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Giants Acquire Cooper Hummel From Mets

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The Mets announced that they have traded catcher/outfielder Cooper Hummel to the Giants in exchange for cash considerations. The Mets had designated him for assignment last week. MLB Transactions Daily reported that the Giants were acquiring Hummel prior to the official announcement. The Giants will now have a full 40-man roster and will need to make a corresponding move when they make their signing of Jordan Hicks official.

Hummel, 29, has received 227 major league plate appearances thus far in his career, spending time with the 2022 Diamondbacks and 2023 Mariners. He has drawn walks at a 11% clip but has also been struck out in 32.2% of those trips to the plate, leading to a batting line of .166/.264/.286. His offense has been much better at Triple-A. In 977 appearances at that level over the past three years, he has paired a 17.3% walk rate with a 21.2% strikeout rate. His .288/.420/.492 slash line in that time translates to a wRC+ of 132.

That kind of Triple-A production is surely enticing, as is Hummel’s defensive versatility. In the major leagues, he’s mostly split his time between catcher and left field, with a little bit of work in right field as well. He’s also played those three positions in the minors, along with a decent amount of time at first base and some brief looks at third base. He also still has an option year remaining and can be kept in the minors if the Giants don’t have a spot for him on the active roster.

The Giants already showed an affinity for this type of player when they utilized catcher/outfielder Blake Sabol on their club last year. Sabol struck out in 34% of his plate appearances but still managed to hit .235/.301/.394 for a wRC+ of 92, splitting his time almost evenly between catcher and left field. He was under Rule 5 restraints in 2023 but the club has now obtained his full rights and can option him going forward.

Patrick Bailey figures to be the primary catcher while Tom Murphy was signed to be the backup. Murphy is generally considered to be on the bat-first side of things and also has significant health concerns, having never surpassed 325 plate appearances in any big league season. Perhaps one of Sabol or Hummel could secure a job as a utility player that takes on part-time catching duties and allows Murphy to spend some time as the designated hitter. But since each of them are optionable, they could also be in Triple-A as depth until their services are required. The club also has Joey Bart in its catching mix but he is now out of options and may get squeezed from the roster at some point.

Jung Hoo Lee, Michael Conforto and Mike Yastrzemski project as the everyday outfielders with Austin Slater likely to be in a fourth outfielder role. Wilmer Flores and Murphy will perhaps get the lion’s share of DH time. Outfielders like Heliot Ramos and Luis Matos are also on the 40-man roster but have options and could get regular playing time in the minors while Hummel and/or Sabol serve in bench jobs at the big league level. Since Hummel has spent a bit of time at the infield corners, an injury to either LaMonte Wade Jr. or J.D. Davis could also open up some playing time for him.

Mets Sign Yolmer Sanchez, Austin Allen To Minor League Deals

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The Mets signed infielder Yolmer Sanchez and catcher Austin Allen to minor league contracts on Tuesday, the team announced. Both players will be in big league camp as non-roster invitees to spring training.

Sanchez, 31, won a Gold Glove with the 2019 White Sox and was their regular second baseman from 2017-19, batting a combined .253/.314/.368 in 1751 plate appearances. The glove-first switch hitter has tallied just 65 MLB plate appearances since that time, however, with an ugly .170/.302/.283 output in that tiny sample. Sanchez spent the 2023 season with the Braves’ Triple-A affiliate, for whom he turned in a .236/.381/.350 slash in 481 plate appearances.

Allen, who turns 30 today, once ranked as one of the better prospects in the Padres and Athletics systems. He’s only received 127 big league plate appearances, batting .195/.252/.288 in that time. However, Allen carries a stout .287/.349/.555 batting line in parts of four Triple-A seasons. He spent the ’23 season with the Marlins Triple-A club, batting .225/.312/.491 with 15 home runs in 366 trips to the plate. Allen has posted roughly average framing marks in the upper minors, per Baseball Prospectus, and he sports a career 23% caught-stealing rate between the big leagues and minors combined.

Sanchez joins a list of infield depth options that includes waiver claim Zack Short, free agent signee Joey Wendle and fellow minor league free-agent pickups Jose Iglesias and Rylan Bannon (both of whom will be in camp as non-roster invitees as well). Francisco Alvarez is expected to be the Mets’ everyday catcher, with Omar Narvaez and Tyler Heineman both as 40-man options behind him. Allen joins Tomas Nido as a non-roster entrant into the mix for playing time behind the dish.

Notable International Signings: 1/15/24

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January 15 marks the official opening of the international signing period. While the vast majority of top talents have reached verbal agreements with teams months or years in advance, they’re allowed to formally put pen to paper to begin their affiliated careers. The signing period technically runs until December 15, but the top signees will ink their contracts as soon as first eligible.

Ben Badler of Baseball America and Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com are among those covering the activity. At MLBTR, we’ll highlight a few of the top signees. Both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline provide scouting reports and bonus information on more of the highly-regarded prospects. They’re each worth full reads for those interested in the class.

Note: MLB Pipeline ranks the class on talent. Baseball America orders the players by bonus amount, not on evaluations of the players’ ability. Since international amateurs are so young and tend to agree to their bonuses well in advance of signing day, a player’s profile can change significantly between the time they reach agreement on a bonus and the official opening of the window.

Some of the top names (ordered by signing bonus):

  • Jose Perdomo, SS, Braves: A right-handed hitting infielder from Venezuela, Perdomo leads the class with a $5MM signing bonus. MLB Pipeline ranks him as the #3 prospect in the group. He’s regarded as a polished hitter with a good chance to stick somewhere on the infield. Badler notes (on X) that the $5MM bonus is the largest ever for a Venezuelan player.
  • Leodalis De Vries, SS, Padres: De Vries lands the second-highest bonus at $4.2MM. Sanchez and Badler each indicate he’s now regarded as the most talented prospect in this year’s class. It’s the second straight year in which San Diego landed the #1 player in the international period after last year’s signing of catcher Ethan Salas. De Vries, a native of the Dominican Republic, is a 6’1″ switch-hitter. He draws praise for a well-rounded offensive profile with power potential and a chance to stick at shortstop.
  • Fernando Cruz, SS, Cubs: A $4MM signee out of the Dominican Republic, Cruz is a 5’11” infielder. Evaluators praise his bat speed and all-fields power potential. He draws attention for his athleticism and defensive toolset at shortstop. MLB Pipeline notes he has an aggressive offensive approach, while BA indicates some scouts have expressed concern about the length in his swing. MLB Pipeline ranks Cruz as the #4 talent in the class.
  • Dawel Joseph, SS, Mariners: Signed for $3MM from the Dominican Republic, Joseph is a right-handed hitter with a 6’2″ frame. That build leads to ample raw power projection. BA and Pipeline each indicate that Joseph has lost some of his formerly elite speed as he has grown, although he still has a shot to play somewhere up the middle. Both outlets suggest he sports more of a power-over-hit offensive profile.

A few others with a noteworthy signing figure and/or placement on MLB Pipeline’s prospect rankings:

  • Yovanny Rodriguez, C, Mets: $2.85MM signing bonus, Venezuela native, MLB Pipeline’s #6 prospect
  • Victor Hurtado, OF Nationals: $2.7MM-2.8MM signing bonus*, Dominican Republic native, MLB Pipeline’s #20 prospect
  • Adolfo Sanchez, OF, Reds: $2.7MM signing bonus, Dominican Republic native, MLB Pipeline’s #5 prospect
  • Joswa Lugo, SS, Angels: $2.3MM signing bonus, Dominican Republic native, MLB Pipeline’s #37 prospect
  • Yandel Ricardo, SS, Royals: #9 on BA’s bonus board (specific number unreported), Cuba native, MLB Pipeline’s #16 prospect
  • Emil Morales, SS, Dodgers: #10 on BA’s bonus board (specific number unreported), Dominican Republic native, MLB Pipeline’s #14 prospect
  • Paulino Santana, OF, Rangers: $1.3MM signing bonus, Dominican Republic native, MLB Pipeline’s #2 prospect

* BA reports Hurtado’s bonus at $2.7MM, while MLB.com pegs it at $2.8MM

Mets Designate Diego Castillo For Assignment

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The Mets have designated infielder Diego Castillo for assignment, tweets Will Sammon of the Athletic. That clears the necessary 40-man roster spot for left-hander Sean Manaea, whose two-year deal was finalized.

New York claimed Castillo off waivers from the Diamondbacks a week ago. It might prove an exceedingly brief stay in the organization for the right-handed hitter. The Mets will have to trade Castillo or put him on waivers themselves within the next seven days.

The 26-year-old spent almost all of last season in Triple-A. Arizona acquired Castillo in a minor trade with the Pirates over the 2022-23 offseason. They kept him on optional assignment to their top affiliate in Reno for all but one game. The 5’10” middle infielder had a solid year for the Aces, hitting .313/.431/.410 through 556 plate appearances. Castillo only hit three home runs in a very favorable offensive environment, but he demonstrated strong strike zone discipline. He walked at a massive 17.4% rate while striking out just 14.2% of the time.

It was a reversal from his 2022 MLB work in Pittsburgh. Castillo connected on 11 homers in 283 plate appearances (roughly half a season) as a rookie. He hit .206 with a meager .251 on-base percentage in that time, largely because of a poor strikeout and walk profile. Castillo walked less than 5% of the time while striking out in nearly 27% of his plate appearances as a big leaguer.

Castillo has been more of a hit-over-power player over an eight-year professional career. He’s a .276/.346/.373 hitter in the minors. He spent the bulk of that time in the Yankees system before being traded to Pittsburgh in what turned out to be a lopsided 2021 deal sending Clay Holmes to the Bronx.

Mets Designate Cooper Hummel For Assignment

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The Mets designated catcher/outfielder Cooper Hummel for assignment, as first reported by Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. The Mets announced the move a couple minutes later. Hummel’s spot on the 40-man roster will go to righty Max Kranick, whom the Mets are claiming off waivers from the Pirates.

Hummel, 29, was claimed off waivers from the Mariners earlier in the offseason. He appeared in 10 MLB games last year and came to the plate 26 times with Seattle. He also received a brief look with the D-backs in 2022, and he’s posted an overall .166/.264/.286 line in 227 career plate appearances.

Ugly as that small-sample slash line may be, Hummel turned in a .262/.409/.435 batting line in Triple-A last year and drew walks at a massive 18% clip. The Mets were surely attracted to that output and to his versatility; he’s logged more than 1800 innings in left field, 1054 frames behind the plate, 508 innings at first base and another 296 innings in right field. Add in that he has a minor league option remaining, and he’s an interesting depth piece even if he hasn’t yet been able to produce at the big league level.

Hummel is also a known commodity for Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns, who was the Brewers’ general manager in 2016 when Hummel was drafted by Milwaukee. Stearns traded Hummel to the D-backs in the 2021 Eduardo Escobar swap, and he’ll now have a week to trade Hummel again or else attempt to pass him through outright waivers.

Mets Claim Max Kranick From Pirates

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The Mets have claimed right-hander Max Kranick off waivers from the Pirates, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. The righty was designated for assignment by the Bucs a week ago when they needed a roster spot to sign Martín Pérez. The Mets have a full roster and will need to make a corresponding move for Kranick, and will need to open another when they make their signing of Sean Manaea official.

Kranick, 26, will now join just the second organization of his career. He was drafted by the Pirates and has been a part of that organization until this transaction. He made his major league debut with nine starts in 2021, posting a 6.28 earned run average in 38 2/3 innings. He made two relief appearances for the club in 2022 but required Tommy John surgery in June of that year, wiping out the rest of the season and most of 2023. He was healthy enough to return to the mound late in 2023, making a few minor league starts in August and September.

There’s obviously not much major league track record to go on and the surgery has prevented him from pitching meaningful innings in the minors of late. But he has thrown 344 1/3 innings on the farm overall with a 3.55 ERA. He has only struck out 19.5% of minor league hitters but has only given out walks at a modest 6.2% clip.

He is now out of options, which suggest the Mets are either planning to keep him on their active roster or will attempt to run him through waivers in the future. The Mets already have a rotation composed of Manaea, Luis Severino, Kodai Senga, José Quintana and Adrian Houser, with Tylor Megill and Joey Lucchesi on hand as optionable depth. David Peterson will be in the mix once he recovers from his hip surgery. Given that rotation picture, perhaps the Mets will keep Kranick in the bullpen and see if he can find some extra strikeouts with his stuff playing up in shorter stints.

The Mets are taking something of a step back this year and have limited themselves to fairly modest moves. Manaea got a two-year deal but with an opt-out after the first season. Severino got a one-year deal, as did Harrison Bader, Joey Wendle, Jorge López, Austin Adams and Michael Tonkin. The club has also claimed Penn Murfee, Zack Short, Tyler Heineman and Cooper Hummel and now Kranick off waivers.

Taken together, those moves have filled out the pitching staff and bench as the club will look to go into 2024 with more depth. Perhaps that will help them avoid the pitfalls they fell into last year when a batch of injuries knocked them out contention, or perhaps it will simply allow someone in that batch to break out and take a step forward this year. If the club falls out of contention again and winds up engaging in another deadline selloff, they can give some extra innings or plate appearances to someone showing signs of development.

Mets, Danny Young Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Mets have agreed to a minor league deal with left-handed reliever Danny Young, MLBTR has learned. He’ll be in big league camp this spring and would earn an $825K salary in the majors. Young is repped by Dynamic Sports Group.

The 29-year-old Young has seen big league time with the Mariners and Braves over the past two years, logging a combined 14 2/3 innings with a 2.45 ERA, a 25.4% strikeout rate, a 6% walk rate and a healthy 48.8% ground-ball rate. He was particularly sharp with Atlanta, yielding just one run in 11 innings as a Brave and posting a 12-to-2 K/BB ratio. However, Young missed the bulk of the 2023 season due to hip injury. He pitched just 15 2/3 Triple-A frames and 8 1/3 MLB innings before landing on the injured list and ultimately undergoing surgery.

Young has a 4.70 ERA in parts of four Triple-A seasons. He’s fanned 28% of his opponents at the top minor league level against an 11% walk rate, though his command has been better in his limited MLB looks. He has a minor league option remaining as well, so if he makes the Mets’ roster out of spring training or at any point during the 2024 season, he could be optioned freely for the remainder of the season.

The Mets are known to be on the lookout for bullpen help and have specifically been focused on adding some left-handed depth. New York reportedly had interest in former Brewers and Rockies southpaw Brent Suter, but Suter agreed to a one-year pact with his hometown Reds yesterday.

Mets, Pete Alonso Avoid Arbitration

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The Mets and first baseman Pete Alonso have avoided arbitration, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. The Boras Corporation client will make a salary of $20.5MM this year.

Alonso, 29, is coming off yet another potent year at the plate. His 46 home runs in 2023 were a jump from his 40 long balls a year prior. He has finished each full season of his career with between 37 and 53 homers. His batting line of .217/.318/.504 from last year translated to a wRC+ of 121, indicating he was 21% above league average at the plate. The reviews of his defense have been mixed in his career but he generally posted solid results in 2023. He also managed to steal four bases on the year.

Since Alonso cracked the Opening Day roster in 2019, he now has exactly five years of major league service time. He first qualified for arbitration going into the 2022 season and agreed to a $7.4MM salary that year, followed by a $14.5MM figure last year. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected Alonso for a raise to $22MM but he’ll settle for a figure just beneath that.

Due to the Mets taking a sort of step back in 2024, Alonso’s final year of arbitration before he’s slated for free agency, there has been a lot of speculation about the club either trading him or signing him to a contract extension. To this point, neither has happened. New president of baseball operations David Stearns has repeatedly stated that he expects Alonso to be the club’s starting first baseman this year and also spoke this week about the difficulties of signing a player to an extension when they are this close to free agency.

Alonso’s fate would appear to be in the hands of the club. If the Mets falter and are out of contention by the deadline, he will be a top trade candidate in rumors this summer. If they remain in contention, perhaps he will stick with the club through the year and receive a qualifying offer at season’s end. The latter scenario wouldn’t be a guarantee that he would be destined to join another club. The Mets re-signed Brandon Nimmo after he reached free agency and also reached a new deal with Edwin Díaz just as he was about to hit the open market.

Bud Harrelson Passes Away

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The Mets announced the passing of longtime infielder Bud Harrelson last night at age 79. He had battled Alzheimer’s for an extended period, according to the team.

“We were saddened to learn of Mets Hall of Famer Buddy Harrelson’s passing. He was a skilled defender and spark plug on the 1969 Miracle Mets,” owners Steve and Alex Cohen said in a statement. “The Gold Glove shortstop played 13 years in Queens, appearing in more games at short than anyone else in team history. Buddy was the third base coach on the 1986 World Champs, becoming the only person to be in uniform on both World Series winning teams. We extend our deepest condolences to his entire family.”

Harrelson was a Bay Area native who played in college at San Francisco State. He signed with the Mets as a 19-year-old. The switch-hitting infielder got to the majors two years later, debuting with 19 games in 1965. Harrelson spent most of the 1966 campaign in Triple-A before emerging as a regular on the ’67 club.

He was an excellent defensive presence at shortstop for the next decade. Harrelson was the starter for the ’69 team that surprisingly secured the first World Series in franchise history. He made a pair of All-Star Games in 1970 and ’71, securing down-ballot MVP support in both years. Harrelson won the National League’s Gold Glove at shortstop in 1971. He finished among the top five NL shortstops in fielding percentage each year from 1969-72 and twice ranked among the top five at the position in assists.

Harrelson helped the Mets back to the Fall Classic in 1973, an eventual defeat at the hands of the A’s. While he had a solid showing in the World Series, he’s perhaps better known for his role in a bench-clearing brawl with the Reds in that’s year NLCS. After the Mets shut out Cincinnati in Game 2, Harrelson quipped that New York starter Jon Matlack had made Cincinnati’s vaunted offense “look like me hitting.” The following game, Harrelson took exception to a hard slide from Pete Rose on a double play turn, leading to the fracas.

As he self-deprecatingly noted, Harrelson wasn’t much of an offensive threat. He never hit more than one home run in a season — he had seven over his 16-year MLB career — and didn’t top a .659 OPS in any season in which he reached 250 plate appearances. That the Mets nevertheless stuck with him as their primary shortstop for over a decade speaks to how highly the team valued him as a defender. Harrelson remained in Queens through the 1977 campaign.

New York dealt him to the Phillies on the eve of the ’78 season. He played two years in Philadelphia and logged 87 contests with the 1980 Rangers to conclude his playing career. Harrelson appeared in more than 1500 games. He was a .236/.327/.288 hitter in over 5500 trips to the plate. He appeared on MVP ballots in three seasons and helped the Mets to two pennants.

He returned to the Mets in his post-playing days, managing in the farm system before taking on a role on the coaching staff. He was inducted into the team Hall of Fame in 1986 and, as the Cohens mentioned, was on staff for the franchise’s second championship. Harrelson got a brief look as manager, replacing Davey Johnson midseason in 1990. He led the team to a 70-49 record down the stretch but was fired the following season after a second half collapse put the club at 74-80.

MLBTR sends our condolences to Harrelson’s family, friends, loved ones and former teammates.

David Stearns Discusses Alonso, Outfield, Bullpen

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Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns addressed a few topics. In an appearance on The New York Post’s podcast with Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman, he touched on the future of first baseman Pete Alonso as well as the club’s outfield and relief groups.

Stearns reaffirmed the Mets have no desire to trade Alonso this offseason. The new baseball operations leader said he’s “pretty darn confident (Alonso) is going to be our first baseman on Opening Day.” He wasn’t committal on the three-time All-Star’s longer-term future in Queens. While Stearns predictably indicated they’d love to keep Alonso beyond the 2024 season, he spoke generally about the challenges of extending players who are deep into their club control window.

“We also understand that as players approach free agency, there’s often a desire to test free agency,” Stearns said. “It’s really tough to line up on these types of deals in the last year of a player’s team control, the last year of arbitration.” The baseball operations president declined to go into detail about Alonso’s status specifically.

That said, Stearns’ broad reference to the difficulty of extending a player one year from the open market aligns with recent reporting on Alonso. Newsday’s Tim Healey indicated in early December there’d been no extension talks this offseason. As part of a reader mailbag yesterday, The Athletic’s Tim Britton wrote there is “little expectation that there will be substantive negotiations about a contract extension” at any point before the end of 2024.

MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects Alonso for a $22MM salary in his final arbitration season. The sides will either agree upon a ’24 salary or exchange filing figures for a potential hearing by tomorrow’s deadline. If the slugger turns in a typical season, he’d likely look for a contract in excess of $200MM when he hits the open market. There might be renewed chatter about Alonso’s trade availability around the deadline if the Mets fall from contention, but the current organizational hope is seemingly that he’ll re-sign after testing the free agent waters.

That was the approach taken by Brandon Nimmo last offseason. Nimmo turned in a strong first season of his eight-year, $162MM deal. He hit .274/.363/.466 with 24 homers in a career-high 682 trips to the plate. That’s more than enough offense to profile in a corner outfield spot. That seems likely after the Mets brought in glove-first center fielder Harrison Bader on a one-year, $10.5MM deal last week.

Stearns indicated the specific outfield alignment is yet to be determined, but he noted that Nimmo has shown a willingness to do whatever the team feels is best. Plugging Bader in center would kick Nimmo to left field on most days. Starling Marte is still the presumptive starter in right as he looks to rebound from an injury-plagued, disappointing season. That could push DJ Stewart — who hit well in 58 games late in the year — to the designated hitter mix.

The Mets have been linked to more substantive additions (i.e. J.D. Martinez, Justin Turner) at the DH spot. While Stearns indicated he wouldn’t “close the door on anything” on the position player side, he cautioned they’re reluctant to take too many at-bats from young players. Brett Baty and Mark Vientos are in the mix at third base and DH, although the Mets lost Ronny Mauricio for most or all of the season when he tore his ACL in winter ball.

One area where another acquisition seems likely: the bullpen. Stearns confirmed reports they’re still looking to add to the relief corps. In a subsequent video call with various reporters (including Anthony DiComo of MLB.com), he indicated they’ll look for pitchers who offer a different repertoire or approach to some of the in-house options.

New York has a heavily right-handed bridge to star closer Edwin Díaz. The only southpaw who is guaranteed to start the year in the bullpen is Brooks Raley. Low-cost free agent pickups Michael Tonkin, Jorge López and Austin Adams join Drew Smith and Phil Bickford in the projected middle relief group.

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