Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Mets Rumors

Mets Notes: Senga, Marte, Bullpen

By | at

Kodai Senga made his third rehab start yesterday — his second with Triple-A Syracuse — and tossed 4 2/3 innings of one-run ball while building up to 67 pitches. Manager Carlos Mendoza told the Mets beat yesterday that Senga’s next steps are “TBD” (X link via MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo), but the righty is on the cusp of a big league return one way or another. At most, Senga would require one more rehab tune-up, though Mendoza’s comments leave the door open for the right-hander’s next outing to come at the major league level. Newsday’s Tim Healey tweeted before Senga’s outing that the Mets want the right-hander to be able to throw 75 to 80 pitches before activating him.

Senga’s looming return is an obvious boon for a Mets rotation that has pitched quite well over the past month. Going back to June 15, Mets starters have a 3.62 ERA that’s tied with Kansas City for seventh in the majors. Veteran lefties Jose Quintana (2.00 ERA) and Sean Manaea (2.05) have been outstanding in the past 30 days, as has southpaw David Peterson (2.33). Luis Severino hasn’t been nearly as sharp but has been the Mets’ best starter on the season overall, sitting at a 3.78 ERA in a team-leading 109 2/3 frames. Top prospect Christian Scott is getting another look in the big leagues as well and thus far has a 4.36 ERA in 43 1/3 innings.

Adding Senga to that mix will both deepen the group and substantially raise its ceiling. The 2023 NL Rookie of the Year runner-up dominated to a 2.98 ERA and 29.1% strikeout rate in 29 starts last season (166 1/3 innings). A healthy Senga would slot into a theoretical postseason rotation for the Mets — likely starting Game 1 if they had the luxury of qualifying early enough to set their playoff rotation in the order of their choosing. Joel Sherman of the New York Post writes that the Mets are planning to go to a six-man rotation once Senga is ready to return.

The outlook on outfielder Starling Marte isn’t nearly so rosy. The 35-year-old veteran has been out since June 22 due to a bone bruise in his knee, and Mendoza acknowledged just yesterday that Marte’s recovery has been slower than anticipated (X link via DiComo). The Mets are “not sure when he’ll be back,” per Mendoza, who noted that Marte has not yet resumed baseball activities and is not expected to do so in the near future.

Prior to his injury, Marte was in the midst of a strong rebound campaign. He posted a career-worst .248/.301/.324 batting line in 2023 — the second season of a four-year, $78MM contract — but slashed .278/.328/.416 in 66 games/266 plate appearances through the first two-plus months of the current campaign. The seven home runs Marte swatted prior to his current IL trip were two more than the five homers he hit in a larger sample of 86 games and 341 plate appearances last year.

Both Brandon Nimmo and Harrison Bader have been regulars in the outfield, and in Marte’s absence New York has given some extra outfield reps to Jeff McNeil. He’s been joined by Tyrone Taylor, DJ Stewart and Ben Gamel — the latter of whom has primarily been a late-game replacement since coming up from Syracuse (12 plate appearances in nine games).

Depending on how long Marte is expected to miss, adding a bat to that outfield mix could be prudent for a Mets club that has played its way back into Wild Card contention. None of McNeil, Stewart, Taylor or Gamel has been even an average hitter in 2024.

Be that as it may, the Mets remain focused on bullpen help for the time being, per both Sherman and his Post colleague Jon Heyman. The Mets already added one bullpen arm when the effectively purchased veteran righty Phil Maton from the Rays last week, but more moves to address the relief corps will likely be on the horizon, barring a calamitous losing streak that tanks the team’s playoff odds.

Current And Former Top Prospects To Watch As The Trade Deadline Approaches

By | at

Last week, MLBTR's Anthony Franco ran through a handful of under-the-radar trade candidates for teams on the hunt for bullpen help. It was a simple enough premise. While there's rightly a heavy focus placed on high-quality relievers on bad teams (e.g. Mason Miller, Tanner Scott, Carlos Estevez), MLB teams will be casting a wider net than just those obvious trade candidates.

I wanted to do something similar with hitters -- and may still do so -- but as I parsed through some potential options, I was also struck by the likelihood that there are a number of current and former (more of the latter) top prospects who increasingly look like they'll have an uphill battle to earning a role with their current club. Oftentimes, this is due to other prospects leapfrogging them on the depth chart, the team extending a current key player and/or injuries. While today's front offices tend to hoard depth as much as possible the finite number of minor league options a player possesses can put an inherent clock on that depth's shelf life.

Not all of the players highlighted in this exercise are teetering on being out of options, nor is this intended to be an exhaustive list of names in this situation. (If there's anyone you feel I missed, by all means, let me know in the comments and bring them to the discussion!) I'm also not going to focus much on former prospects who've already been passed through waivers/released or those who are performing poorly enough in the minors that they're now DFA candidates themselves.

The aim here is to find some interesting, controllable names still on the 40-man roster who have decent minor league (and in some cases, big league) track records but lack a clear path to an everyday role on their current roster. That sort of player ought to have appeal to rebuilding teams or retooling sellers who are looking to take another shot at contending as soon as next year. Here are a few situations that seem worth monitoring as the deadline draws near:

Unlock Subscriber-Exclusive Articles Like This One With a Trade Rumors Front Office Subscription

BENEFITS
  • Access weekly subscriber-only articles by Tim Dierkes, Steve Adams, and Anthony Franco.
  • Join exclusive weekly live chats with Anthony.
  • Remove ads and support our writers.
  • Access GM-caliber tools like our MLB Contract Tracker

Poll: Who Will Win The 2024 Home Run Derby?

By | at

The 2024 All-Star break festivities are already well underway, with the Futures Game in the books and the second of three draft days currently taking place. Tonight, the Home Run Derby will take center stage at 7pm Central time, with these participants:

The winner will get $1MM, with $500K for the runner-up and $150K for everyone else in the field. There’s also a $100K bonus for the player who hits the longest home run. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. won last year but opted not to defend his title, so there will be a new champion, though Alonso has two previous titles from 2019 and 2021 and will be looking for a third.

This year’s format will be different from previous versions, with Cole Jacobson of MLB.com providing a rundown. The primary change is that there will be no head-to-head matchups in the first round, as the four players with the most home runs will advance. If two players tie, the longest home run will be a tiebreaker. Previously, the knockout-style bracket system started right away but this year’s version won’t see that until the field has been narrowed to four. Once the knockout stage begins, ties will be settled by 60 seconds of extra time. If the players are still tied, they will engage in three-swing showdowns until they are no longer tied.

In the first two rounds, players with have three minutes, which drops to two minutes in the final round. The three-minute rounds will now have a 40-pitch maximum while the two-minute round will feature a 27-pitch maximum.

The bonus time is also different. Previous versions featured 30 seconds of automatic extra time, which jumped to 60 seconds if the player hit two or more home runs 440 feet or longer. This year, the bonus time will continue until a player record three “outs,” which is a swing that doesn’t result in a home run. If a player hits a home run 425 feet or longer in the bonus period, he will get a fourth out.

Of the eight players competing this year, Henderson has the most homers this year with 28. He is followed by Ozuna at 26, Ramírez at 23, Alonso and Hernández at 19, García at 17, Witt at 16 and Bohm at 11.

Who do you want to win and who do you think will win? Have you say in the polls below!

Mets Outright Joey Lucchesi

By | at

Mets left-hander Joey Lucchesi went unclaimed on waivers and was assigned outright to the team’s Triple-A roster in Syracuse, per their transaction log at MLB.com. He was designated for assignment last week when the Mets acquired righty Phil Maton from the Rays.

Lucchesi has more than three years of big league service time and thus has the right to reject the assignment in favor of free agency, but he’s still a couple months shy of the five years of service he’d need to retain the remainder of his $1.65MM salary upon rejecting an outright. As such, he’ll likely accept and head back to Syracuse, where he’s already spent the bulk of the 2024 season.

Lucchesi, 31, came to the Mets as part of the 2021 three-team trade better known for sending Joe Musgrove to San Diego and David Bednar to Pittsburgh. New York shipped catching prospect Endy Rodriguez to the Pirates as part of that deal and netted Lucchesi from the Friars. He missed the 2022 season due to Tommy John surgery but has been a frequently used depth arm for the Mets in three other seasons with the organization.

In 89 1/3 frames as a Met, Lucchesi has pitched to a 3.93 ERA with a 20.1% strikeout rate, 8.6% walk rate, 42.8% grounder rate and 0.91 HR/9. He’s pitched just 4 1/3 MLB frames this season and has otherwise spent the year in Triple-A, where he’s logged 83 2/3 innings with a 4.20 earned run average. He’s fanned 17.9% of his opponents there and registered a 9.7% walk rate.

Even with top starter Kodai Senga on the injured list for the entire season to date, the Mets haven’t found too many opportunities for Lucchesi. Veterans Jose Quintana, Luis Severino and Sean Manaea have combined to start 55 of the team’s games. Offseason trade pickup Adrian Houser started seven games but has moved to a multi-inning role in the bullpen. David Peterson and Tylor Megill, both longtime depth options alongside Lucchesi, have started eight games apiece — as has top prospect Christian Scott. Twenty-six-year-old righty Jose Butto has started seven.

It’s a solid group of rotation options, particularly with Senga trending toward a return. Lucchesi will now stick around and provide further depth in the event that injuries hit the staff harder in the second half than in the first. If he’s not added back to the 40-man roster between now and season’s end, he’ll have the opportunity to become a minor league free agent (as is the case for all players with three-plus years of MLB service who are outrighted off a 40-man roster and not re-selected).

Drew Smith Undergoes UCL Reconstruction Surgery

By | at

July 13: The Mets announced today that Smith underwent right elbow UCL reconstruction with internal brace augmentation yesterday. That leaves him set to miss not only the remainder of the 2024 season, but could also cost him the entire 2025 campaign as well.

July 8: Mets reliever Drew Smith will undergo season-ending elbow surgery on Friday, he tells Tim Healey of Newsday. The righty is still unsure whether he’ll need a complete Tommy John surgery or the slightly less significant internal brace procedure. It’s not uncommon for the surgeon to make that decision during the operation based on the extent of the ligament damage.

Smith landed on the injured list with an elbow sprain a few weeks ago. He admitted in late June that an initial evaluation determined that surgery was likely necessary. Smith went for a second opinion thereafter but evidently will not be able to avoid going under the knife. Even in the best case scenario where he “only” needs the internal brace procedure, he’s likely to miss around a calendar year. A full UCL reconstruction could cost him the entire 2025 season.

Smith has spent his whole major league career with the Mets. Initially drafted by the Rays in 2015, he was dealt to New York as a prospect for first baseman Lucas Duda. Smith made his MLB debut the following year. He pitched in 27 games as a rookie before undergoing Tommy John surgery that wiped out his 2019 campaign and limited him during the shortened year.

Over the past three and a half seasons, Smith has been a solid contributor in the middle to later innings. He turned in a 2.40 ERA through 41 1/3 innings in 2021. His ERA ticked up over the next couple seasons, but he missed more bats and logged a few more innings along the way. The 30-year-old righty had been out to a strong start this season, posting a 3.06 ERA with a 29.1% strikeout rate (narrowly the highest of his career) across 17 2/3 frames.

Smith is an impending free agent, so this could represent a tough end to his stint in Queens. It’s a particularly unfortunate time for what’ll be the second significant elbow procedure of his career. Smith’s early-season performance looked as if it’d position him for a strong two-year deal. The surgery could limit him to a slightly backloaded two-year offer at a much lower base salary, especially if he’ll need to miss all of next season.

Injury Notes: Hall, Lawlar, Garrett, Gipson-Long

By | at

As of a few days ago, it seemed like left-hander DL Hall was on the cusp of returning to the Brewers after going on the injured list in April due to a left knee sprain. But his rehab outing on July 4 was shortened by rain and the club decided to give him one more rehab start, per Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on X.

He took the ball for Triple-A Nashville on Tuesday and started out with two scoreless innings but then the leadoff hitter in the third lined a pitch back to the mound and hit Hall’s left forearm. Adam McCalvy of MLB.com relayed video of the play on X. Per Hogg on X, Hall avoided a fracture but will be shut down for three to ten days. That will obviously delay his return to the club for at least that stretch of time, and he may need another rehab stint or two after that, depending on how long he rests.

He has not yet established himself at the big league level but he has always pitched very well in the minors and was considered one of the top 100 prospects in the sport while with the Orioles, before coming over to the Brewers in the Corbin Burnes trade. The Brewers have dealt with several challenges in the rotation, with Wade Miley and Robert Gasser done for the year while Joe Ross is also on the 60-day IL.

The club recently acquired Aaron Civale from the Rays and Dallas Keuchel from the Mariners to bolster the rotation, slotting them in with Freddy Peralta, Colin Rea and Tobias Myers. Hall could have entered that mix and nudged someone to the bullpen or the minors, but that will now have to wait.

Some more notable injury updates from around baseball…

  • Diamondbacks shortstop prospect Jordan Lawlar’s injury woes continue. He underwent thumb surgery at the end of March, which put him out of action for about two months. He started a rehab assignment at the end of May but then dealt with a hamstring issue in the middle of June and underwent an MRI, per Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic on X. He was able to return to the field a few days ago but reinjured that hamstring and will now miss six to eight weeks, per Piecoro on X. Lawlar has only played 13 minor league games this year and won’t have much time to add to that, meaning 2024 will be mostly a lost season for him, an unfortunate development for a guy who’s still considered one of the top 20 prospects in the league and a big part of the future in Arizona. The Snakes have Geraldo Perdomo at short for now and Kevin Newman on the bench. Newman is a free agent after this year but they have Blaze Alexander on the 40-man and on optional assignment.
  • The Mets placed right-hander Reed Garrett on the 15-day IL this week due to elbow inflammation. Thankfully, his MRI revealed good news. As relayed by Anthony DiComo of MLB.com on X, he just has some nerve inflammation. While he’s slated for a shutdown of two to four weeks, that’s surely a better outcome for him and the team than a surgery followed by a lengthy recovery period. Garrett had an ERA of 1.04 through 26 innings this year but then a 7.88 ERA in his 16 most recent frames. If he can get back on track after his shutdown period, it would be a nice bump for the Mets’ bullpen down the stretch.
  • Tigers right-hander Sawyer Gipson-Long had internal brace surgery back in April and was already slated to spend the rest of 2024 rehabbing from that. On top of that, he’s also now undergone left hip labral repair surgery. Jason Beck of MLB.com was among those to relay the news on X and also passed along some thoughts from manager A.J. Hinch. It seems the club is hoping that it makes sense to address both at the same time and that the second procedure won’t add to his return timeline. “The timing works out to address this while he’s recovering from Tommy John,” Hinch said. “That’s the reason why now. It’s something that we’ve kept an eye on and he’s talked about.” He made his major league debut last year with a 2.70 ERA in four starts and will hopefully be back in the mix at some point next year.

Reed Garrett To Undergo MRI On Right Elbow

By | at

The Mets announced today that right-hander Phil Maton has been added to the active roster after he was acquired from the Rays yesterday. They also recalled left-hander Danny Young. To open spots for those two, the club optioned righty Eric Orze and placed righty Reed Garrett on the 15-day injured list with right elbow inflammation.

It’s unknown how severe Garrett’s elbow problem is, but more information will be forthcoming. Per Anthony DiComo of MLB.com on X, the righty complained of forearm tightness last night and is now slated for an MRI today. It’s possible that his elbow issue has led to a downturn in recent results, as DiComo points out that Garrett has had some poor results lately.

Prior to that recent slide, Garrett had been a godsend for a Mets bullpen that has been an issue all year. Through May 22, he had tossed 26 innings with just three earned runs allowed, leading to an ERA of 1.04. His 11.3% walk rate in that time was a tad high but he had a massive 40.3% strikeout rate and a solid 42% ground ball rate. For a 31-year-old that the Mets claimed off waivers from the Orioles last summer, he seemed like a tremendous find.

He has a 7.88 ERA in 16 innings since then, which is a small sample but his rate stats have also changed. His 25.6% strikeout rate in that time is still strong but a big drop from where he was before and his walk rate also ticked up to 12.8%. His velocity didn’t seem to suffer, as it’s actually ticked up as the season has gone along. His fastball averaged 95.8 miles per hour in April and ramped up each month to land at 98.3 so far in July.

Despite the recent struggles, the Mets don’t want more challenges in assembling their bullpen. The team’s relievers have a combined 4.24 ERA that’s 20th in the majors and they have been weakened as the season has gone along. Drew Smith and Brooks Raley have already gone down to season-ending surgeries while Sean Reid-Foley and Shintaro Fujinami are each on the IL with shoulder injuries.

The Mets are 45-45 and just 1.5 games back of a playoff spot. Upgrading the bullpen has reportedly been a target area for them and, as mentioned, they already acquired Maton in an attempt to bolster the group. If Garrett needs to miss any time, it would only increase the amount of work the front office will need to do in patching together the bullpen.

For Garrett personally, it would be a significant blow if he ends up needing to miss any notable stretch of time. He has bounced around the baseball world as he has struggled to establish himself, spending time with the Rangers, Tigers, Nationals, Orioles and with the Seibu Lions in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. Earlier this year, his utter dominance seemed to the start of a late-bloomer breakout but then the results tapered off and now he’ll have to see what the MRI machine finds in his elbow.

Mets Acquire Phil Maton From Rays

By | at

The Mets have acquired right-hander Phil Maton from the Rays, per announcements from both clubs. The Rays will receive a player to be named later or cash considerations. Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns said the club is taking on all of Maton’s remaining salary, per Anthony DiComo of MLB.com on X. The Mets designated left-hander Joey Lucchesi for assignment to get Maton onto their 40-man roster. The Rays recalled right-hander Manuel Rodríguez to take Maton’s place on their active roster.

Maton, 31, signed with the Rays as a free agent in the offseason. The two sides agreed to a one-year deal with a $6.5MM guarantee, in the form of a $6.25MM salary and a $250K buyout on a $7.75MM club option for 2025.

Thus far, that deal hasn’t played out the way the Rays had hoped. Maton has tossed 35 1/3 innings, allowing 4.58 earned runs per nine. He has struck out just 19.7% of batters faced while giving out walks at an 11.8% clip. His 49.5% ground ball rate is strong but he’s also allowed six home runs on the year, a rate of 16.2% per fly ball.

That performance is significantly worse than what Maton provided in recent seasons. From 2020 through 2023, with Cleveland and Houston, he tossed 220 innings with a 3.93 ERA, 27.8% strikeout rate, 9.2% walk rate and 40.4% ground ball rate. He was also quite good at avoiding damage, with his average exit velocity being among the best in the league in his career.

The Mets are essentially buying low in this deal, getting a veteran reliever without giving up any prospect talent. Perhaps that will change if the PTBNL turns out to be a player of significance, but they may be effectively buying Maton.

The bullpen has been the biggest issue for the Mets this season. Their relievers have a collective 4.16 ERA, which is in the bottom half of the league. A couple of their better relievers have been lost to season-ending elbow surgeries, with Brooks Raley and Drew Smith both done for the year. Sean Reid-Foley and Shintaro Fujinami are also on the injured list due to shoulder issues.

Despite those bullpen struggles, the club has stayed in the playoff race. They are currently 44-45, just 2.5 games back of the Padres for the final Wild Card spot. It was reported last week that the club was going into the deadline with a buyer’s mentality and could focus on bullpen help, with this move fitting into that framing.

Obviously, the Mets will be banking on Maton’s struggles this year being a bit of a blip and he’s already shown some positive signs of a turnaround. After a four-run outing on June 9, he was sitting on an ERA of 6.56. But over the past month, he has only allowed one earned run in 12 innings, striking out 11 opponents while giving out just one walk. Even if he can’t fully maintain that level of dominance, it’s not unreasonable to expect something better than his season-long numbers.

For the Rays, they have been doing some modest selling of late, though nothing that would necessarily tank their chances of competing here in 2024. They flipped starter Aaron Civale to the Brewers, netting a prospect and some cost savings. But that didn’t really downgrade the rotation as they were able to call up Shane Baz to take Civale’s rotation spot. They are 44-46 and 5.5 games back in the playoff race, giving them a chance of climbing back into it.

Now they have been able to shed a bit more money, getting rid of a player that has largely been underperforming on the season, recent hot streak notwithstanding. The Rays are generally quite good at finding or developing relievers and Rodríguez could fill in for Maton, as he has a 2.79 ERA in the majors this year and a 1.09 mark in Triple-A.

Speaking of that money, the Mets will be taking on more than the Rays are saving, thanks to the competitive balance tax. Maton is still owed about $2.74MM on his salary, as well as the $250K buyout. The Rays will scrub that from their books but the Mets are a third-time CBT payor and well over the fourth and final tax threshold. That means they are paying a 110% tax on any additional spending, so will be actually paying around $6MM to get Maton on the club for the final few months of the season.

Under owner Steve Cohen, the Mets have been pretty unafraid of spending money and are once again flexing some financial muscle to upgrade the club. The Mets have been walking a fine line since about this time last year, looking to keep the big league club in contention without significantly harming the pipeline of young talent in the farm system and also trying to avoid adding long-term costs to their ledger. They still spent money in the offseason but limited themselves to short-term deals and this move is essentially a midseason version of that.

The cost is primarily financial but they also could lose Lucchesi. The lefty made one spot start for the big league club this year but has primarily been kept on optional assignment. He has made 15 Triple-A starts this year with a 4.20 earned run average, 17.9% strikeout rate, 9.7% walk rate and 53.6% ground ball rate.

Lucchesi is a decent depth option but he may have been on the road to getting squeezed off the roster anyway. He is in his final option year and will therefore be out of options next year. The Mets have also had improved rotation depth as the season has gone along. David Peterson and Kodai Senga each started the season on the injured list but Peterson has since returned and Senga recently started a rehab assignment. The Mets have also seen Christian Scott jump up from the minors and take hold of a rotation spot.

The current rotation consists of Scott, Peterson, Luis Severino, Jose Quintana and Sean Manaea, with Senga on his way back. José Buttó and Adrian Houser are currently in the big league bullpen but either could be considered rotation depth and the club also has Tylor Megill on optional assignment. That’s enough starting depth that the club is reportedly considering trading someone from that group while still trying to compete here in 2024, much like the Rays did with the aforementioned Civale deal.

Whether that comes to fruition or not, Lucchesi was largely buried in that rotation picture. The Mets have bumped him off the roster and will now have five days to see if they can work out a trade. DFA limbo can last for a week, but the waiver process takes 48 hours.

The lefty has some track record as a viable big league starter, as he posted an ERA just over 4.00 with the Padres in 2018 and 2019, logging 130 innings or more in both of those seasons. He then struggled in 2020 and got flipped to the Mets as part of the Joe Musgrove trade in January of 2021. He required Tommy John surgery that summer and missed most of the 2021-2022 seasons. He returned to the mound last year and his results were fairly comparable to this year. He was mostly kept on optional assignment and posted a 4.74 ERA in Triple-A.

Perhaps a club in need of some starting depth will take a flier on Lucchesi since he can be optioned for the remainder of this year and can also be retained beyond this season via arbitration. But as mentioned, he will be out of options next year and will have less roster flexibility going forward. If he were to clear waivers, he could reject an outright assignment by virtue of having more than three years of service time. But since he has less than five years, electing free agency would mean walking away from the rest of his $1.65MM salary. In that instance, he would likely accept an outright assignment and stick with the Mets as non-roster depth.

Mets Acquire Matt Gage

By | at

The Mets announced this afternoon that they’ve acquired left-hander Matt Gage from the Dodgers in exchange for cash considerations. Gage was subsequently optioned to Triple-A. The Mets transferred right-hander Drew Smith to the 60-day injured list to make room for Gage on the 40-man roster.

Gage, 31, was a tenth-round pick by the Giants back in 2014 but didn’t make his big league debut until 2022 as a member of the Blue Jays. Since then, he’s appeared in 16 games between the 2022 and 2023 campaigns at the big league level with Toronto and Houston. He’s performed quite well in that time, with a fantastic 1.83 ERA and a solid 3.97 FIP in 19 2/3 innings of work. He sports an impressive 26% strikeout rate across his time in the majors but has walked an elevated 11.7% of opponents as well, raising questions about his control.

Gage arrived in L.A. as part of the Caleb Ferguson trade with the Yankees over the winter and re-signed with the club on a minor league deal back in April shortly after being released from his big league contract. He’s pitched for the club at the Triple-A level since then, posting a decent 4.29 ERA in 21 innings with ratios reminiscent of the ones he flashed during his time in the majors. He struck out an impressive 29.3% of batters faced with L.A.’s Triple-A affiliate in Oklahoma City but paired that high-octane stuff with a 13% walk rate. The Dodgers opted to select Gage to the 40-man roster last week after he triggered an opt-out clause in his contract, but he remained at the Triple-A level for the remainder of his time in the organization.

Now with the Mets, Gage figures to serve as optionable bullpen depth for a club that has seen its relievers struggle in recent months. Since the start of May, Mets relievers have struggled to a 4.62 ERA that bests only the Pirates and Rockies among NL clubs, and their 4.50 FIP during that same timeframe ranks fourth from the bottom in the majors. In particular, the Mets have struggled to find production from the left side in the bullpen this year. Veteran southpaw Jake Diekman has posted a 5.06 ERA and 5.61 FIP in 26 2/3 innings of work during his age-37 season for the club this year, while depth options Tyler Jay (7.71 ERA in 4 2/3 innings) and Josh Walker (5.11 ERA in 12 1/3 innings) have performed even worse in small sample sizes. The struggles of the club’s internal options should provide Gage with a relatively clear path to a role at the big league level for the Mets, so long as he can produce at a level anywhere near what he’s done in the past for the Blue Jays and Astros.

As for Smith, his placement on the 60-day IL is hardly a surprise given recent reporting that the righty is likely to require Tommy John surgery due to significant damage to his ulnar collateral ligament. He was already ticketed for an extended absence prior to his placement on the IL, and the transfer should not impact his timeline with the remainder of his 2024 campaign already in doubt.

Mets Select Eric Orze’s Contract

By | at

The Mets announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Eric Orze from Triple-A Syracuse.  Fellow righty Ty Adcock has been optioned to Triple-A in the corresponding move.

Adcock was one of three relievers who saw action in the Mets’ 14-2 loss to the Pirates last night, and Adcock had a particularly rough night in getting charged with six runs over 1 2/3 innings of work.  Today’s transaction brings a fresh arm into New York’s bullpen, and it also puts the 26-year-old Orze in position to make his Major League debut.

A fifth-round pick for the Mets in the pandemic-shortened 2020 draft, Orze had quite a journey just to start his pro career, overcoming both testicular cancer and skin cancer during his days at the University of New Orleans.  He quickly rose up the minor league ladder to Triple-A by the end of the 2021 season, but has since remained at the top affiliate over parts of four seasons now, posting a 4.64 ERA over 159 total frames with Syracuse.

Home runs and walks have been Orze’s biggest issues, as he has a 1.4 HR/9 and 12.28% walk rate over his Triple-A career.  This season in particular, Orze has a 1.64 HR/9 and 13.3% walk rate, yet he has continued to miss bats in impressive fashion.  His 33.9% strikeout rate is his best yet over his three full seasons in Syracuse, and he has a 31.72K% as a whole in Triple-A.

It’s possible Orze’s selection might result in just a proverbial cup of coffee in the majors, yet with the Mets looking to fill holes in an injury-riddled bullpen, there’s certainly some opportunity for Orze to gain more time on the active roster if he pitches well.  He’ll join a wide array of right-handers in a Mets bullpen that features only one healthy left-handed arm in Jake Diekman.

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