Mets To Acquire Wilmer Font
The Mets have reached an agreement to acquire right-handed reliever Wilmer Font from the Rays in exchange for cash or a player to be named later, MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo reports (via Twitter). Font, 29 later this month, is out of minor league options, so he’ll have to be added directly to the big league bullpen.
Font has worked as both an opener and a reliever over the past two seasons between the Dodgers, A’s and Rays. He’s not found much success at the MLB level, with a career 6.51 ERA in 65 innings of work. However, he’s shown enough that four clubs have been willing to commit a 40-man roster spot over the past calendar year. Font has averaged 94.3 mph on his heater in his MLB career, complementing that offering with an 83.2 mph slider and a 75.5 mph curveball.
It should be noted, too, that the Mets are likely in somewhat of a scramble to find arms to fill out their big league staff. Left-hander Steven Matz is dealing with a nerve issue that’ll likely sideline him for at least one start, as MLB Network’s Jon Heyman recently tweeted. On the heels of that report, SNY’s Andy Martino followed up by tweeting that Jason Vargas is also likely to head to the injured list with a minor hamstring injury. He may only miss one start, and the Mets won’t need a fifth starter for nearly two weeks, but it’s nonetheless another arm soon to be rendered unavailable.
NL Injury Notes: Cain, Matz, Vargas, Taylor
X-rays were negative on Lorenzo Cain‘s left hand after the Brewers outfielder was hit by a Tim Peterson pitch during the sixth inning of today’s 3-2 win over the Mets. Cain was removed from the game after his HBP, though told reporters (including MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy) that he is hopeful of playing on Tuesday, when Milwaukee hosts the Nationals. Cain has hit .259/.316/.406 through 158 plate appearances this season, though he has made up for that slow start at the plate with his usual excellent center field defense. It doesn’t seem like this injury will require a DL stint or perhaps even an absence whatsoever, though it’s still worth monitoring, as the Brewers can ill-afford to lose any of their stars amidst a tightly-contested NL Central race.
More from around the National League…
- The Mets have sent Steven Matz back to New York for tests on his left forearm, manager Mickey Callaway told the New York Post’s Mike Puma and other reporters. As per Callaway, Matz has a “nerve issue” and has been dealing with a sore forearm “for about two weeks now.” Matz hasn’t been ruled out of his next scheduled start on Wednesday, though one would think the Mets would sit him out simply as a precautionary measure, given the inherent seriousness of forearm problems. (Callaway noted that Matz’s current injury isn’t related to the elbow procedure he underwent in 2017.) Losing Matz to the IL would be a blow to a New York rotation that has struggled this season, and also just generally been lacking in quality results. Matz has posted a 3.86 ERA, 3.56 K/BB rate, and 8.2 K/9 over 35 innings, and his numbers would look better apart from a singularly disastrous outing on April 16 against the Phillies that saw him allow six earned runs without recording an out.
- In more unfortunate injury news for the Mets, Jason Vargas left today’s game due to tightness in his left hamstring. As Puma notes, Vargas’ spot in the rotation wouldn’t necessarily need to be filled immediately, as the Mets have enough upcoming off-days that a fifth starter isn’t required until May 18. Vargas allowed three runs in four innings today to give him a 5.92 ERA over 24 1/3 frames in what has been a rough beginning for the veteran southpaw.
- The Nationals have yet to receive MRI results on Michael A. Taylor after the outfielder suffered a jammed wrist on Saturday. (MLB.com’s Jamal Collier was among those to report the news.) Taylor already missed some time at the start of the season due to a left knee and hip sprain, and he has yet to get on track — the outfielder has a meager .111/.226/.148 slash line over 32 plate appearances. Despite Taylor’s struggles, Washington can hardly afford to lose any more players to the IL at this point, given that Anthony Rendon, Juan Soto, Trea Turner, Ryan Zimmerman, and Matt Adams are all currently sidelined. Rendon, at least, is expected to return on Tuesday.
NL East Notes: Mets, Rosario, Nats’ Injuries, Marlins, Cooper
Amed Rosario‘s defensive struggles have emerged as a point of concern for the scuffling Mets, who will weigh what to do with the shortstop if he can’t correct his errors soon. Ken Davidoff of the New York Post outlines the problem, writing that general manager Brodie Van Wagenen, who has been aggressive in his first year at the helm, cannot afford to keep Rosario in the lineup for much longer when his lackluster defense could cost the club crucial wins. Rosario, just 23 years of age, is still a developing player and sustained reps could be the best remedy to his early-season challenges. However, a competitive Mets team that finds itself in the thick of a heated division race may run out of patience with Rosario, who is not hitting enough to quell the defensive concerns. To be sure, Davidoff notes that Rosario went eight straight games without an error before Saturday, when his two errors didn’t help the Mets’ cause in a marathon loss to the Brewers. The Mets are not yet considering a demotion—it will take another week or more before that becomes a serious possibility, per Davidoff—but Rosario could get a few days off if he can’t correct things in the next few games. Rosario has already accumulated -11 DRS—last season, he checked in at -16—and the Mets have Adeiny Hechavarria and Luis Guillorme as backup options, if it comes to that.
Here’s the latest news from around the NL East…
- Nationals right-hander Erick Fedde will be deployed as a reliever moving forward, writes Mark Zuckerman of MASN. After an impressive 4-inning outing against the Padres last week—his first Major League relief appearance—the club has decided that he will continue to work out of the bullpen in Double-A rather than returning to the Harrisburg rotation. The plan is for Fedde to rejoin the Nationals soon, in hopes that he will help remedy a bullpen that has arguably been the worst in the Majors.
- The Nationals will have to work around yet another injury, as Matt Adams was placed on the 10-day IL with a left shoulder strain on Saturday, recalling infielder Jake Noll. Meanwhile, the team will certainly welcome a piece of good news: Anthony Rendon is expected to rejoin the team on Tuesday, when he is eligible to return from his stint on the injured list, per Todd Dybas of NBC Sports. Rendon had been dealing with an elbow contusion that refused to heal, but he was finally able to take swings, indicating that a return is on the horizon.
- The Mets’ bullpen took another hit on Saturday, as southpaw Luis Avilan was placed on the 10-day IL with elbow tightness, according to Tim Healey of Newsday. Avilan, who has posted a dismal 9.28 ERA in 2019, joins fellow bullpen arms Jeurys Familia and Justin Wilson on the injured list. Tim Peterson and Tyler Bashlor were promoted to replace Chris Flexen and Ryan O’Rourke, both of whom were optioned to the minors. Flexen took Avilan’s place for Saturday’s game because Peterson and Bashlor were unavailable.
- In a stroke of bad luck, Marlins OF/1B Garrett Cooper finds himself once again on the injured list, this time with a left hand contusion, writes Joe Frisaro of MLB.com. After a calf strain held him out of action for a month, Cooper returned on April 30, only to be hit in the hand by a pitch, causing the injury. Peter O’Brien has been recalled from Triple-A to replace Cooper, who has been limited to just 4 appearances so far this season.
Mets Release Travis d’Arnaud
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.