Wilmer Flores

Wilmer Flores Out For Remainder Of Season

By Steve Adams | September 7, 2017 at 3:24pm CDT

The Mets announced on Thursday that infielder Wilmer Flores’ season is over due to a broken nose that he sustained this past weekend. As MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo tweets, the team had hoped that Flores would be able to return at some point this week, but today’s reexamination of the injury apparently altered that trajectory.

Flores, who turned 26 last month, turned his second consecutive above-average campaign at the plate, although this also makes for a second straight injury-shortened season as well. In 362 plate appearances, Flores batted .271/.307/.488 (105 OPS+, 106 wRC+) with a career-high 18 homers.

Flores posted a 35.4 percent hard-hit rate that is easily a career-high — a mark that was buoyed by improving his hard contact against right-handed pitching by a considerable seven percentage points. A right-handed hitter, Flores was characteristically strong against lefties this year, but he also turned in a respectable .262/.306/.459 mark against same-handed pitching, which bodes well for his offensive output in future seasons.

This offseason will be the second trip through arbitration for Flores, who will be in line for a nice raise on this year’s modest $2.2MM salary. With four years and three days of Major League service time, Flores won’t reach the open market until the completion of the 2019 season, at which point he’ll be a relatively young free agent (heading into his age-28 season).

David Wright To Undergo Shoulder Surgery; T.J. Rivera To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

By Steve Adams | September 4, 2017 at 9:59am CDT

The Mets made another series of medical updates today, with the most significant news of the bunch being that infielders David Wright and T.J. Rivera will undergo surgery. Wright will have his right rotator cuff repaired, while Rivera will undergo Tommy John surgery to repair the partially torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow (with which he was diagnosed in late July). Additionally, left-hander Josh Edgin will have arthroscopic surgery on his left knee, and the Mets confirmed that Michael Conforto will undergo surgery to repair the posterior capsule in his left shoulder this week.

In more non-surgical updates, the Mets announced that Noah Syndergaard will make another rehab appearance on Thursday, while Wilmer Flores has sustained a broken nose and Amed Rosario has a contusion on his right index finger.

For Wright, the shoulder procedure in the latest of a seemingly ceaseless cavalcade of setbacks as he attempts to get back onto the field. The Mets’ captain hasn’t appeared in a big league game since May 1 of last season, and he has already undergone surgery to repair a herniated disk in his neck over what is now shaping up to be a potential two-year layoff from Major League activity. Despite his considerable health issues, Wright is reportedly not considering retirement (as the Post’s Mike Puma wrote last week).

As for Rivera, it’s critical to note that the recovery process for position players that undergo Tommy John surgery is significantly shorter than it is for pitchers. Rather than the standard recovery of 12-plus months for pitchers, Rivera could conceivably be ready for action at some point early in the 2018 campaign. The Mets, however, have yet to provide any sort of timeline and likely won’t do so until the operation has been performed.

That holds true of Conforto as well, though there’s been no shortage of ink dedicated to the ominous nature of his injury. Capsule tears are significant and uncommon injuries, creating the possibility that Conforto will be sidelined for a notable chunk of the 2018 campaign.

As far as Edgin is concerned, the knee issue could mark the end of his tenure with the organization. The 30-year-old had already been outrighted off the 40-man roster, and this injury means that the Mets won’t select his contract and bring him back to the Majors. Edgin has enough service time to elect free agency following the campaign if not on the 40-man, and while he could always re-sign to return to the organization, he’ll now be able to field interest from all 29 other clubs as well.

Latest On Mets’ Deadline Plans: Bruce, Granderson, Walker, Cabrera

By Jeff Todd | July 19, 2017 at 9:37pm CDT

It’s tough to imagine at this point that the Mets won’t end up selling a few players at the deadline, but just how many will move remains to be seen. The uncertainty doesn’t really involve the team’s willingness to deal away controllable assets — all indications are it won’t, perhaps barring a surprising offer. Instead, as explored below, there are some questions regarding the short-term veterans that the team is almost certainly willing to trade.

The Mets have received only tepid interest thus far in veteran outfielders Jay Bruce and Curtis Granderson, according to a report from Ken Rosenthal of MLB Network. Perhaps that’s unsurprising, given the inability of the Tigers to draw top-tier prospect talent for elite slugger J.D. Martinez. Both Bruce and Granderson are performing rather well, but neither is to Martinez’s standard and each earns at a higher rate ($13MM and $15MM, respectively).

All that being said, it’s still hard to imagine that these two players wouldn’t represent upgrades for many teams. Both are producing at quality rates — Bruce for the entire season, Granderson since a terrible opening month (though he has been limited by injury of late). Notably, too, New York is amenable to paying down some of their remaining salary obligations, per Rosenthal, if that means enhancing the prospect return.

One interesting element of the Mets’ decisionmaking is the possibility of issuing a qualifying offer to Bruce after the season, as Rosenthal suggests could be the case. If the team is indeed willing to pay him at a steep one-year rate, were he to accept (or recoup draft compensation if not), then that would suggest a higher barrier to a trade. Retaining Bruce does appear to be a plausible strategy given the club’s evident hopes of bouncing back in 2018, particularly since the team’s other top left-handed bat, first baseman Lucas Duda, will enter free agency (and may yet be traded away first). Dealing Granderson instead might help the team avoid an awkward playing time scenario; according to the report, the Mets are telling these two veterans, as well as long-term assets Yoenis Cespedes and Michael Conforto, that the reps will be split evenly at least until the deadline.

Granderson doesn’t appear likely to factor in the Mets’ plans beyond the current season regardless. And he suggests Howie Kussoy of the New York Post that retirement is at least a possibility as soon as the coming offseason. “I’ve made my peace with it,” Granderson says of the eventual end of his playing career. “I’m going to enjoy this season. If an opportunity presents itself for me to play, that’s great. If not, I’ve had a great run and I enjoyed it. … We’ll see what happens, but there are other things I know I want to do.” That statement is hardly a clear sign, given that Granderson is sure to draw interest, but it does bear watching as his next stint on the open market draws near.

As the outfield situation awaits resolution, the team is also surely weighing its options with some veteran infielders. Second baseman Neil Walker is finally ready for a rehab assignment to test his hamstring, beginning on Friday, per MLB.com’s Chris Bumbaca. If all goes well, it seems that Walker could be back in the majors in time to prove his health in advance of the deadline. Though Walker’s $17.2MM salary makes him a possible August trade chip as well, that’s still of note. After all, teams considering second base upgrades may need to make final decisions on alternatives by the end of the month.

Meanwhile, the return of Walker will presumably push Asdrubal Cabrera off of the position that he reluctantly took over recently. According to Newsday’s Marc Carig, Cabrera will prepare to shift over to third base (with Jose Reyes presumably remaining at short, at least until the team decides it’s time to promote Amed Rosario). That’s a nod to the logistics, but perhaps will also allow possible suitors an opportunity to evaluate Cabrera at the hot corner, which he has manned just once previously in the majors. It’s also possible that the Mets could weigh Cabrera as a candidate there for 2018, given that the team could still pick up his option.

Finally, Carig also touches upon the status of two other Mets infielders, T.J. Rivera and Wilmer Flores. Both have drawn some trade inquiries, but it seems the Mets are rather uninterested in trading the controllable options. Indeed, Adam Rubin tweets that a source tells him the Mets “asked for an obscene return” when approached by another organization.

Red Sox Notes: Flores, Devers, Swihart, Frazier

By Steve Adams | July 19, 2017 at 8:42am CDT

After a great deal of speculation and legions of rumors connecting the Red Sox to Todd Frazier, the now-former White Sox third baseman instead went to the division-rival Yankees in a huge seven-player trade last night. Boston was linked to Frazier right up until the end, but they’ll now look elsewhere as they seek an upgrade at the hot corner. Here’s the latest out of Boston…

The Red Sox have been connected to multiple other third basemen, and FanRag’s Jon Heyman adds Wilmer Flores of the Mets to the pile (Twitter link). Heyman notes that the Sox have scouted Flores, Asdrubal Cabrera and T.J. Rivera recently, which meshes with a recent report from the Boston Herald’s Michael Silverman. The 25-year-old Flores (26 next month) and his modest $2.2MM salary wouldn’t put the BoSox in danger of crossing the luxury tax threshold, and he’s versatile enough to slide into a utility role if/when the Red Sox ultimately give Rafael Devers the reins at third base. Flores is hitting .280/.310/.445 with seven homers and a dozen doubles this season, and he’s controllable through 2019.
Speaking of Devers, it may come as little surprise, but MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand hears that the 20-year-old top prospect isn’t available in any trade, as far as the Red Sox are concerned (Twitter link). Devers was recently moved up to Triple-A Pawtucket, and while it’s not known exactly how long he’ll remain there — Boston’s pursuit of third basemen in trades suggests that he’s not viewed as an immediate option — he’s believed to be their third baseman of the future. Devers recently landed within the game’s top six prospects on the midseason rankings of Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus and ESPN’s Keith Law.
Looking to another of Boston’s now-former top prospects, Blake Swihart is still unable to catch regularly following last year’s ankle injury and is beginning to work out at first base and third base, manager John Farrell told reporters (Twitter link via ESPN’s Scott Lauber). Once one of the very best prospects in all of baseball, Swihart’s stock is now seemingly at a low point with another experiment at a new defensive home and a lack of production in Pawtucket to this point in the season. Through 163 plate appearances there, he’s hitting .213/.265/.327 with three homers, six doubles and a triple.
Evan Drellich of CSN New England offers some praise for Red Sox president of baseball ops Dave Dombrowski for exhibiting restraint by not pulling out all the stops to bring Frazier to Boston. Dombrowski has spoken publicly about retaining some of the team’s prospect depth after several significant trades, Drellich writes, and he stuck to that last night. However, Drellich continues by noting that last night also serves as a reminder of the “harsher reality” that following the acquisitions of Chris Sale, Drew Pomeranz, Craig Kimbrel and Tyler Thornburg, the Sox have a lack of power in the current trade market. Most of those deals have paid dividends, of course (Sale, in particular), but a deal that significantly upgrades the team’s offense doesn’t look especially likely this year.

Alderson On Matz, Lugo, Familia, Duda, Flores

By charliewilmoth | April 29, 2017 at 1:52pm CDT

Mets GM Sandy Alderson spoke to reporters, including the Daily News’ Kristie Ackert, today. We already noted that Alderson said the team doesn’t think Yoenis Cespedes’ hamstring injury is very serious, but here’s more of what he related about the Mets’ outlook.

Lefty Steven Matz (who has been dealing with discomfort in his pitching elbow) and righty Seth Lugo (partially torn UCL) are both throwing up to 200 feet from flat ground and will begin throwing off the slope of the mound soon — perhaps tomorrow, Alderson said. Neither pitcher has yet appeared in a game this season; Lugo is trying to avoid Tommy John surgery with a platelet-rich plasma injection and rest. “The further along he gets the more optimistic we become,” said Alderson.
Alderson seemingly did not offer a full vote of confidence in closer Jeurys Familia, who has walked six batters in his first four innings this year after missing the first two weeks of the season to a domestic-violence suspension. “As of right now, do we have a closer? You tell me,” Alderson said. Nonetheless, Alderson said he is hoping for “things to settle in a little bit” and added that the Mets are not looking for bullpen help right now. Addison Reed, who collected four saves in the early going, would presumably close if Familia were to be bumped, temporarily or not, from the role.
First baseman Lucas Duda (hyperextended left elbow) played in his first game on a rehab assignment with Class A+ St. Lucie yesterday, and Alderson is hopeful that Duda can soon return to the big leagues. “He played last night. His comment after was he felt just about 100%, so hopefully it’s in the next two or three days,” said Alderson. “Monday might be a little early, but we’ll see.” Duda was off to a .238/.360/.571 start when the Mets placed him on the DL last Friday.
Infielder Wilmer Flores (right knee infection) will soon start a rehab assignment of his own, Alderson said. Flores hit the DL last Friday, the same day as Duda.

Mets Injury Updates: Duda, Flores, Cespedes, Cabrera, d’Arnaud

By Jeff Todd | April 21, 2017 at 6:25pm CDT

The health issues have begun to pile up for the Mets, who just began their first series of the year against the division-rival Nationals. Manager Terry Collins spoke with reporters (including MLB.com’s Danny Knobler) before the game and provided updates on several players:

First baseman Lucas Duda is heading to the DL after hyperextending his elbow in a collision at first base on Wednesday. It’s not known how long he’s expected to miss, but clearly the expectation is he needs at least a ten-day layoff. While the hot-hitting, left-handed slugger will be missed in the lineup, he’s actually a fairly easy player to replace for New York given the presence of three left-handed corner outfielders — including Jay Bruce, who’s playing at first again tonight.
Also hitting the 10-day DL is infielder Wilmer Flores, who is currently in the hospital for treatment of an infection in his right knee. It’s not immediately clear what it’ll take to get him back in working order, but he’s expected to remain hospitalized through the weekend, per the report.
Coming up to fill in for that pair are utilityman T.J. Rivera and lefty Sean Gilmartin. The latter is expected to function in a relief role, but could see a spot start. Jacob deGrom was unable to take the hill tonight after coming down with a stiff neck, but he’ll try again tomorrow. If the seemingly minor issue still proves problematic, then Gilmartin will step into the rotation briefly.
While those two DL placements were the only ones required at this point, there are several other key players who are too banged up to play tonight. Yoenis Cespedes will need a few days off to rest his hamstring, though it’s surely a good sign that he’s being kept on the active roster. Likewise, a hammy issue is holding back shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera, though he’s expected to be back in the lineup tomorrow. And backstop Travis d’Arnaud’s bruised wrist left him unable to throw well enough to suit up tonight, though it seems he too will be back in short order. While the club has a skeleton crew tonight, they’ll seek to get by without further roster shakeups for the time being.

East Notes: Blue Jays, Mets, Marlins, Yankees

By Connor Byrne | March 18, 2017 at 8:57am CDT

Agent Scott Boras is unhappy with the Blue Jays for not awarding pre-arb right-hander Aaron Sanchez a higher salary for 2017, but the star hurler doesn’t seem fazed. Sanchez told Paul Hagen of MLB.com he “absolutely” believes Blue Jays management values him, adding: “We just had a disagreement, and I want to leave it at that. There are no hard feelings between [general manager Ross Atkins] and I, between me and this organization. It’s time to go play baseball, really. All that other stuff isn’t relevant to me.” With his first trip through arbitration a year away, Sanchez, 24, will try to build on a sterling 2016 campaign in which he posted a 3.00 ERA, 7.55 K/9, 2.95 BB/9 and 54.4 percent ground-ball rate over 192 innings.

Wilmer Flores Wins Arbitration Hearing Against Mets

By Mark Polishuk | February 4, 2017 at 12:40pm CDT

Infielder Wilmer Flores has won his arbitration hearing with the Mets, FanRag Sports’ Jon Heyman reports (Twitter link). Flores, who was arb-eligible for the first time this winter, will earn $2.2MM for the 2017 season; the Mets had countered with a $1.8MM figure. Flores is represented by the McNamara Baseball Group.

Flores, 25, delivered something of a breakout offensive performance for the Mets in 2016, posting a career-best 112 wRC+ while hitting .267/.319/.469 with 16 homers over 335 plate appearances. Much of that damage came from against left-handed pitching, as Flores delivered a whopping 1.093 OPS over 107 PA against southpaws. He played a valuable utility role around the Mets’ infield, seeing action at all four spots but primarily serving as a third baseman in the wake of David Wright’s health issues.

Flores’ season was cut short on September 10 when he injured his wrist in a home-plate collision with A.J. Pierzynski, and he underwent hamate bone surgery in October to correct the problems. With the minor procedure now behind him, Flores is again expected to play an important role for the Mets. He and Jose Reyes will be the primary options at third should Wright again hit the DL, and Flores’ ability to hit lefty pitching makes him a strong compliment at first base alongside the left-handed hitting Lucas Duda.

The $2.2MM figure is slightly higher than the $1.9MM that MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected Flores would earn. With Flores’ case now in the books, the Mets’ busy winter of arbitration dealings is now complete; New York entered the offseason with 10 players eligible for arbitration. You can follow the numbers for every arbitration-eligible player in baseball via MLBTR’s Arbitration Tracker.

Wilmer Flores To Undergo Wrist Surgery

By Steve Adams | October 5, 2016 at 5:18pm CDT

Mets infielder Wilmer Flores will undergo surgery to have the hook of the hamate bone in his right wrist removed later this week, per reports from ESPN New York’s Adam Rubin (link) and Newsday’s Marc Carig (Twitter link). It’s not a major injury, and there was already a widespread expectation that Flores would miss the entire postseason, but Wednesday’s news ensures that Flores won’t return even if the Mets make another World Series run. He’ll have plenty of time to recover and be ready

Flores’ final game of the season came back on Sept. 10 against the Braves when he sustained an injury in a collision with catcher A.J. Pierzynski. While the injury has been termed a bone bruise since that time, manager Terry Collins told the media today that the issue was actually more severe, per Rubin.

Injuries and the offseason acquisitions of Asdrubal Cabrera and Neil Walker combined to limit Flores’ playing time in 2016, but he was more productive this season than last, batting .267/.319/.469 with 16 homers across 355 plate appearances. That homer total matched Flores’ 2015 output despite the fact that he received 175 fewer plate appearances in 2016. Flores will take that solid production into his first trip through the arbitration process this winter, as he figures to receive a considerably boost from his 2016 salary, which was scarcely more than the league minimum. With questions about Walker’s future with the team and David Wright’s long-term health, Flores should be an important cog in next year’s mix for infield playing time. New York can control him through the 2019 season via the aforementioned arbitration process.

NL Notes: Flores, Phillies, Jackson

By charliewilmoth | October 1, 2016 at 9:58am CDT

Mets infielder Wilmer Flores will be out the rest of the season, Mike Puma of the New York Post writes. Flores injured his wrist in a home-plate collision three weeks ago. “I’ve been trying for a few weeks, but the bottom line is I can’t swing,” Flores said. “I’m frustrated. I can’t go out there like that.” Even if the Mets were to advance as far as the World Series, they would probably be reluctant to use Flores after so much time away from game action. Flores has hit .267/.319/.469 this season, including a terrific .340/.383/.710 against lefties. He’s played all four infield positions this season. In particular, he gave the Mets a strong option at first base against left-handed pitching, as Puma notes. Both the Mets’ current first basemen, Lucas Duda and James Loney, are left-handed. Here’s more from the NL.

Manager Pete Mackanin met with various members of the Phillies’ front office Friday to discuss the team’s plans for the offseason, Todd Zolecki of MLB.com writes. Afterwards, Mackanin reiterated his desire for the organization to acquire a veteran bat or two, although he sounded realistic about how far the rebuilding Phils might be willing to go to find additional hitting talent. “I would like to get a good solid proven hitter somewhere on the field,” Mackanin said. “Where that is right now will be determined by who is available and what kind of a deal, if any, they could make. And if not we’ll try to find something from within that we think can help us or somebody could make a great impression in the spring. There’s so many ways to do that.” As Zolecki points out, the Phillies are likely more than one or two players away from being contenders, and so, as previous reporting has indicated, the Phillies might not want to spend heavily on moves designed to improve the 2017 team.
Veteran righty Edwin Jackson is set for free agency at the end of the season, but he’s interested in returning to the Padres, as MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell writes. “It’s definitely a place I’d like to come back to,” says Jackson. “A lot of positives and a lot of upside to the future of the organization. It’d be fun to be a part of it toward the end of my career.” Whether the Padres would have interest in Jackson is unclear, but he’s unlikely to be a sought-after free agent this winter after posting a 5.89 ERA, 6.5 K/9 and 4.4 BB/9 in 84 innings with San Diego and Miami.

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