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Mets Sign J.D. Martinez

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TODAY: The Mets officially announced Martinez’s signing.

MARCH 22: Martinez has given his consent to open the 2024 season in the minors, reports Joel Sherman of the New York Post. He’ll spend about 10 days either in extended spring training or in Triple-A to ramp up and get at-bats before joining the big league club early in the season.

MARCH 21: The Mets are in agreement with J.D. Martinez on a one-year, $12MM contract, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post (X link). The deal, which is pending a physical, has a net present value that will come in below $12MM on account of deferrals.

Andy Martino of SNY reports (on X) that the Mets will only pay $4.5MM of the salary this year. The remaining $7.5MM will be paid in $1.5MM annual installments between 2034-38. Martinez is a client of the Boras Corporation.

Martinez, 36, was the best unsigned offensive player. After signing a $10MM free agent deal with the Dodgers last offseason, he earned his sixth All-Star nod amidst a 33-homer campaign. That was his highest home run total since 2019, while his .271/.321/.572 batting line was also his best overall offensive production in four years. Martinez hadn’t been a bad hitter over the intervening three seasons, but last year’s work was a step up from the cumulative .269/.336/.469 slash he had posted in his final three seasons with the Red Sox.

Strong as that production was, it didn’t come without red flags. Martinez’s pure contact skills regressed as his profile became more dependent on power. He struck out in more than 31% of his plate appearances, the highest rate of his career. Martinez made contact on a below-average 67.5% of his swings, the first time that he whiffed on more than 30% of his cuts.

That’s not a problem so long as he continues to destroy the ball when he does make contact. Martinez certainly did that last season. More than 54% of his batted balls came off the bat at 95+ MPH. That’s his best hard contact percentage since Statcast began tracking in 2015. The huge exit velocities manifested in Martinez’s slugging production.

While the bat speed remains intact, the increase in whiffs seemed to lead to some trepidation around the league. His profile is entirely built on offense. Martinez was never a great defender, but he’s almost exclusively a designated hitter at this point. He has started one game on defense over the last two seasons, logging 12 innings in the corner outfield overall.

The lack of a position was perhaps the main reason Martinez spent much time in free agency at all. On the surface, he’d have been a reasonable candidate for a $20.325MM qualifying offer from the Dodgers. Los Angeles decided not to risk that early in an offseason in which they would (successfully) pursue Shohei Ohtani, though. Martinez doesn’t come attached to draft compensation as a result.

That kicked off four and a half months on the open market for the three-time Silver Slugger winner. The Giants reportedly made an offer in the $14-15MM range at one point this offseason, but his camp turned that down. It’s not known if San Francisco’s proposal would have included any deferrals, but the ultimate deal which Martinez accepted comes in south of that previous offer before considering the delayed payments.

For the past few weeks, his free agency has seemed to be a staring contest between his camp and the Mets. Teams like the Angels and Marlins reportedly showed late interest, but no club was more consistently tied to him than New York. Ultimately, Martinez’s ask dipped to a place where the Mets felt compelled to jump and plug him into the middle of the batting order. He’ll join Pete Alonso as a scary duo of righty power bats for opposing pitchers.

The Mets didn’t get much out of the designated hitter position a year ago. Their DH group hit .217/.309/.391 with 27 homers. They finished in the bottom third of the league in all three slash stats. Martinez should be a clear step up even if he continues to strike out at an elevated clip. New York has maintained they still expect to hang in the Wild Card mix this year despite viewing the 2025 season as the start of their next true contention window.

Part of that balancing act was figuring out how much trust to put in their young hitters, namely Brett Baty and Mark Vientos. They entered camp with Baty penciled in as the primary third baseman and Vientos set for the majority of at-bats at DH. Adding Martinez closes off the latter path to playing time. Baty and Vientos could now compete for work at third base. Baty hits left-handed, while Vientos bats from the right side. That could allow first-year skipper Carlos Mendoza to play match-ups if they’re each on the roster, although both players have an option remaining and could be sent to Triple-A without landing on waivers.

The Mets are subject to the highest luxury tax fees possible under the CBA. They’re past the $297MM mark that’s the highest penalization threshold; they’ve paid the CBT in three consecutive years. As a result, they’re charged a 110% fee on future expenditures. The deferred money reduces the net present value of Martinez’s contract, so it’s not yet clear precisely how much the Mets will owe in CBT commitments.

A one-year, $12MM deal without any deferred money would’ve come with $13.2MM in luxury taxes. RosterResource’s Jon Becker estimates that the NPV of Martinez’s deal will land just under $9MM. That’d come with a little less than $10MM in luxury obligations.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Kodai Senga Expected To Begin Throwing Program

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Mets ace Kodai Senga has been shut down for nearly a month after being diagnosed with a capsule strain in his right shoulder, but after a recent MRI he’s been cleared to return to baseball activity. Senga won’t start throwing immediately but could do so within the next week, manager Carlos Mendoza announced to reporters this morning (link via SNY’s Danny Abriano).

At the time of his injury, Senga was shut down for a minimum of three weeks. That was extended another week to ten days, but the latest MRI is far more encouraging, it seems. Once he’s cleared some strength tests, he’ll begin a throwing progression.

Senga’s initial diagnosis launched a fifth-starter competition in camp that was eventually won by right-hander Tylor Megill. He’ll slot into the five spot behind Opening Day starter Jose Quintana and the trio of Sean Manaea, Adrian Houser and Luis Severino. Given that Senga will be picking up a ball for the first time in around a month, he’ll effectively need a full spring training to build up to game readiness. That means the Quintana-Manaea-Houser-Severino-Megill quintet could be in place for the first month or so of the season (pending other injuries on the starting staff, of course).

The 31-year-old Senga was a Rookie of the Year finalist in 2023, exceeding preseason expectations by rattling off 166 1/3 innings of 2.98 ERA ball with a 29.1% strikeout rate. Senga’s 11.1% walk rate could use some improvement, but he took little time cementing him as a quality big league starter. He’s in the second season of a five-year, $75MM pact spanning the 2023-27 seasons.

31 Veterans With Opt-Out Opportunities Looming This Week

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One of the provisions in that 2022-26 collective bargaining agreement is uniform opt-out opportunities for Article XX(B) free agents on minor league deals. An Article XX(B) free agent is one with at least six years of service time who finished the previous season on a major league roster or injured list. Any such player who signs a minor league deal more than ten days prior to Opening Day can opt out of that deal at three points if they haven’t been added to the 40-man roster: five days before Opening Day, May 1 and June 1.

The first uniform opt-out date on this year’s calendar falls Friday at 1pm CT. Any player can trigger his out clause at that point, and the team will subsequently be given a 48-hour window to either add him to the roster or release him. With many clubs around the league dealing with spring injuries, some of these players should be able to find opportunities elsewhere if they can’t find it with their current organization. Their current clubs can prevent them from opting out by giving them a roster spot, but that may involve cutting someone else.

Angels: OF Jake Marisnick, LHP Drew Pomeranz

Marisnick, 33 this month, is a right-handed-hitting fourth outfielder with a plus glove and questionable bat. He can hold his own against right-handed pitching (career .237/.293/.417, 93 wRC+) but is typically overmatched by righties (.223/.274/.365, 74 wRC+). He’s having a huge spring, but the Angels already have Taylor Ward, Mike Trout, Mickey Moniak, Aaron Hicks and Jo Adell on the 40-man roster.

The 35-year-old Pomeranz was a good starter from 2016-17 and a dominant reliever from 2019-21, but he didn’t pitch in 2022-23 due to arm injuries. He’s pitched 6 2/3 innings with the Angels this spring with middling results.

Blue Jays: 3B/2B Eduardo Escobar, 1B Joey Votto

A poor season between the Mets and Angels last year set the stage for the 35-year-old Escobar to take a minor league deal. He’s long been a productive MLB hitter and even topped 30 homers back in 2019, but Escobar’s now in his mid-30s and struggling through an ugly spring while trying to win a spot in a crowded infield mix also featuring Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Santiago Espinal, Cavan Biggio, Ernie Clement and Davis Schneider.

Votto, 40, has been connected the Blue Jays seemingly forever due to his Canadian roots. He finally suited up for the Jays after agreeing to a minor league deal and homered in his first at-bat of camp. He’s had a lackluster showing at the plate in each of the past two MLB seasons, however.

Cubs: 1B/OF Garrett Cooper, RHP Carl Edwards Jr., OF David Peralta

An underrated hitter for years in Miami, Cooper slashed .274/.350/.444 in nearly 1300 plate appearances from 2019-22 before a poorly timed down showing in 2023’s walk year. He’s hitting quite well in spring training, and the Cubs don’t have a proven option at first base — though they’re understandably high on 26-year-old trade acquisition Michael Busch.

Edwards had a nice 2022 season with the Nats and posted a solid ERA in 2023 but did so with dismal K-BB numbers. He’s competing for a spot in an uncharacteristically crowded Cubs bullpen and could be squeezed out. The 32-year-old pitched for the Cubs from 2015-19, so Chicago brass knows him well. From 2022-23 in D.C., he posted a 3.07 ERA but a middling 20% strikeout rate against a 10.5% walk rate.

Peralta, 36, has a trio of hits and a walk in ten plate appearances this spring. He was an above-average hitter with the D-backs every season from 2017-20 but has been less consistent of late. He’s a left-handed hitter who’s long had glaring platoon splits and is limited to the outfield corners.

Diamondbacks: SS Elvis Andrus

Andrus is 35 but can still pick it at shortstop or second base. His once above-average speed has faded to the 30th percentile of MLB players, per Statcast, but his range at short remains excellent. Andrus hit .251/.304/.358 (81 wRC+) for the White Sox in 2023 and only has one year of above-average offense (2022) in the past six seasons.

Guardians: RHP Carlos Carrasco

Old friend Cookie Carrasco is fighting for the fifth spot in the Guardians’ rotation, and news of Gavin Williams’ season-opening stint on the injured list could further open the door for the 36-year-old (37 on Thursday) to make the team. Carrasco was torched for a 6.80 ERA with the 2023 Mets. He allowed 1.80 homers per nine frames through 90 innings, with alarming batted-ball metrics (91.5 mph average exit velocity, 48.2% hard-hit rate, 10.7% barrel rate). He was a solid mid-rotation arm as recently as 2022, when he tossed 152 innings of 3.97 ERA ball with sharp strikeout and walk rates.

Marlins: C Curt Casali

The veteran Casali has batted .201/.311/.315 over the past three big league seasons — a 78 wRC+ in 503 plate appearances. The 35-year-old is off to a rough start in camp and is a long shot to unseat defensive-minded Nick Fortes or Christian Bethancourt, both of whom are already on the 40-man roster.

Mets: 1B/DH Ji Man Choi

From 2017-22, Choi hit .254/.363/.465 (130 wRC+) against right-handed pitching. He walked at a 14.4% clip when holding the platoon advantage and fanned at a higher-than-average but still-manageable 24.1% rate. Lefties have always had Choi’s number, however, and his overall production cratered in 2023 while he dealt with Achilles and ribcage injuries. He’s fighting for a bench spot in New York alongside DJ Stewart and others.

Nationals: RHP Matt Barnes, OF Eddie Rosario, OF Jesse Winker

Barnes was an All-Star closer with the Red Sox in 2021 and briefly one of the game’s most dominant relievers, fanning more than 40% of his opponents for the bulk of that season. He wore down beginning in August and hasn’t been the same since a hip injury. Barnes’ velocity and strikeouts were way down in 2023 before he underwent season-ending surgery. He should have a good chance to win a spot in a Nationals bullpen that has little established talent.

Rosario and Winker are both left-handed-hitting outfielders who are best deployed in left field — with Winker having a particularly shaky defensive reputation. Winker is the younger of the two at 30 years old (to Rosario’s 32). Winker was quietly one of the most productive hitters in baseball against right-handed pitching for much of his time in Cincinnati, but knee and neck surgery in October 2022 look to have taken their toll on him. Rosario was the far more productive hitter in 2023. There may not be room for both veterans on the Washington roster. Winker has been in camp longer and been more productive in their small samples.

Orioles: 2B Kolten Wong

The Orioles seem to bring in a veteran infielder coming off a down season almost every year. It’s Wong’s turn in 2023. The 33-year-old was one of the game’s worst hitters in ’23, slashing just .183/.256/.263 in 250 plate appearances between the Mariners and Dodgers. That was beyond out of character for Wong, who’d been an average or better hitter in five of the past six seasons. If the O’s don’t want to rush Jackson Holliday or Coby Mayo, Wong could win a spot on the roster — but he hasn’t hit that well in camp so far.

Pirates: RHP Chase Anderson

It’s been five years since Anderson’s last solid season in a big league rotation, but the well-liked veteran continues to get work each season. From 2020-23, he’s pitched to a 6.19 ERA in 192 MLB frames — including a 5.42 mark in 86 1/3 innings last year (mostly with the Rockies). Anderson doesn’t miss many bats, but he has good command and is having a nice spring with the Pirates. He’s competing with Luis Ortiz, Jared Jones, Roansy Contreras, Domingo German and others for one of two generally open rotation spots in Pittsburgh.

Rangers: INF Matt Duffy, RHP Shane Greene, RHP Jose Urena

A contact-oriented hitter who can play all over the infield, the 33-year-old Duffy faces an uphill battle with Josh Smith, Ezequiel Duran and Justin Foscue all on the 40-man roster ahead of him. Nathaniel Lowe will open the season on the injured list, but that’ll likely work to Jared Walsh’s benefit more than Duffy.

Greene, 35, is a former All-Star closer/setup man who peaked with the Tigers and Braves from 2017-20. He’s thrown just three innings in each of the past two MLB seasons but also turned in strong numbers with the Cubs in Triple-A last year.

The 32-year-old Urena made five dismal starts for the Rockies early in the 2023 season and five solid ones for the White Sox late in the season. He also pitched well for Chicago’s Triple-A affiliate. A solid arm for the Marlins in 2017-18, Urena has a 5.50 ERA in 350 1/3 MLB frames dating back to 2019. He’s had a nice spring and could be a depth piece for an injury-plagued Rangers rotation.

Rays: RHP Jake Odorizzi

Odorizzi signed last week and will look to get back on track after a shoulder injury cost him the 2023 season. With the exception of an injury-wrecked 2020 season, he’s been a dependable five-inning starter dating back to 2014 (3.98 ERA in 1216 innings). The Rays’ pitching staff is dealing with plenty of injuries, and Odorizzi should be an option for the Rays early in the season.

Red Sox: 1B C.J. Cron, RHP Michael Fulmer, C Roberto Perez, LHP Joely Rodriguez

Cron has four seasons of 25-plus homers under his belt and was consistently an above-average hitter from 2014-22. Injuries tanked his 2023 season, but he has a strong track record of hitting for power — with largely even platoon splits. He’d make a nice right-handed complement to Triston Casas and/or Masataka Yoshida at first base and designated hitter, providing some insurance against an injury to either.

Perez is an all-glove backup who’s never hit much outside the juiced ball season in 2019, when he popped 24 of his 55 career homers. The Sox figure to go with Reese McGuire and Connor Wong behind the plate, making him a long shot to land a roster spot.

Rodriguez signed a big league deal with the Red Sox prior to the 2023 season but only pitched 11 innings due to injury. He’s having a decent spring training — two runs on nine hits and three walks with nine strikeouts in seven innings — and has a good chance to win a spot in a patchwork Red Sox bullpen. If not, his ability to miss bats and pile up grounders would likely draw interest elsewhere.

Fulmer won’t pitch in 2024 after undergoing surgery last summer. His minor league deal is a two-year contract that stretches into 2025. The two sides knew this going into the arrangement and there’s no reason to expect he’ll opt out.

Royals: RHP Tyler Duffey

Duffey was a mainstay in the division-rival Twins’ bullpen and was a high-end setup option at his peak in 2019-21, posting a 2.89 ERA across 144 frames while fanning 29.8% of his opponents. His results slipped in 2022 as he lost some life on his fastball, and he pitched just two MLB frames with the Cubs in 2023. Duffey recently had a procedure to remove a cancerous mole from his shoulder that understandably halted his baseball activity for a bit. He’s hopeful he’ll pitch again this spring, and while the larger takeaway is relief that the melanoma was discovered and quickly treated, his track record could also give him a shot to crack the Royals’ bullpen early in the season.

White Sox: RHP Jesse Chavez, RHP Brad Keller, RHP Dominic Leone, 3B/1B Mike Moustakas, OF Kevin Pillar, RHP Bryan Shaw

Chavez, 40, has been excellent with the Braves in each of the past three seasons but struggled in stints with the Cubs and Angels. He’s having a tough spring with the White Sox but carries a 2.81 ERA in his past 137 2/3 MLB frames, spanning the 2021-23 seasons.

Keller has spent his entire big league career with the Royals but saw his time in Kansas City come to a rough ending. After a three-year run as a solid starter, Keller struggled in three subsequent seasons, culminating in an IL stint for symptoms indicative of thoracic outlet syndrome. He hasn’t pitched in an official spring game for the White Sox.

Leone struggled late in the 2023 season but has a cumulative 3.38 ERA in 157 innings over the past three seasons. He’s having a solid spring training, has late-inning experience, and seems like a decent bet to win a spot in a White Sox bullpen that’s been completely torn down since last summer.

Moustakas has turned in three straight below-average seasons at the plate and is struggling again with the White Sox in camp (.167/.268/.278 in 41 plate appearances). The Sox have Yoan Moncada and Andrew Vaughn at the corners, plus Gavin Sheets as a lefty-swinging first base option (and corner outfielder) off the bench. Moose seems like a long shot to make the club.

Pillar would give the Sox a right-handed complement to lefty-hitting corner outfielders Andrew Benintendi and Dominic Fletcher. He’s 35 and no longer the plus-plus defensive center fielder he once was but could give them some insurance for Luis Robert Jr. in center as well. He hit .228/.248/.416 with nine homers in 206 plate appearances for the Braves last year.

Shaw pitched 45 2/3 innings for the Sox last year and delivered a respectable 4.14 ERA in that time. His production has tailed off substantially since his days as a consistent setup presence in the Cleveland bullpen — evidenced by a 5.07 ERA over his past six seasons. He’s been tagged for a dozen earned runs in 7 1/3 spring frames but does have 10 strikeouts.

Mets Name Tylor Megill Fifth Starter, Option Jose Butto

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The Mets are optioning right-hander Jose Butto to Triple-A Syracuse and will open the season with righty Tylor Megill as their fifth starter, manager Carlos Mendoza announced to the team’s beat this morning (X link via Tim Healey of Newsday). He’ll join Jose Quintana, Sean Manaea, Adrian Houser and Luis Severino in the team’s rotation to begin the season.

Megill, 28, is no stranger to the Mets’ rotation. Injuries elsewhere on the roster led to him making 25 starts for the team last season, and he’d started 27 games combined in the two seasons prior. However, an offseason full of mid-range pitching acquisitions for the Mets — Manaea, Severino and Houser all joined the team this winter — pushed Megill back down the depth chart. Were it not for right-hander Kodai Senga’s shoulder injury, he’d likely have been ticketed for Syracuse himself.

Instead, Megill competed with Butto and did enough to convince the team he was the preferred option. Both righties pitched well. Megill has tossed 15 2/3 innings and held opponents to six runs on a dozen hits and four walks with 16 strikeouts. Butto yielded just one run in 10 innings and turned in a sharp 9-to-2 K/BB ratio. Megill is the older and more experienced of the two, and he’ll get the first look in rotation while Senga is sidelined. In 263 1/3 big league innings over the past three seasons, Megill has posted a 4.72 ERA, 22.3% strikeout rate, 8.6% walk rate, 42.9% ground-ball rate and 1.50 HR/9.

Megill has flirted with a long-term rotation spot before and will again get a chance to prove himself to Mets higher-ups early in the 2024 campaign. Senga has yet to resume throwing, as his initial three-week shutdown has been stretched at least another seven to ten days. He’ll need to fully build his arm strength back up whenever he’s cleared to throw. That’ll likely be a weekslong process. Megill ought to have the first month of the season to make a positive impression. It’s always possible injuries crop up elsewhere on the starting staff and extend that window; Severino and Quintana, in particular, have had their share of health troubles in recent seasons.

As for Butto, he’ll head to Syracuse to begin the season but may not be down long. The Mets, as Healey points out, have a stretch of 13 games without an off-day early in their season and could look for a spot starter along the way. Butto is expected to be the next man up in the rotation and would be the leading candidate for that role, if needed. In 42 innings with the Mets last year, Butto logged a 3.64 ERA with a 21.2% strikeout rate, 12.8% walk rate, 42.2% grounder rate and 0.64 HR/9. He was hit hard in 19 Triple-A starts last year but posted solid numbers between Double-A and Triple-A back in 2022. He’s entering his final minor league option year and is still controllable for six seasons.

Mets Notes: Davis, Alonso, McNeil

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The Mets were a finalist for third baseman J.D. Davis before he signed with the A’s last week, as noted by Joel Sherman of the New York Post. Per Sherman, a “large extent” of Davis’s reason for picking the A’s was that the A’s guaranteed him regular playing time, while the Mets weren’t able to do the same.

Davis, 31 next month, slashed a decent .248/.325/.413 with a 104 wRC+ last year as a member of the Giants and sports a strong 120 wRC+ in five seasons since he first broke out with the Mets back in 2019. A reunion in New York could have made plenty of sense, given the uncertainty the club is facing at both third base and DH entering the 2023 season. That being said, it’s hardly a surprise that the club wasn’t willing to guarantee Davis regular playing time. After all, president of baseball operations David Stearns has frequently made clear that the club doesn’t plan to make further additions at third base after signing Joey Wendle to a one-year deal back in November, instead letting youngsters Brett Baty and Mark Vientos attempt to claim the position while relying on Wendle as veteran insurance off the bench.

It’s a similar story at DH. While the club has been linked to veteran slugger J.D. Martinez as recently as last week, the club has long seemed to prefer to fill the spot internally by allowing Baty and Vientos additional time in the lineup when they aren’t playing third base while also opening up opportunities for the likes of DJ Stewart, who slashed an impressive .244/.333/.506 in 185 trips to the plate with the club last year, and offering the club the ability to rest veterans like Starling Marte without completely removing them from the lineup. While Davis was certainly a strong fit for the club’s positional needs, it’s possible they felt that his roughly league average numbers last year wouldn’t be enough of an upgrade to their roster to warrant passing on the opportunity to give younger players like Baty and Vientos regular reps.

More from around Mets camp…

  • Club owner Steve Cohen spoke to reporters (including SNY’s Alex Smith), and during the presser discussed the future of first baseman Pete Alonso, who is slated to hit free agency following the 2024 season. Cohen made clear that the sides “haven’t had any discussions” regarding a possible extension this spring, adding that it would be best for both Alonso and the Mets if the sides went into the regular season without any distractions. Cohen’s words echo previous comments from Stearns, who has long indicated that Alonso was likely to hit free agency following the coming campaign. Even so, Cohen made clear that Alonso hitting free agency was in no way a guarantee that 2024 would be his final year as a Met, saying that the club will “figure it out” once free agency hits while noting the club’s successful deals to retain closer Edwin Diaz and center fielder Brandon Nimmo after the pair hit free agency during the 2022-23 offseason. One of the game’s premiere power hitters, Alonso owns a lifetime .251/.342/.528 slash line and has slugged 192 home runs during his career, 46 of which came during the 2023 season.
  • As noted recently by Sherman, second baseman Jeff McNeil has yet to appear in a game this spring as he continues to recover from a partially torn UCL he was diagnosed with back in September. NcNeil was able to avoid surgery, but the club has taken things slow with him this spring to this point. While he was initially expected to make his spring debut during today’s game against the Nationals, Sherman relays that, per manager Carlos Mendoza, that’s been pushed back to a likely debut on Tuesday against the Cardinals in order to keep McNeil in a more controlled setting as long as possible. While a lengthy layoff from spring action often spurs questions about a player’s ability to be ready for Opening Day, Sherman adds that the Mets hold no such concern about McNeil, with hitting coach Eric Chavez suggesting that McNeil only needs 20 at-bats in spring games to prepare for the coming season. McNeil has played all around the diamond during his time with the Mets but figures to act as the club’s everyday second baseman in 2024.

NL Pitching Notes: Senga, Ferrer, Rockies

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Kodai Senga has yet to pitch in a game this spring. The 2023 All-Star and Rookie of the Year runner-up is nursing a right shoulder strain. Although Andy Martino of SNY reported on Wednesday that “the word” on Senga’s health remained “very positive,” an update on Friday afternoon from Tim Healey of Newsday Sports is a little less optimistic. Initially, Senga was to be shut down for three weeks. Those three weeks have now passed, but according to president of baseball operations David Stearns, the 31-year-old “won’t throw for another 7-10 days.”

This setback likely removes any hope that Senga would return to the Mets rotation before the end of April, but an early May return is still on the table. Presuming he needs about six weeks to stretch out his arm, the righty could be back on the mound by the first week of May if he starts throwing again next weekend.

Needless to say, the Mets are hoping their ace misses as little time as possible. Senga made 29 starts last season, finishing second among qualified NL starters with a 2.98 ERA. Jose Quintana, who made just 13 starts in 2023, gets the Opening Day nod in his place, while Luis Severino, Sean Manaea, Adrian Houser, and Tylor Megill are likely to round out the rotation.

More pitching updates from the National League…

  • The Nationals have shut down Jose A. Ferrer as the southpaw nurses a teres major strain (per Mark Zuckerman of MASN Sports). He will not pitch for at least three weeks. Ferrer, 24, made his MLB debut last season, appearing in 39 games out of the bullpen for Washington. Although his 5.03 ERA and 17.6% strikeout rate were unimpressive, he induced plenty of weak contact on the ground. Only a handful of NL relievers had a higher groundball rate or a lower barrel rate, per Baseball Savant. Ferrer was a strong candidate to make the Nationals’ Opening Day roster, and his injury leaves Robert Garcia as the only healthy left-handed reliever on the 40-man roster.
  • According to Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post, right-handed pitchers Dakota Hudson and Peter Lambert are the two favorites for the fifth and final spot in the Rockies starting rotation. Hudson, who spent the first six years of his career with the Cardinals, has more major league experience and a recent track record of moderate success. He has made 38 starts over the past two years with a 4.78 ERA. Lambert, who made his debut with Colorado in 2019, has started just 32 games in his career, pitching to a dismal 6.38 ERA. Even accounting for the different run environments at Busch Stadium and Coors Field, that’s a stark difference. That said, Hudson is more of a proven quantity at this point in his career, while Lambert could still have some of the upside that made him a fringe top-100 prospect before his rookie season. Hudson seems like the leading contender, but there’s a reason Lambert remains in the conversation.

Jim McAndrew Passes Away

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Jim McAndrew, a former major league pitcher for the Mets and Padres, has passed away, according to Jay Horwitz, vice president of media relations for the Mets. McAndrew was 80 years old.

While McAndrew may have been overshadowed by Hall of Fame teammates Tom Seaver and Nolan Ryan, he was a dependable back-end starting pitcher, and occasional reliever, throughout his time in Queens. Across 146 games with the Mets (105 starts), the Iowa native went 36-49 but pitched to an estimable 3.54 ERA. He was a member of the 1969 World Series champion team, and although he did not pitch in the postseason, he helped the Mets win the NL East that year, tossing 135 innings with a 3.47 ERA.

The following year, McAndrew pitched what was arguably the best season of his big league tenure. He made a career-high 27 starts, crossing the 100-strikeout threshold for the first and only time. Even more impressive, he maintained the lowest walk rate of his career. The 6-foot-2 right-hander threw nine complete games, three shutouts, and to top it all off, he earned two saves in five relief appearances. McAndrew had a difficult season in 1971 but bounced back in ’72, finishing 11th among qualified NL starters with a 2.80 ERA. He went 11-8 that year, adding another four complete games to his career tally. Unfortunately, the righty struggled again the next season, and as was the case in 1969, he did not pitch in the playoffs for the 1973 NL pennant-winning club.

After nine years in the Mets organization, six spent with the big league team, McAndrew played his final season for the Padres. He retired in 1974. Although his last MLB season was marred by injury, he still managed to throw one more complete game, bringing his career total up to an even 20.

McAndrew’s son Jamie, one of four children he shared with his wife Lyn, played two years in Major League Baseball. A right-handed pitcher like his father, the younger McAndrew pitched for the Brewers in 1995 and ’97. We at MLB Trade Rumors send our sympathies and condolences to McAndrew’s family and loved ones.

Mets Among Teams Showing Interest In J.D. Davis

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The Mets are among the teams that have inquired about free agent third baseman J.D. Davis, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post (X link). Seven teams have shown interest since Davis was released by the Giants, writes Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle, who adds that the veteran infielder should sign in the next few days.

Davis’ late entry to the free agent market offers a low-cost opportunity for teams to bolster their third base depth before Opening Day. The 29 other clubs passed on the chance to assume a $6.9MM arbitration tab via waivers over the weekend. Davis is almost certainly going to sign for one year at a modest base salary, but he should find a major league deal and could get a starting job.

While his time in San Francisco ended on a contentious, unceremonious note, Davis is coming off a career-high workload. He appeared in 144 games and surpassed 500 plate appearances last season for the first time as a big leaguer. He connected on 18 homers and had a roughly league average .248/.325/.413 batting line. That’s well below the .276/.363/.457 slash which he compiled in more than 1200 trips to the plate between 2019-22.

Davis has 20-homer power and draws walks at a strong rate. He strikes out a little more often than the average hitter and has hit just under .250 in three of the last four seasons. He’s not a great defender, but public metrics were divided on his 915 2/3 innings at the hot corner last year. Defensive Runs Saved graded him well below par (-11 runs), while Statcast estimated he was four runs better than average.

Perhaps no team is more familiar with the 30-year-old than the Mets. Davis played in Queens between 2019 and the ’22 trade deadline, when New York swapped him to the Giants as part of a four-player package for Darin Ruf. The Mets haven’t gotten much out of the third base position since that point. Only the A’s had lesser offensive production there last season. Mets third basemen (primarily Brett Baty and the since-traded Eduardo Escobar) combined for a .212/.266/.324 showing.

New York’s only MLB infield acquisitions this winter have been a $2MM flier on utility player Joey Wendle and a waiver claim for Zack Short. They lost Ronny Mauricio, who might have been the starter at third, for the season when he tore his ACL in winter ball. Baty is expected to get the lion’s share of playing time as the Mets evaluate whether the former top prospect should be an everyday player in 2025 and beyond. New York is expected to take a similar look at Mark Vientos as the primary designated hitter, although he’ll also rotate through third base on occasion.

Signing Davis would raise the floor at either third base or DH and reduce the team’s reliance on both Baty and Vientos. The front office doesn’t seem to consider that an absolute must — they’ve proceeded deep into the spring without meaningfully addressing the position — but they’ve kept lines of communication open with veterans who could provide a short-term upgrade. That has been most apparent in their wait on J.D. Martinez, with whom they’re still in contact.

SNY’s Andy Martino tweets that the Mets consider Davis a better fit for the roster than Martinez because of his ability to play defense. He’d also be a lot more affordable. He received a little over $1.1MM in termination pay from the Giants and seems likely to command just a few million dollars at this stage of spring. The Mets are paying a 110% tax on spending, so a hypothetical $3MM salary for Davis would cost them around $6.3MM overall. He has over five years of major league service, so he’d return to the open market next winter assuming he signs a one-year contract.

Angels, Mets Remain Engaged With J.D. Martinez

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Regular season baseball is just over the horizon but many free agents remain unsigned. Two of the most notable of those free agents are left-hander Blake Snell and designated hitter J.D. Martinez, both of whom are represented by the Boras Corporation. The Halos were connected to both of those players back in December and Jon Heyman of The New York Post reports that the Halos are still talking about both of them. In a separate column, Heyman adds that the Mets also remain involved with Martinez, to whom they were connected last month.

It’s unclear if the Angels are making a serious push for a late signing or merely keeping tabs as the players linger on the open market into the middle of March, but they are one of the few clubs that make for a logical fit for a notable deal at this point. Many teams around the league have exhausted their respective budgets by this stage of the calendar, with some of them having concerns around luxury tax payments or uncertainty around TV revenue streams.

But the Angels are below their previous levels of spending, both in terms of pure payroll expenditures and competitive balance tax calculations. RosterResource currently lists their payroll at $174MM and their CBT number at $189MM for 2024. Per Cot’s Baseball Contracts, the Halos had an Opening Day payroll of $212MM last year, $38MM above where they are now. The base threshold of the CBT is $237MM this year, which gives the club $48MM of space if they want to stay below the tax, which is a line they hovered around last year.

Owner Arte Moreno has previously stated that the club is planning on operating with a lower payroll this year, but without specifics about exactly where they want to end up. Given the gaps between last year’s spending and this year’s, it’s possible to envision another signing coming together while still fulfilling his plan of reduced overall expenditures.

Many observers wondered if the club would look to mount a rebuild in the post-Shohei Ohtani era, but general manager Perry Minasian firmly stated at the start of the offseason that the club would not be doing that and was actually planning an aggressive offseason.

Thus far, the club has directed most of its efforts to the bullpen, signing Robert Stephenson, Matt Moore, Luis García, Adam Cimber and José Cisnero. On the position player side, their most notable addition was signing Aaron Hicks, who they will only have to pay the league minimum since the Yankees are still on the hook for his contract. Their most significant rotation addition was a $1MM signing of Zach Plesac, who has already been optioned to the minors.

Adding Martinez would be a clear upgrade to the club’s lineup, as he has a long track record of effective hitting and is coming off a 33-home run campaign with the Dodgers. The roster fit is a little awkward since Martinez is primarily a DH at this point, having only played 12 innings in the field over the last two years combined. The Angels technically have an open DH spot with Ohtani’s departure but may want to use that for their various aging or injury-prone players. Both Anthony Rendon and Mike Trout are the club’s two highest-paid players and each has missed significant time in the past few years as they have pushed into their 30s. Giving them occasional DH time and keeping them fresh might be preferable to locking up the DH spot with Martinez. Similar logic could apply to other players in their 30s like Brandon Drury or Hicks.

Previous reporting has suggested that Martinez turned down an offer of $14MM from the Giants while looking for either a two-year deal, a salary near $20MM or both. The Angels could accommodate that without reaching last year’s spending levels, though they would have to weigh the benefits of adding his bat to the lineup against the reduced ability to rest their other players, as well as the financial cost.

Snell would certainly cost more but it’s much easier to imagine him fitting onto the roster. The Halos have a rotation of Reid Detmers, Patrick Sandoval, Tyler Anderson, Griffin Canning and Chase Silseth. Everyone in that group can still be optioned apart from Anderson, while Silseth has just 81 major league innings under his belt. At this late stage in the offseason, Snell would likely have to miss the opening of the schedule anyway and injuries may have popped up by the time he’s fully stretched out. Even if he can’t be expected to repeat last year’s Cy Young-winning season that finished with a 2.25 ERA, he’s one of the best pitchers in the league and would upgrade any rotation.

The lefty reportedly turned down an offer of $150MM over six years from the Yankees, average annual value of $25MM, with Snell looking for either a salary in the $30MM range or a longer pact. MLBTR’s Contract Tracker shows that Anderson’s three-year, $39MM is the largest the Angels have given to a starting pitcher since 2012, both in terms of years and guaranteed dollars.

Despite that apparent distaste to giving lengthy free agent pacts to pitchers, it’s possible to imagine the two sides coming together. Snell is reportedly open to a shorter pact with higher AAVs and opt-outs, similar to those signed by fellow Boras clients Cody Bellinger and Matt Chapman. That type of deal is difficult for a club that has already spent a huge chunk of its budget or has tax bills to think about. The Yankees, for instance, would have to pay $33MM in taxes in order to give Snell a contract with a $30MM AAV this year. As mentioned above, the Halos have plenty of spending capacity before they even reach last year’s payroll or come close to the CBT line. Snell rejected a qualifying offer from the Padres so signing him would also cost the Angels their second-highest pick in this summer’s draft as well as $500K of their international bonus pool.

Until a deal comes together, the rotation will project to be that fivesome of Detmers, Sandoval, Anderson, Canning and Silseth. The club has been stretching out some other guys, such as Andrew Wantz and José Soriano, but they are apparently behind the front five. Manager Ron Washington tells Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register that Wantz and Soriano will stay stretched out for now but won’t earn a rotation spot unless there’s an injury to one of the other five guys.

As for the Mets, they have been connected to Martinez previously, but with the caveat that they were leaning towards giving at-bats to younger players like Brett Baty or Mark Vientos. Those two could split the third base job and the DH slot, with Joey Wendle perhaps filling in at third on defense from time to time while DJ Stewart could perhaps take some plate appearances as the DH.

Both of Baty and Vientos are optionable and could therefore be sent to the minors, but it makes sense that the Mets would want to give them some run at the big league level. Vientos has hit just .205/.255 /.354 in the majors but has slashed .290/.369/.554 at Triple-A over the last two years. Similarly, Baty has hit .210/.272/.325 in the big leagues but .311/.405/.554 in the minors over the past two years.

Since neither of them have much left to prove on the farm and the Mets are planning a sort of bridge year in 2024, there’s logic to letting them face big league pitchers to see if either takes a step forward. Signing Martinez would also come with a hefty financial cost, as the Mets are set to be third-time payors of the CBT and are above the fourth tier of penalization. That means they face a 110% tax on any money they add to their books. Giving Martinez $15MM for this year, just as an example, would also involve paying $16.5MM in taxes and a total expense of $31.5MM.

If the club is willing to consider such an expenditure, it would lengthen the lineup as they walk a tightrope in 2024. They mostly limited themselves to one-year deals this offseason as they look to field a competitive team but without sacrificing too much of their future flexibility. Signing Martinez could lengthen their lineup here in 2024 but would also come with the opportunity cost of having less playing time for guys like Baty and Vientos, as well as the aforementioned financial elements.

In addition to the Angels, Snell has continued to garner interest from other clubs, with the Giants connected to him earlier this month. The Yankees may revisit their talks with Snell if they get bad news regarding Gerrit Cole’s MRI, though recent reporting has suggested they may be more likely to trade for Dylan Cease due to his lower salary and tax hit. Martinez was recently connected to the Marlins, in addition to the talks with the Mets and Angels.

Latest On Jeff McNeil

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  • Mets manager Carlos Mendoza indicated to reporters, including Andrew Crane of the New York Post, recently that infielder Jeff McNeil remains at least a week away from receiving any sort of game action this spring. McNeil suffered a partially torn UCL in his left arm back in September and spent the offseason rehabbing the injury, which has caused the club to proceed with caution regarding a bout of left biceps soreness that first cropped up last week, though McNeil had already not appeared in Grapefruit League games yet since camp opened last month. That said, Crane adds that McNeil made some progress recently when he took dry swings early today without any pain in his biceps. Once healthy, McNeil will look to rebound as the Mets’ starting second baseman in 2024 on the heels of a 2023 campaign that saw the two-time All Star slash a pedestrian .270/.333/.378 in 648 trips to the plate.
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