominent National Leaguers departed their teams’ games with injuries on Sunday. Here’s the latest on that group:

  • Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich exited the club’s loss to the Mets with lower back discomfort, Sarah Langs of MLB.com writes. Fortunately for the slumping Brew Crew, manager Craig Counsell suggested that Yelich will steer clear of the injured list. The reigning NL MVP is enjoying another transcendent season thus far, having slashed a video game-like .353/.460/.804 with a major league-leading 14 home runs over 124 plate appearances.
  • On the other side of Sunday’s Milwaukee-New York matchup, the Mets lost second baseman Robinson Cano after he took an 88 mph Gio Gonzalez fastball off his left hand. An X-ray on Cano came back negative, but the Mets are “still a little concerned,” manager Mickey Callaway told Anthony DiComo of MLB.com and other reporters. Cano will undergo an MRI on Monday. In the meantime, the Mets will hope this doesn’t prove to be another serious injury for Cano, whose OPS has climbed from .551 to .754 over the past two weeks. Cano suffered a fractured right hand on a hit by pitch when he was with the Mariners last year.
  • Padres rookie Fernando Tatis Jr. had to leave the team’s loss to the Nationals with a hamstring injury, but it seems the shortstop will avoid an IL stint. Tatis will miss “a few days” at most, sources tell the San Diego Union-Tribune’s Kevin Acee, who reports the 20-year-old could even play Monday. The Padres will know more then about the status of Tatis, who, just 27 games into his career, has already emerged as one of the up-and-coming franchise’s best players. The early NL Rookie of the Year candidate has slashed .300/.360/.550 with six homers and six steals in 111 PA.

NL Notes: Nats’ Injuries, Mesoraco, Brewers, Nelson, Russell

By | at

A pair of Nationals infielders are currently dealing with injuries, as the club placed Ryan Zimmerman on the 10-day injured list with plantar fasciitis in his right foot, per Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post. Meanwhile, third baseman Anthony Rendon is dealing with a contusion on his left elbow that caused him to miss four games before he returned to the lineup for Friday’s series opener versus the Padres, only to feel soreness after the game, keeping him out of action on Saturday and Sunday. Though Rendon has thus far avoided a stint on the IL, manager Dave Martinez told Mark Zuckerman of MASN (Twitter link) that the Nationals may have to “do something different” if the injury prevents him from playing again on Monday. It’s certainly not welcome news for the Nationals, who have already seen injuries to fellow infielder Trea Turner, who is still recovering from a broken finger. There’s no timetable for Zimmerman’s return, though it figures to be several weeks before he is able to return to the diamond. Since Rendon has missed six of the last seven games, it seems somewhat curious that he wasn’t placed on the injured list, a decision that has left the Nats with a thin bench for the past week. And if an IL stint is necessary, it could keep Rendon out of action for longer than necessary, a loss that the Nationals can ill afford in the midst of a tight division race.

Here’s the latest news from around the National League…

  • Despite the Mets’ recent decision to designate catcher Travis d’Arnaud for assignment, it does not appear that veteran Devin Mesoraco plans to report to Triple-A Syracuse. Mesoraco, currently on the restricted list after refusing a minor league assignment, has an “open door” to rejoin the team, general manager Brodie Van Wagenen told reporters, including Tim Healey of Newsday. However, all indications are that Mesoraco will instead elect to retire, though the backstop has not taken any formal action towards that end, says Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. Sans d’Arnaud, the Mets will turn to Tomas Nido to back up Wilson Ramos, and while Mesoraco remains officially part of the organization, it seems unlikely that he will return to the catching mix.
  • Brewers right-hander Jimmy Nelson will have to wait to begin his rehab assignment, writes Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Originally scheduled to make his first start with Triple-A San Antonio on Sunday, Nelson instead returned to Houston to be with his wife for the premature birth of their twin daughters. Nelson missed all of last season after undergoing shoulder surgery in 2017 and is working towards returning to action for the Brewers this season, though his rehab assignment will have to wait for the time being, with no timetable for Nelson’s next pitching assignment.
  • With Cubs infielder Addison Russell eligible to return from his 40-game suspension as early as May 3, Bruce Levine of 670 The Score writes that the team will have to consider a reconfiguration of its infield rotation should Chicago choose to reinstate Russell. A shortstop by trade, Russell is currently blocked by Javier Baez, who has excelled at the position in 2019. Russell has not played second base in the Majors since 2015, and the keystone is currently occupied Ben Zobrist and Daniel Descalso. In an already crowded infield, the Cubs may not have room for Russell, owner of a career .704 OPS.

Mets Designate Travis d’Arnaud

By | at

The Mets have designated catcher Travis d’Arnaud for assignment, per a team announcement. His 25-man roster spot will go to fellow catcher Tomas Nido, whom the Mets recalled from Triple-A Syracuse.

This decision figures to conclude what has largely been a disappointing New York tenure for d’Arnaud, a Met since they acquired him in a 2013 blockbuster with the Blue Jays. Then among baseball’s elite prospects, d’Arnaud was one of the key pieces of the Mets’ return for knuckleballer R.A. Dickey, who also netted them right-hander Noah Syndergaard. Unlike Syndergaard, though, d’Arnaud hasn’t blossomed into a high-end major leaguer.

While d’Arnaud impressed early as a Met, combining for 6.1 fWAR and a .252/.317/.442 line with 25 home runs in 689 plate appearances from 2014-15, his numbers have fallen off since then. Dating back to 2016, d’Arnaud has slashed .239/.292/.381 with 21 HRs and 2.6 fWAR in 693 PA, thanks in part to a slew of injuries. The 30-year-old has missed at least 50 games in each of his seasons, including all but four contests in a 2018 campaign that was ruined by Tommy John surgery on his right elbow.

On the heels of that procedure, the Mets and rookie general manager Brodie Van Wagenen turned elsewhere for a starting catcher this past offseason. The club signed Wilson Ramos to a two-year, $19MM contract, which could have made d’Arnaud expendable on a team that also had Nido and the since-traded Kevin Plawecki at the time. The Mets kept d’Arnaud around at a now-guaranteed $3.515MM salary in his final year of arbitration eligibility, though, but decided to cut him after he opened the season with just two hits (both singles) in 25 plate appearances.

The Mets will owe d’Arnaud approximately $2.955MM if someone doesn’t take him off their hands, Joel Sherman of the New York Post notes, though it’s possible a trade will come together if his potential tantalizes a club. After all, d’Arnaud was reasonably productive during his previous season, 2017, and has earned solid marks behind the plate during his career.

NL Notes: Reds, Wood, Mets, Gio, Bucs, Braves

By and | at

Reds lefty Alex Wood, who’s dealt with back spasms since he arrived for Spring Training in late February, “didn’t respond well” after his latest bullpen session, reports manager David Bell (via MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon). Wood, who was acquired in an offseason trade that also sent Yasiel Puig and Matt Kemp from Los Angeles to Cincinnati, will likely seek a second opinion on the creaky back, placing his eventual Reds debut in even further doubt. Thanks to stellar early-season performances from Luis Castillo, Sonny Gray, and Tyler Mahle, among others, Cincy’s starting five leads the NL in nearly every rotation category, doubly impressive when given the puny dimensions of Great American Ballpark. Still, it’s a unit that should both anticipate heavy regression and yearn for the return of Wood, whose recent-year track record stands apart from each of his potential rotation mates.

The latest on a few other NL franchises…

  • The Brewers and Mets were the teams most connected to Gio Gonzalez in the rumor mill before the lefty agreed to sign with Milwaukee on Thursday. Gonzalez confirmed Saturday that the Mets were indeed the other club pursuing him, per Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “The Mets were in there but they have such a great rotation. The Brewers met my expectations and needs,” Gonzalez said. “Either way, it was a win-win for me. Two great teams were coming at you. It came down to wants and needs with Milwaukee. I played with them last year so I had the feel for what they’re trying to do.” While Gonzalez lauded the Mets’ rotation, he nonetheless may have been an upgrade for New York. The Mets have been running out the much-maligned Jason Vargas as their fifth starter, after all, yet they only viewed Gonzalez as a marginal-at-best upgrade over him, Mike Puma of the New York Post tweeted this week. Their bearishness on Gonzalez helped pave the way for the 33-year-old to rejoin the Brewers, with whom he performed well after they acquired him from Washington last August. Now, Gonzalez will slot back into a Brewers rotation that entered Saturday with the NL’s worst ERA (5.77). His first outing of the year will come Sunday against – you guessed it – the Mets.
  • Banged-up Pirates outfielders Corey Dickerson and Lonnie Chisenhall aren’t recovering as hoped. Dickerson felt tightness in his strained right shoulder while throwing from 110 feet Saturday, and Chisenhall’s now dealing with left calf tightness that has forced the team to stop his rehab assignment, according to Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. It’s a new issue this year for Chisenhall, who started the season on the IL because of a broken hand. However, it’s all the more troubling because Chisenhall – then with the Indians – missed large chunks of the previous two seasons because of calf problems in both legs.
  • The Braves have placed reliever Jesse Biddle on the IL with a right thigh bruise and right calf strain, Mark Bowman of MLB.com writes. Atlanta recalled righty Shane Carle in a corresponding move. The IL placement continues a difficult stretch for Biddle, who, as Bowman notes, has retired just 10 of the last 23 batters he gone against. The southpaw faced four batters in a loss to the Rockies on Friday and failed to retire any of them, though one reached on an error, and yielded four runs (one earned) on three hits. Biddle has still notched a solid 3.18 ERA in 11 1/3 innings this year, but he has also walked upward of seven hitters per nine and seen his swinging-strike rate plummet from 10.4 percent in 2018 to 6.8 this season.

Jacob Rhame Receives Two-Game Suspension

By | at

Mets reliever Jacob Rhame was slapped with a two-game suspension, the MLB commissioner’s office announced. It was determined that he intentionally threw a pitch near the head of Phillies first baseman Rhys Hoskins on Tuesday.

It isn’t clear yet whether Rhame will appeal, though Mike Puma of the New York Post tweets that he is expected to do so. Should he do so, he’ll be eligible to remain on the active roster during the pendency of the appeal.

The 26-year-old Rhame already received some on-field retribution yesterday in the form of a Hoskins bomb, punctuated by an exceedingly slow home run trot. To his credit, Rhame did not begrudge the payback, saying: “He got me. If I make a better pitch, he doesn’t get to run the bases.” Hopefully, the Mets-Phillies feud will be put to rest without any more beanballs (or near misses).

In terms of roster considerations, Rhame was already a candidate to be sent down after a rough showing to begin the season. The Mets will need to go a man down for any games Rhame is ultimately sidelined by suspension. It’s certainly possible he could be optioned out after serving his time.

*An earlier version of this post mistakenly suggested that a team can fill a player’s roster spot while he is serving a suspension for an on-field infraction.

Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top