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Joey Lucchesi

Giants, Joey Lucchesi Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Giants and left-hander Joey Lucchesi have agreed to a minor league deal, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. The CAA Sports client gets an invite to big league camp and will make $1.5MM if he makes it to the majors.

Lucchesi, 32 in June, has spent the past few years as a depth arm for the Mets. Acquired from the Padres in the three-team January 2021 trade that sent Joe Musgrove from Pittsburgh to San Diego, Lucchesi went on to toss 38 1/3 innings for the Mets that year. He allowed 4.46 earned runs per nine but with strong strikeout and walk rates of 26.1% and 7% respectively.

Tommy John surgery in June put him out of action for the second half and he didn’t make it back to the majors in 2022. For the past two years, the lefty has mostly been kept in the minors, only getting into nine big league contests in 2023 and just two last year. His 57 innings in those 11 starts resulted in a 3.32 ERA but less impressive numbers under the hood, as his 16.2% strikeout rate and 10.4% walk rate were both subpar. He also tossed 204 2/3 innings in the minors over the past two years with a 4.57 ERA, 19.3% strikeout rate and 11.1% walk rate. After two years of fairly middling results, and Lucchesi exhausting his final option year, the Mets decided to move on. He was outrighted off the roster at the end of last season and elected free agency.

For the Giants, there’s no real harm in bringing him aboard on a minor league pact to see if the lefty can get things back on track. He once looked like a solid rotation option for the Padres, logging 293 2/3 innings over the 2018 and 2019 seasons with a 4.14 ERA, 24.6% strikeout rate, 8% walk rate and 46% ground ball rate. He spent most of 2020 in the minors but put up fairly similar numbers in 2021 before his surgery.

The Giants have a good rotation on paper, though with plenty of uncertainty behind Logan Webb. Both Robbie Ray and Justin Verlander will be looking to bounce back after injuries prevented them from contributing much in 2024. Kyle Harrison has posted some solid numbers thus far but is still below 160 career innings in the majors. Jordan Hicks will once again be trying to carve out a rotation role after seemingly running out of gas last year.

The club also has some depth options, with guys like Landen Roupp, Hayden Birdsong, Mason Black and others on the roster, but Lucchesi will add to that depth in a non-roster capacity. If he gets back to the majors, he is out of options, but he has less than five years of service time. That means he could theoretically be retained via arbitration for 2026 if he’s holding a roster spot at the end of the upcoming season.

Mets Claim Luis De Los Santos

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The Mets announced that they have claimed infielder Luis De Los Santos off waivers from the Blue Jays. Additionally, outfielder DJ Stewart as well as left-handers Joey Lucchesi and Matt Gage were outrighted off the 40-man roster. Stewart and Lucchesi elected free agency.

De Los Santos, 26, got up to the big leagues for the first time this year. He hit .172/.226/.241 in a small sample of 31 plate appearances to start his major league career. He hit .260/.375/.441 in his 154 Triple-A plate appearances while spending time at all four infield positions.

He still has a couple of option seasons and less than a year of year of service time, so he can provide the Mets with some depth around the dirt for the foreseeable future. They have Francisco Lindor cemented at short but questions elsewhere. First baseman Pete Alonso is now a free agent. He could be re-signed but it’s no guarantee he’ll be back. Mark Vientos just had a breakout season while playing third base but with poor defense, so he could perhaps move over to first if Alonso departs. Second base could be taken by Jeff McNeil but he’s also capable of playing other positions. Young guys like Brett Baty, Luisangel Acuña or Ronny Mauricio are candidates to take over at second or third base.

Stewart, 31 this month, finished 2023 on a heater but couldn’t really carry it over into 2024 as he finished the year with a .177/.325/.297 batting line for the Mets. He could have been retained for 2025 via arbitration, with MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projecting him for a $1.7MM salary but the Mets clearly weren’t interested in that and bumped him off the roster instead.

Lucchesi, 32 in June, has been an optionable depth arm for the Mets for a while but is now out of options. That means he wouldn’t be able to continue in that role going forward. Since missing 2022 while recovering from Tommy John surgery, he has tossed 57 innings for the Mets over the past two seasons with a 3.32 ERA but but subpar strikeout and walk rates of 16.2% and 10.4% respectively. As players with at least three years of service time, both Stewart and Lucchesi had the right to elect free agency and did so.

Gage, 32 in February, was acquired from the Dodgers in a cash deal in July but didn’t pitch for them after that, mostly staying on optional assignment. He has 19 2/3 innings of major league experience with the Blue Jays and Astros in previous seasons.

Mets Select Joey Lucchesi

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The Mets selected left-hander Joey Lucchesi between games of today’s double-header. He is the starter for the second game of the twin bill against Atlanta with left-hander Alex Young optioned in a corresponding active roster move. Tim Britton of The Athletic was among those to relay the news on X. The Mets transferred right-hander Christian Scott to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot, per Mike Puma of The New York Post on X.

The Mets and Atlanta came into today’s double-header effectively in a three-way tie with the Diamondbacks. Each of the two clubs playing today only needed to win one game in order to clinch a playoff spot. The Mets won a thriller in the first game, emerging victorious 8-7. They had planned to start Luis Severino in the second game if they still needed to win but will instead hold him back for the Wild Card round tomorrow.

Lucchesi, 31, will get the ball instead. The lefty has been with the Mets since January of 2021, coming over from the Padres in the three-team mega trade that sent Joe Musgrove to San Diego, David Bednar to Pittsburgh and more. The southpaw required Tommy John surgery that summer, which resulted in him missing most of 2022. He has largely been used as optionable depth since then.

This year, his big league results prior to today consisted of just one spot start. He tossed 4 1/3 innings against the Phillies on May 15, allowing five earned runs. He was optioned back to the minors after that outing and later designated for assignment when the Mets acquired Phil Maton in July.

Lucchesi cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Syracuse. As a player with more than three years of service time, he could have rejected that outright assignment in favor of free agency. However, since he has less than five years of service, heading to the open market would have involved walking away from what remained of his $1.65MM salary.

Naturally, he accepted that outright assignment and gets his roster spot back today. The Mets likely plan on just using Lucchesi for this one outing, as they have Severino, Sean Manaea, Jose Quintana, David Peterson and Tylor Megill as starting options for the postseason.

If Lucchesi survives on the 40-man all winter, he could be retained for 2025 via arbitration. However, he will be out of options next year and will therefore have less appeal to the club as a depth option, which should make him a candidate to be bumped from the roster at some point. He has a 4.70 earned run average in 115 Triple-A innings this year.

As for Scott, he underwent a Tommy John and internal brace hybrid procedure recently, so he will miss the remainder of this year and likely all of 2025 as well. He will spend most of that time on the 60-day IL, though there’s no injured list during the offseason, so he will need to retake a roster spot for at least a few months.

Mets Outright Joey Lucchesi

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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).

Mets Acquire Phil Maton From Rays

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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 Designate Joey Wendle, Yohan Ramirez For Assignment

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May 15: The Mets made the moves for Wendle, Vientos, Lucchesi and Ramírez official today. They also optioned right-hander José Buttó and recalled right-hander Grant Hartwig. Buttó’s option may be slightly surprising since he has a 3.08 ERA on the year, but that’s despite a 13.5% walk rate. The Mets have both Tylor Megill and David Peterson on rehab assignments and they could be options to rejoin the rotation soon.

May 14: The Mets are designating veteran infielder Joey Wendle for assignment, as first reported (on X) by Ben Yoel. SNY’s Andy Martino reported earlier this evening (on X) that New York was planning to recall Mark Vientos from Triple-A Syracuse before tomorrow night’s matchup with the Phillies.

That’s not the only forthcoming roster move. Dan Martin and Joel Sherman of the New York Post report that New York will recall left-hander Joey Lucchesi to make tomorrow’s start. Righty reliever Yohan Ramírez will be designated for assignment as the corresponding move, according to the Post.

Wendle had a disappointing tenure in Queens. New York signed the former All-Star to a $2MM free agent deal. It was a buy-low move after he slumped to a .212/.248/.306 line in 112 games for the Marlins a year ago. Wendle wasn’t out to a much better start this season. In 18 contests, he hit .222/.243/.250 with one extra-base hit (a double). He punched out nine times and drew one walk in 37 trips to the plate.

New York signed Wendle largely for his defensive flexibility. He has generally rated as an above-average to plus defender throughout the infield in his career. He struggled on that side of the ball during his very brief stint in Queens, committing three errors in 89 innings. The Mets stuck with Wendle over Zack Short two weeks ago, but they’ll now move forward without a clear backup shortstop behind Francisco Lindor.

Swapping Vientos in for Wendle provides more offensive upside to Carlos Mendoza’s infield. The 24-year-old is out to another nice start in Syracuse, hitting .284/.376/.500 with six homers in 31 games. While Vientos is striking out at a lofty 28.6% clip, he has consistently hit for power in parts of four Triple-A seasons. That has yet to translate to MLB success, but he’s clearly a higher-ceiling bat than Wendle at this point.

Brett Baty has been the primary third baseman in Queens. The former top prospect hasn’t hit well, turning in a .236/.299/.325 line through 135 plate appearances. He’ll stick on the roster but could lose some at-bats to Vientos, particularly against left-handed pitching. Philadelphia will turn to southpaw Ranger Suárez tomorrow, so it seems likely Vientos will get the nod at the hot corner.

Lucchesi will take the ball against Suárez in what’ll be his season debut. The southpaw has started seven games for Syracuse, working to a 2.58 ERA over 38 1/3 innings. He also had a 2.89 mark in nine big league starts last season, though he hasn’t missed many bats at either level. Lucchesi fanned 16.4% of MLB opponents last season and has a 17.8% strikeout rate in Triple-A this year.

It’s possible this proves to be a spot start. Adrian Houser was originally supposed to take the ball on Wednesday, but Sherman and Mike Puma write that plans changed when the righty warmed up for possible relief work in today’s game. While Houser didn’t enter the game, he threw enough in the bullpen to take him out of the running to start tomorrow.

That proved to be an unfortunate sequence of events for Ramírez, who cedes his roster spot to Lucchesi. This will be the third DFA of the season for the 29-year-old, who can’t be optioned to the minor leagues. It’s the second time the Mets have cut him loose. Ramírez started the year in Queens and was DFA within a few weeks. New York traded him to the Orioles and claimed him back last week after Baltimore waived him.

Around the roster shuffling, Ramírez has tossed 14 1/3 innings over 10 appearances. Despite striking out 17 of 65 opponents (a strong 26.2% rate), he has conceded 11 runs. Ramírez has mid-90s velocity and has missed bats at a roughly average level in the majors, but he has walked more than 12% of batters faced over his career.

The Mets will have a week to trade or waive both Wendle and Ramírez once they officially announce the DFAs. Wendle has more than enough service time to decline a minor league assignment while retaining his salary, so he’d very likely become a free agent if no team swings a trade for him. The moves will drop New York’s 40-man roster tally to 38.

Mets Designate Dennis Santana, Select Adam Kolarek

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The Mets announced four roster moves prior to tonight’s game with the Cardinals, including the news that right-hander Dennis Santana has been designated for assignment.  The roster spot was needed to make room for left-hander Adam Kolarek, whose contract was selected from Triple-A Syracuse.  New York also optioned Joey Lucchesi to Triple-A and called up Vinny Nittoli.

This marks the third time that Santana has been designated this season, and on both prior occasions, he cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Syracuse.  It would therefore seem likely that Santana might again choose to remain in the Mets organization, though he might more willing to decline an outright and choose free agency (as is his right, because he has been outrighted previously) at this point in the season, now that the trade deadline has passed.  A team in more urgent need of pitching might be interested in Santana and give him a clearer path to the majors, if he might no longer be in the Mets’ plans for the remainder of 2023.

Santana can’t be cleanly sent to Syracuse because he is out of minor league options, which already led to two waiver claims for the veteran righty during Spring Training.  The Twins claimed Santana off waivers from the Braves, and the Mets then claimed him away from Minnesota — between these moves and the fact that Santana was traded from Texas to Atlanta last November, his decisions to accept the outright assignments might also stem from a desire to just enjoy some stability after this carousel of transactions.

Santana hasn’t been particularly effective in his brief stints in New York this season, with a 5.91 ERA over nine appearances and 10 2/3 innings.  Small sample size notwithstanding, the numbers aren’t too different from the 5.12 ERA Santana posted over his 139 career innings with the Dodgers and Rangers from 2018-22.  The 27-year-old Santana also hasn’t pitched well at Triple-A, with a 4.91 ERA over 33 frames with Syracuse this season.

Kolarek signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers over the offseason, and L.A. briefly selected that contract to the active roster in June, resulting in one game and 1 1/3 innings of work for the left-hander during his Dodgers tenure.  Los Angeles traded Kolarek to the Mets just prior to the trade deadline, and the southpaw now looks to get at least a bit of a longer look in New York’s bullpen.  Best known for his time with the Rays and with the Dodgers’ 2020 World Series championship team, Kolarek had a 3.32 ERA over 116 2/3 innings from 2017-20 but then endured a pair of rough seasons pitching with the Athletics.

Mets Designate Seth Elledge For Assignment, Select Dennis Santana

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According to Tim Britton of The Athletic, the Mets have designated right-hander Seth Elledge for assignment. That clears a spot on the 40-man roster for Dennis Santana, who Tim Healey of Newsday notes has been selected to the 40-man roster and recalled from Triple-A Syracuse. Healey goes on to note that left-hander Joey Lucchesi has been optioned to Triple-A to make room for Santana on the active roster.

Elledge was a 4th round pick by the Mariners in the 2017 draft. He made his MLB debut with the Cardinals in 2020, ultimately pitching to a 4.63 ERA in 23 1/3 innings of work across two seasons before being designated for assignment in October 2021. He later signed with the Braves on a minor league deal the following March, before being added to the 40-man roster in November 2022. He did not ultimately make an appearance for the Braves, as the 26-year-old was designated for assignment in April before being claimed by the Mets.

Now that he’s been DFA’d once again, the rest of the league will have the opportunity to claim Elledge off of waivers. After that, the Mets will have the opportunity to assign Elledge outright to Triple-A, though Elledge can refuse that outright assignment, as he has been assigned outright previously in his career.

Elledge’s departure clears room on the 40-man roster for Santana, who had previously appeared in seven games for the Mets prior to being designated for assignment and sent outright to Triple-A. In those seven appearances, Santana struggled to a 7.04 ERA with a 6.03 FIP in 7 2/3 innings of work, walking five while striking out 10. Prior to his arrival in New York, Santana pitched for the Dodgers and Rangers, working to a 5.12 ERA and 4.15 FIP in 139 innings of work.

Making room for Santana on the active roster is Lucchesi, who heads to Triple-A after starting yesterday’s game against the Nationals, allowing one run over two innings before the game was suspended due to inclement weather. Lucchesi departs the Mets rotation with a 4.43 ERA through five starts (22 1/3 innings). Lucchesi is looking to rebound after missing much of the 2021 campaign and all of 2022 while rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, and figures to serve as key depth going forward for a Mets rotation that has been wrought with injuries throughout the young 2023 campaign.

Max Scherzer Given 10-Game Suspension; Will Not Appeal

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7:53pm: In a surprising twist, Scherzer informed reporters this evening he’s elected not to appeal after all (video provided by SNY). The right-hander said he’d initially believed an appeal would be heard by a neutral arbitrator but later was informed it would go in front of an MLB official. (Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic specifies that special assistant to the commissioner John McHale would have heard the appeal.) As a result, Scherzer conceded he wouldn’t win and has elected not to pursue it.

He’ll begin serving his ban tonight and is ineligible to return until May 1. Because Scherzer was suspended for an on-field rules violation, the Mets are not permitted to replace him on the active roster. They’ll roll with 25 players for the remainder of the month.

6:56pm: Major League Baseball announced Thursday evening that Mets star Max Scherzer has been suspended for ten games for “violating the prohibitions on foreign substances.” He was also fined an undisclosed amount, which Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports at $10K (Twitter link).

Foreign substance ejections come with an automatic ten-game suspension, so this has seemed likely since Scherzer was thrown out of yesterday’s start against the Dodgers. Scherzer stated after yesterday’s game that he’d appeal any suspension. Heyman tweets this evening that he plans to do so. Scherzer has been adamant he was only using legally-permissible rosin, swearing on the life of his children in the process. Umpires Phil Cuzzi and Dan Bellino, however, explained after the game that Scherzer’s hand was stickier than any other they had inspected previously.

Bellino opined that Scherzer had used “something likely more than rosin” based on its stickiness. MLB’s announcement reflected a similar sentiment. “Based on the umpires’ training to detect rosin on a pitcher’s hands, they concluded that the level of stickiness during the fourth inning check was so extreme that it was inconsistent with the use of rosin and/or sweat alone,” the league wrote. MLB’s press release says umpires “appropriately ejected Mr. Scherzer from the game” at that point.

While the league apparently believes Scherzer applied an illicit substance other than rosin, its press release also points to another potential justification for the ejection/suspension. MLB points out that it sent a memo to clubs during Spring Training reminding that “when used excessively or otherwise misapplied (i.e., to gloves or other parts of the uniform), rosin may be determined by the umpires to be a prohibited foreign substance, the use of which may subject a player to ejection and discipline.” Whether because of the umpiring crew’s determination Scherzer had used a non-rosin sticky substance or the possibility the three-time Cy Young winner applied too much of the otherwise permissible rosin, the league imposed discipline.

It was reported back in June 2021 the league was planning to crack down on the use of “sticky stuff” that pitchers use to improve their grip on the baseball but also to increase spin rates. Two players were suspended not too long after that, with Héctor Santiago of the Mariners getting hit later that same month, followed by Caleb Smith of the Diamondbacks in August. No suspensions were handed out last year, but it was reported in February the league was planning to further crack down this year.

Scherzer declined comment when speaking with Mets’ reporters this evening. He said only that his camp is “working on it” in reference to fighting the ban (relayed by Anthony DiComo of MLB.com). There’s sure to be more clarity on the appeals process over the next few days.

If Scherzer indeed has to sit out for a week and a half, it’ll deal another hit to a rotation already down Justin Verlander, José Quintana and Carlos Carrasco to injury. That has pushed David Peterson and Tylor Megill into the starting five alongside Kodai Senga and previously necessitated a spot start from José Butto.

Skipper Buck Showalter told reporters tonight that left-hander  Joey Lucchesi will be recalled from Triple-A Syracuse to start tomorrow’s game against the Giants (via Mike Puma of the New York Post). It’ll represent Lucceshi’s first MLB action in nearly two years. He lost all of last season to Tommy John surgery.

The Mets’ Options If Jose Quintana Misses Time

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The Mets entered spring training with a deep but revamped rotation. Gone were longtime ace Jacob deGrom and steady right-handers Chris Bassitt and Taijuan Walker. In their place, the Mets signed future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander, NPB star Kodai Senga and veteran lefty Jose Quintana, who had a resurgent campaign between the Pirates and Cardinals this past season.

That the first injury of the season for manager Buck Showalter’s club came from the typically durable Quintana is both unexpected and unwelcome news. The 34-year-old southpaw logged 32 starts between Pittsburgh and St. Louis in 2022, logging an excellent 2.93 ERA with a 20.6% strikeout rate, 6.9% walk rate and 46.4% ground-ball rate. It was a vintage Quintana showing, hearkening back to his peak years in Chicago — and it was impressive enough to land him a two-year, $26MM contract (13 times larger than the one-year, $2MM guarantee he received from Pittsburgh one winter ago).

Quintana will be out for a yet-to-be-determined period of time, however, owing to a stress fracture in his rib. There’s no sense running wild with speculation as to whether that’ll amount to weeks or months at this juncture, but at the very least, Opening Day doesn’t appear to be in the cards. Quintana exited after just one inning in his most recent Grapefruit League start due to discomfort, so this isn’t likely to be an injury he can just pitch through.

If there’s a silver lining for the Mets, it’s that even through all of the turnover in the rotation, they’ve managed to maintain a solid amount of depth beyond the projected Opening Day quintet of Max Scherzer, Verlander, Senga, Quintana and Carlos Carrasco. There were times when the team appeared open to moving Carrasco, but the early setback for Quintana highlights the importance of retaining him and so much of the other depth from which they could’ve dealt.

To that end, with what looks to be at least a short-term vacancy in the rotation, let’s run through the Mets’ options to fill the spot.

The Two Favorites

David Peterson, LHP, 27 years old

About as overqualified a sixth starter as you’ll find in the league, Peterson was the 20th overall pick in the 2017 draft and has spent parts of three seasons in the big leagues with the Mets: two of them good and the middle one (2021) quite bad. The lefty sandwiched an ugly 5.54 ERA between a pair of sub-4.00 efforts, with the end result being a solid 4.26 ERA (4.18 FIP, 4.14 SIERA) in 222 innings at the big league level.

Peterson leaned more heavily on his four-seamer and slider than ever before in 2022, dropping his sinker/two-seam usage from 26.3% in 2021 to 12.3% last season. He posted career-best totals in swinging-strike rate (12.8%), opponents’ chase rate (31.2%) and opponents’ contact rate (71.2%). It’s tempting to think that some of those gains might be from working out of the bullpen for a spell, but while Peterson had similar ERAs as a starter and a reliever, he had better strikeout and walk rates while working out of the rotation.

Fresh off a season that saw him toss 105 2/3 innings of 3.83 ERA ball with a 27.8% strikeout rate, 10.6% walk rate and 49.4% grounder rate, Peterson is the ostensible front-runner to take any early starts that Quintana might miss. Other clubs surely had interest in him this winter — particularly once the Mets had signed all three of Verlander, Senga and Quintana — but the decision to hold onto him is already paying off.

Tylor Megill, RHP, 27

If Peterson is the favorite, Megill might not be all that far behind. He made 18 respectable starts in 2021, pitching to a 4.52 ERA with more impressive strikeout and walk rates (26.1% and 7.1%, respectively). In 2022, when the Mets needed a starter, Megill stepped up and took the ball on six occasions from April 7 through May 4, pitching to a sterling 2.43 ERA with a gaudy 36-to-8 K/BB ratio in 33 1/3 innings of work. His fastball, which averaged 94.7 mph in 2021, was up to nearly 96 mph on average in 2022, and Megill suddenly looked like far more than a band-aid on an injury-marred starting staff — at least until the injury bug bit him, too.

The Mets placed Megill on the 15-day injured list with biceps inflammation on May 12, just days after he was tattooed for eight runs in 1 1/3 innings against the Nationals. He returned on June 10, made a pair of starts that lasted 3 1/3 frames apiece (yielding a combined six runs in the process) and went back on the IL just seven days after being activated — this time due to a shoulder strain. The absence proved far more substantial this time around. Megill was transferred to the 60-day IL just 10 days after his original placement, and he remained sidelined all the way until Sept. 19.

In his career, Megill has overwhelmed right-handed opponents with a power fastball/slider combination, but his changeup has been generally ineffective, leaving him susceptible to left-handed batters. That bears out in his alarming platoon splits. Righties have been downright flummoxed by him, batting only .202/.247/.331. Lefty bats, however, have absolutely clobbered Megill at a .307/.368/.568 clip. He’ll have a chance to win the job, but if he’s going to find long-term success, he’ll need to find a better offering to neutralize opponents in platoon settings.

Longer Shots Who Could Start At Some Point In 2023

Joey Lucchesi, LHP, 29

Acquired from the Padres in the three-team deal that sent Joe Musgrove from Pittsburgh to San Diego, Lucchesi made 11 solid appearances for the Mets in 2021, serving in this exact type of sixth starter role that’s now resurfaced in Queens. Eight of those appearances were starts, and the former fourth-round pick worked to a decent 4.46  ERA with a more-impressive 3.40 FIP and 3.79 SIERA. Lucchesi punched out a strong 26.1% of his opponents against a similarly strong 7.1% walk rate. He might’ve held that role down the stretch — and into 2022 — had he remained healthy, but a late-June diagnosis of a torn ulnar collateral ligament led to Tommy John surgery. Lucchesi missed the remainder of the 2021 season and all of the 2022 campaign.

Early in his career with the Friars, Lucchesi looked the part of a solid fourth starter, pitching to a 4.14 ERA in 56 starts and 293 2/3 innings from 2018-19. He’s thrown just 44 innings since that time, due primarily to injury, but he owns a 4.24 ERA in 337 2/3 big league innings. He still has a pair of minor league options remaining, so the Mets can send him to Triple-A Syracuse to stay stretched out and monitor his workload if they go another route in the rotation. Given that he missed all of the 2022 season, Lucchesi is likely to have his innings capped this season, which probably works against him — especially in the early stages.

Elieser Hernandez, RHP, 27

An offseason acquisition made with an eye toward bolstering the pitching depth, Hernandez came over alongside reliever Jeff Brigham in a deal sending minor leaguers Franklin Sanchez and Jake Mangum to Miami. He’s fresh off a tough 2022 season, but the former Rule 5 pick — the Marlins selected him out of the Astros organization in 2017 — was once a promising member of the Marlins’ young core of arms. From 2020-21, he pitched 77 1/3 innings of 3.84 ERA ball with plus strikeout (26.3%) and walk (5.7%) rates.

Home runs and injuries have been a problem for Hernandez throughout his career, however. His breakout 2020 campaign was shortened by a lat strain, and his 2021 season was interrupted both by a strained quadriceps and inflammation in his right biceps. He’s only shown glimpses of his potential in the Majors, but Hernandez also sports a stout 2.86 ERA, 32.4% strikeout rate and 6.5% walk rate in 129 Triple-A frames spread across parts of four seasons. He has a minor league option remaining,  but he could also make the club as a long reliever.

Jose Butto, RHP, 25

Butto, who’ll turn 26 in less than two weeks, made his big league debut last year when he tossed four innings but was knocked around by the Phillies, who scored seven runs against him at Citizens Bank Park. It wasn’t a great first impression, but Butto nonetheless had a strong year in the minors, logging a combined 3.56 ERA in 129 innings between Double-A and Triple-A.

Scouting reports at each of Baseball America, MLB.com and FanGraphs laud Butto’s plus changeup and above-average heater, but he lacks a third offering, leading to plenty of speculation that he’ll ultimately settle in as a long reliever or swingman. There’s more upside here if he can improve either his curveball or his slider, but he’d be hard-pressed to leapfrog the names ahead of him for starts early in the season. Still, he’s already gotten his feet wet in the Majors and had success in the upper minors, so with some improvements to his secondary pitches and/or a big early performance in Syracuse, Butto could find himself making some starts at some point this year, as injuries on the big league roster necessitate.

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As far as non-roster options go, the Mets are generally light on MLB-ready starting pitching in the upper levels of their system (beyond the 40-man names already covered above). Recent trades have thinned out some of that depth, with both J.T. Ginn and Adam Oller going to the A’s for Chris Bassitt, while Thomas Szapucki went to the Giants as part of the Darin Ruf swap. Most of the Mets’ very best prospects are position players, and the top-ranked pitchers in their system are generally multiple years from MLB readiness.

The presence of Peterson, Megill, Lucchesi, Hernandez and Butto gives the Mets ample depth from which to draw, particularly given how solid both Peterson and Megill looked at times last year. Still, pitcher performance is volatile and injuries are inevitable. If the Mets want to further cultivate some depth, there are a handful of recognizable veteran names who’ve yet to sign — Michael Pineda, Chris Archer and Dylan Bundy among them. Whether that trio, or any of the other remaining starters on the market, is willing to take a minor league deal remains to be seen.

Failing that, the Mets can perhaps keep an eye on other veterans around the league who are currently on minor league/non-roster deals. Many of those pitchers have opt-out opportunities if they don’t make their current club’s roster or upward mobility clauses that allow them to leave the current organization if another team is willing to offer an immediate 40-man roster spot.

For the time being, it doesn’t appear particularly crucial for the Mets to make another addition, but a second injury in the rotation would start to leave an otherwise strong staff looking vulnerable, and there’s little harm in stockpiling depth to the extent possible.

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