Mets Add Ronny Mauricio To 60-Player Pool
The Mets have added infield prospect Ronny Mauricio to their 60-man player pool and placed catcher Rene Rivera on the 45-day injured list, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com tweets. Rivera’s dealing with a hyperextended left elbow.
Mauricio is still just 19 years old and hasn’t played above the Single-A level, so he remains a ways off from the majors. Regardless, not only does he rate as one the Mets’ top farmhands, but one of the game’s best prospects in general. For example, Baseball America places Mauricio at No. 70 overall and writes he has the ceiling of a “classic power-hitting corner infielder.”
Mauricio is now the third Mets prospect to join their player pool since Saturday, following catcher Francisco Alvarez and right-hander Matthew Allan. As MLBTR’s Mark Polishuk noted then, only players in teams’ pools are eligible to be traded prior to the Aug. 31 deadline. That obviously doesn’t mean the Mets are going to move any of these players (Mauricio would be especially tough to pry away), but the option is there if an enticing enough offer comes along. In all likelihood, though, the Mets added the three for developmental purposes.
East Notes: Phillies, Werth, Harper, Mets, Gimenez, Orioles, Martin
Jayson Werth was not surprised when his bromantic partner Bryce Harper signed with the Phillies exactly a year ago yesterday, per Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia. After years of traveling together, yukking it up from stadium to stadium, Werth knew Harper’s feelings about the league about as well as could be expected, and given his own positive feelings about his time in Philly (he won a ring there in 2008), Harper taking a shine to his mentor’s former club definitely tracks. Werth impacted both franchises in their most recent championship endeavors, directly for the Phils as he hit .309/.387/.582 during their ’08 run. For the Nats, he provided legitimacy to the franchise at the outset of their current run of competency. The Nationals have posted a winning record in each of the last eight seasons back to 2012, Werth’s second year with the club. That’s enough reminiscing for today. Let’s stay in the NL East and check in on some spring training news…
- New York Mets prospect Andres Gimenez added a leg kick to his swing this winter in an effort to get more lift, per Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News. Gimenez will have to push the envelope to make his presence felt at the major league level this season, but he’s breathing down Amed Rosario‘s neck. Robinson Cano is owed big money over the next four seasons, but there’s certainly the possibility that one of the Mets’ young shortstops could eventually move to the keystone. Despite some uncertainty regarding Rosario’s performance at the big league level, shortstop is a deep positional field for the Mets organizationally. Gimenez is the Mets’ 2nd-ranked prospect, per Fangraphs, behind only Ronny Mauricio, who trails Gimenez in timeline by roughly the same margin between Gimenez and Rosario. For now, Rosario, 24, will keep the position warm until Gimenez, 21, can take it. That is, until Mauricio, 19 in April, can get to it first.
- Jumping to the junior circuit, the Baltimore Orioles expect 2020 to be a development year for Richie Martin – out of the spotlight. With defensive wizard Jose Iglesias in-house to hold down shortstop – until July at least – Martin can make up for lost time in Triple-A. Last year’s Rule-5 selection from the A’s, Martin was pushed into a full season with the big league club last year, and his naïveté showed. Martin put up -0.6 rWAR and a 50 wRC+ in 2019 as their more-or-less everyday shortstop. Still, Martin isn’t giving up the possibility of winning a job at second base or in a utility role, per MASN’s Roch Kubatko. The team lacked middle infield depth last season, but they at least have more players vying for those roles this spring – likely leaving Martin on the outside looking in on opening day. Hanser Alberto has his name on one roster spot, while Andrew Velazquez and Ramon Urias are contenders for utility roles, while Stevie Wilkerson, Pat Valaika, Jose Rondon, and Dilson Herrera are all in camp as non-roster invitees.
Details On Mets’ Pursuit Of Mookie Betts
Mookie Metts? It didn’t come to fruition, but the Mets did make an effort in December to acquire superstar outfielder Mookie Betts from Boston. The Red Sox ended up trading him to the Dodgers earlier this week.
One reason talks between the Mets and Red Sox broke down? The Mets weren’t open to moving infielder/outfielder Jeff McNeil for just a year of control over Betts, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports (they also wouldn’t give him to the Indians for shortstop Francisco Lindor). However, the Red Sox regarded McNeil as “integral” to a potential trade package, according to Sherman. Understandably, the Mets weren’t going to part with the versatile, inexpensive 27-year-old after he was one of the majors’ most effective offensive players from 2018-19.
While the Mets weren’t willing to surrender McNeil for Betts, they did offer packages centered on outfielder Brandon Nimmo and infielder/outfielder J.D. Davis (quality, affordable players in their own right), per Sherman. Those deals also would have included one of the Mets’ infield prospects in either Andres Gimenez or Ronny Mauricio, two top-100 farmhands. It seems the Mets, reluctant to absorb all of Betts’ $27MM salary, also would have tried to include one of their highly paid, unwanted veterans in outfielder Yoenis Cespedes or infielder Jed Lowrie in order to somewhat offset the money they’d have taken on had a deal with Boston gone through.
Considering that getting under the $208MM luxury-tax threshold was one of the main causes for the Red Sox’s decision to unload Betts (and left-hander David Price with him), adding Cespedes or Lowrie wouldn’t have been palatable for them. They wound up accepting the Dodgers’ offer of outfielder Alex Verdugo and two prospects – infielder Jeter Downs and catcher Connor Wong – saving a total of $75MM in the process.
Meanwhile, although the Mets went big-game hunting for Betts, their outfield appears as if it’ll enter 2020 with mostly the same cast. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, even though none of the team’s current options can rival Betts. However, to their credit, McNeil, Nimmo, Davis, Michael Conforto and Dominic Smith all had good seasons a year ago. It’s anyone’s guess what the Mets will get from Cespedes after injuries shelved him for the vast majority of the prior three seasons, but he’s back on a reduced salary and has always produced when healthy.
NL Rumors: Realmuto, Mets, Marlins, Pads, Myers, Bucs, D-backs, Rendon
The Mets’ ongoing pursuit of Marlins catcher J.T. Realmuto has dominated headlines this week, and Tim Healey of Newsday sheds more light on the teams’ talks. While the Marlins are interested in all three of Amed Rosario, Brandon Nimmo and Michael Conforto and reportedly want more than one of those players for Realmuto, it doesn’t seem that’s going to happen, per Healey. Rather, only one member of that trio – likely Nimmo or Conforto – would headline Miami’s return, according to Healey, who adds that the Marlins also like Mets infield prospects Andres Gimenez, Ronny Mauricio and Mark Vientos. All three of those players rank among the Mets’ top prospects, with MLB.com placing Gimenez first, Mauricio sixth and Vientos eighth.
- Whether via trade or free agency, the Padres will “absolutely” acquire a third baseman this offseason, AJ Cassavell of MLB.com relays. Picking up hot corner help is the club’s No. 1 priority, Cassavell offers, as corner infielder/outfielder Wil Myers isn’t an ideal fit there, main 2018 starter Christian Villanueva immigrated to Japan and the Padres released Cory Spangenberg. But if Myers isn’t going to play third, it further calls into question what the Padres will do with him this offseason. San Diego is committed to Eric Hosmer at first base and has a host of of other outfielders, after all, and Myers has come up in recent trade speculation. However, despite Myers’ so-so production from 2017-18 and the remaining $64MM on his contract, it seems the Padres remain bullish on him. Indeed, they’re not going to trade Myers for anything but “the right offer,” Cassavell notes. His presence may make one or more of his fellow Padres outfielders expendable, though Cassavell suggests it’s no sure thing they’ll trade anyone from the group.
- Having lost Jordy Mercer in free agency, the Pirates have spoken to the Diamondbacks about shortstop Nick Ahmed this week, Adam Berry of MLB.com reports. The defensively adept Ahmed, 28, is coming off a career-best offensive season, albeit one in which he still hit just .234/.290/.411 (84 wRC+) in 564 plate appearances. He’s under control for two more years and will make a projected $3.1MM in 2019. That would be an affordable sum for Pittsburgh, but Berry explains that the team’s content to roll with in-house shortops Erik Gonzalez and Kevin Newman if it doesn’t land Ahmed or another veteran option.
- It’s well-documented that the Nationals could lose one of their elite players, outfielder Bryce Harper, to free agency this year. And the team may be in a similar position 12 months from now if third baseman Anthony Rendon, who’s entering a contract year, doesn’t sign an extension. However, general manager Mike Rizzo is optimistic the Nationals will prevent Rendon from leaving, Jamal Collier of MLB.com writes. “I think Anthony wants to be here, I think he wants to be here long term,” Rizzo said. “And we want him here. Hopefully there’s a deal that transpires out of goodwill between the two sides.” According to agent Scott Boras (also Harper’s representative), Washington’s “very aware” of what it has in Rendon, who has “been in the top 10 players in the game in the last three or four years.” Boras is always one to talk up his clients, but he’s not exaggerating in Rendon’s case, as the 28-year-old ranks seventh among position players in fWAR (17.3) dating back to 2016.