Minor MLB Transactions: 12/16/17
The latest minor moves from around baseball:
- The Rockies have signed utilityman Shawn O’Malley to a minor league contract with an invitation to big league camp, Bob Dutton of Baseball America reports on Twitter. The switch-hitting, 29-year-old O’Malley has collected 305 major league plate appearances since debuting in 2014, batting a combined .231/.315/.317 with the Angels and Mariners and playing all over the diamond (every outfield spot, second base, shortstop and third). An appendectomy and arthroscopic shoulder surgery helped keep O’Malley out of the majors last year and limit him to 120 PAs between Seattle’s Double-A and Triple-A affiliates.
- Utilityman Ronny Rodriguez announced on Instagram that he’s joining the Tigers on a minor league deal (h/t: Evan Woodbery of MLive.com). Rodriguez had spent his entire pro career with the division-rival Indians since signing out of the Dominican Republic in 2010. He never cracked the majors with the Tribe, though, instead topping out at Triple-A. The 25-year-old played at the minors’ highest level from 2016-17 and hit a respectable .274/.308/.427 in 971 PAs. Rodriguez has seen action at every position but pitcher, catcher and left field during his minor league career, as Woodbery notes.
- The Brewers announced the re-signing of 24-year-old right-hander Angel Ventura to a minors pact. Ventura, whom the Brewers signed out of the Dominican in 2011, owns a 3.96 ERA with 8.1 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 across 534 minor league innings with the organization (130 appearances, 67 starts)
Dodgers Acquire Matt Kemp For Adrian Gonzalez, Kazmir, McCarthy, Culberson
In a stunning swap of big contracts, the Dodgers have traded first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, left-hander Scott Kazmir, right-hander Brandon McCarthy and infielder Charlie Culberson to the Braves in exchange for outfielder Matt Kemp. The Braves will also receive $4.5MM in cash. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic was the first to report news of the trade. Furthermore, Mark Bowman of MLB.com adds that the Braves have already designated Gonzalez for assignment. A source close to Rosenthal tells him that the Dodgers are likely to trade or release Kemp (Twitter link).
There’s a ton to unpack here, but the biggest motivator of the trade appears to be money, and more specifically luxury tax implications for the Dodgers. Rosenthal notes in another tweet that the trade is “effectively cash-neutral overall,” but adds that the swap will put the Dodgers below the $197MM luxury tax threshold for the 2018 season. That will allow the Dodgers to reset the escalating luxury tax penalties, which seems to have been a significant objective for the club this offseason. The money owed to Kemp is spread out across the 2018-2019 seasons, while Gonzalez, Kazmir and McCarthy all have just one year remaining on their contracts.
Rosenthal offers further clarification yet, as he points out that the Dodgers have paid the luxury tax for five consecutive seasons. Their penalty for 2017 was over $30MM, but if they keep their payroll below $197MM, their penalty will drop from 50% on the overage to 20% the next time they exceed the luxury tax threshold.
Joel Sherman reports in his own tweet that the Braves are planning to release Gonzalez, but can’t do so until Monday since MLB teams can’t release players on weekends during the offseason. Gonzalez actually had to waive his no-trade clause in order to make this trade possible, and Bob Nightengale of USA Today Sports reports that he did so mainly because the Dodgers told him he’d be buried on the bench and receive limited at-bats.
[RELATED: Updated Dodgers Depth Chart; Updated Braves Depth Chart]
As for the Braves, the $4.5MM they’ll get in the deal will even out the overall dollars swapped in the trade (hat tip to Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports). GM Alex Anthopoulos says that McCarthy satisfies the team’s “desire to add a veteran starter,” while Culberson fills their need for a bench player (via Mark Bowman of MLB.com). Kazmir has some upside as a rotation piece too.
Not insignificant is the fact that the Dodgers have opened up multiple spots on their 40-man roster, including one that was already earmarked for Tom Koehler, with whom the Dodgers have recently agreed to a one-year deal.
Kemp, 33, was a sixth-round selection of the Dodgers back in 2003. He made his major league debut in 2007, and went on to have some great seasons for Los Angeles, including a 2011 campaign in which he finished as the runner-up in the MVP voting. Later that year, the club signed the outfielder to an eight-year, $160MM extension. Not long after that, his performance began to decline; Kemp has only topped 1 WAR once in the past four seasons as his contract has been tossed between the Padres, Braves and Dodgers. For the 2017 season, Kemp hit .276/.318/.463, making him a roughly average major league hitter (100 wRC+). However, his poor defense in the outfield dropped his overall value to -0.5 fWAR.
Gonzalez, now 35 years of age, went to the Marlins with the number one overall pick in the 2000 draft. His breakout season came with the Padres in 2006; that year began a streak of ten consecutive seasons wherein the left-handed-hitting first baseman posted at least 2.9 fWAR. Across those years, he posted a .292/.366/.501 slash line and mashed 283 homers. This past season, however, Gonzalez battled injuries throughout the year and didn’t hit well when healthy; he amassed only 252 plate appearances across 71 games with the Dodgers and managed a career-worst .355 slugging percentage. All told, Gonzalez was valued at 1.1 wins below replacement level.
Kazmir’s story is a roller coaster of sorts; he was a great pitcher during his early years with the then-Devil Rays, including a 2007 season in which he posted a 3.48 ERA with 239 strikeouts across 206 2/3 innings. However, Kazmir began to struggle with injuries and ineffectiveness in 2009, and though he experienced a resurgence in July that prompted a trade to the Angels, his ERA during the 2009 postseason was an ugly 7.59. Those struggles continued into the 2010 season, and by 2011 Kazmir was pitching for the Angels’ Triple-A affiliate and was cut before June was over. After spending 2012 out of MLB entirely, the Indians took a chance on him in 2013, and he rewarded them with a 4.04 ERA (and 3.51 FIP) campaign that earned him the Comeback Player of the Year Award. He signed a two-year deal with the Athletics the following offseason, and seemed to be “back.” The Dodgers signed Kazmir to a three-year, $48MM deal, but the injury bug struck once again, marring his 2016 performance and keeping him off the field entirely in 2017.
The 34-year-old McCarthy has a career 4.15 ERA across 1,145 big league innings with the White Sox, Rangers, Athletics, Diamondbacks, Yankees and Dodgers. He’s generally provided value while on the field, but has only topped 140 innings twice in his twelve-year career. Part of that can be attributed to injuries, including a 2015 Tommy John surgery when he famously noted on Twitter that “31 years is a lot to ask for from a ligament.” During the past two seasons, he’s put up a 4.27 ERA while striking out 116 batters in 132 2/3 innings.
Based on his age and team control, the soon-to-be 29-year-old Culberson is the one player in this deal who looks capable of being a long-term piece. The Georgia native won’t even be eligible for arbitration until next winter, meaning the Braves could control him for the next four seasons. The righty-hitting Culberson hasn’t found much big league success since debuting in 2012, though, having hit just .229/.269/.321 in 443 PAs with three NL West clubs – the Giants, Rockies and Dodgers. Culberson racked up a mere 83 trips to the plate in two seasons with the Dodgers, but he did swat a couple dramatic homers during his LA tenure.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Cardinals Sign Luke Gregerson
Dec. 16: Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports tweets a breakdown of Gregerson’s contract. The reliever is guaranteed $5MM in both 2018 and 2019, with a vesting option for 2020 that requires him to appear in either 60 games in 2019 or 130 games total in 2018 and 2019 combined. It also appears as though he must be healthy for the option to vest on the latter condition. Gregerson can earn up to $1MM in incentives.
Dec. 13: The deal is now official, Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com tweets.
Dec 10: The Cardinals and free agent reliever Luke Gregerson have agreed to a two-year, $11MM contract with an option, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports (via Twitter). It’ll be a $5MM club option or a $6MM vesting option (with a $1MM buyout), Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweets. The option will vest at 60 games in 2019 or 130 games from 2018-19, Nightengale adds. He’ll make $5MM in both guaranteed years of the pact, per Ken Davidoff of the New York Post (Twitter link).
[RELATED: Updated Cardinals Depth Chart]
The deal is pending a physical, which Gregerson will take Tuesday, according to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Twitter link). Gregerson is an O’Connell Sports Management client.
This will be the second stint with the St. Louis organization for the right-handed Gregerson, whom the Cardinals selected in the 28th round of the 2006 draft. Gregerson never got past the Double-A level during his first go-around with the franchise, though, as the Redbirds traded him to the Padres in 2009 in a deal involving shortstop Khalil Greene.
Gregerson made his major league debut the same year of the trade and quickly became a highly effective member of the Padres’ bullpen. He stuck with the Friars through 2013 before pitching for the Athletics (2014) and Astros (2015-17). Although the 33-year-old Gregerson has never been a hard thrower, he has nonetheless registered excellent numbers across 599 innings, with a 3.02 ERA, 9.12 K/9, 2.55 BB/9 and a 50.9 percent groundball rate. Gregerson has been quite durable along the way, having never pitched fewer than 55 2/3 frames in any season, and he brings experience as a setup man and a closer.
Although Gregerson is coming off a season in which he recorded a career-worst 4.57 ERA as a member of the title-winning Astros, his year wasn’t devoid of positives. With 61 innings, he eclipsed the 60-frame mark for the sixth time. Gregerson also continued to put up appealing strikeout, walk and groundball numbers (10.33, 2.95 and 50.0 in those respective categories), and he notched the third-highest swinging-strike rate of his career (15.6 percent).
If the career-worst home run-to-fly ball rate (23.6 percent) Gregerson logged in 2017 proves to be an aberration, he should be a quality piece for a Cards bullpen in need of aid. With Trevor Rosenthal, Seung Hwan Oh, Juan Nicasio and Zach Duke currently on the open market, St. Louis has been on the lookout for relief help since last season concluded. Gregerson may be the first of multiple pickups this offseason for the club’s bullpen, and he’s clearly the most established member of a group that includes a few solid holdovers in Brett Cecil, Tyler Lyons, Matthew Bowman, Sam Tuivailala and John Brebbia.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Rockies Sign Bryan Shaw
Dec. 16: Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports breaks down Shaw’s contract in a tweet, noting that the right-hander will earn $7.5MM in 2018, $8.5MM in 2019, and $9MM in 2020. The contract comes with a $9MM vesting option for 2021, which will vest if Shaw either makes 60 appearances or finishes 40 games in 2020. Alternatively, the option vests if he makes 110 appearances combined from 2019-2020. If Shaw doesn’t hit those marks, however, the option has a $2MM buyout. The deal also offers the righty $4MM in incentives.
Dec. 15: The Rockies have formally announced the signing of Shaw to a three-year deal.
Dec. 13: Shaw is expected to command a $27MM guarantee over three years, Heyman tweets.
Dec. 12: The Rockies have agreed to a deal with free agent righty Bryan Shaw, Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports reports (Twitter link). Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported earlier tonight (Twitter links) that talks between the two sides are “advanced” and “nearly done.” The deal is a three-year contract that will pay Shaw in the area of $9MM per season, according to ESPN.com’s Buster Olney, who also tweeted earlier today that teams believed Shaw and fellow right-hander Tommy Hunter already had agreements in place. Shaw is a client of Rowley Sports Management.
Shaw has posted strong numbers during his seven seasons with the D’Backs and Indians, with a career 3.13 ERA, 2.64 K/BB rate and 8.0 K/9 over 446 1/3 relief innings. The durable righty has never spent any time on the disabled list and leads all pitchers with 442 appearances between 2013-17. He owns a 50.6% career ground ball rate, which will serve him well at Coors Field, though Shaw has also been known to have been hurt by the home run ball. His 0.6 HR/9 in 2017 was his lowest such number in the last four seasons, however.
Shaw has 11 saves in his career but has never really worked as a closer, rather primarily serving as Cody Allen‘s setup man in Cleveland. It would seem as if the Rockies may also intend to use Shaw in a setup role, as the team has been connected to such established closers as Wade Davis and former Rockie Greg Holland on the rumor mill. Bullpen reinforcement was a stated goal for Colorado this winter, with Holland, Pat Neshek (who has signed with the Phillies), and Jake McGee all hitting the free agent market.
Several teams had interest in Shaw this winter, and he was weighing multiple three-year offers, including one from the Mets. Newsday’s Marc Carig recently speculated that Shaw could have waiting to see if he landed a deal from a team (like the Rockies) that holds its Spring Training in Arizona, where Shaw and his family have a home.
MLB Trade Rumors ranked Shaw 25th on our list of the winter’s Top 50 Free Agents, predicting him for a three-year deal worth $21MM. Landing a deal with a rough average annual value of $9MM is a nice get for Shaw’s representatives, and another sign of how heavily teams are valuing relief pitching this winter. Neshek’s two-year deal with the Phillies guarantees him $16.25MM, while Brandon Morrow found two years and $21MM from the Cubs and Luke Gregerson two years and $11MM from the Cardinals.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Cubs Sign Steve Cishek
Dec. 16: The Cubs have announced the signing. Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune reports that the two-year deal is worth $13MM. Chris Cotillo of MLB Daily Dish adds that the deal includes up to $1MM in performance escalators based on appearances.
Dec. 14: The Cubs have agreed to terms with righty Steve Cishek, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (via Twitter). Once he passes a physical, the Jet Sports Management client is expected to receive a two-year deal worth somewhere in the range of $12MM to $14MM, per ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick (via Twitter).
Cishek, 31, has had a few ups and downs at times in recent years and has played with four organizations in the past three seasons. For the most part, though, he has continued to function as a quality setup option.
In the 2017 campaign, Cishek opened with the Mariners and ended up moving to the Rays via mid-season trade. With an excellent push down the stretch in Tampa Bay, he ended the season with 44 2/3 innings of 2.01 ERA ball and 8.3 K/9 with 2.8 BB/9. As usual, Cishek was tough to square up; he permitted just 26 base hits and three total home runs on the season.
Those results came despite a notable velocity drop from Cishek, who delivered his two-seam fastball at less than 91 mph for the first time in his career. His slider came in eight ticks slower than it did in his debut season, continuing a trend, though it also gained horizontal movement.
The sidearming Cishek will offer a different look out of a re-worked Cubs pen. He joins Brandon Morrow as multi-year free agent additions for Chicago thus far. It still seems likely the organization will look for additional pieces over the coming weeks.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Twins Sign Fernando Rodney
Dec. 16: Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweets some updated details on Rodney’s contract, noting that his $4.5MM guarantee comes in the form of a $4.25MM 2018 salary and a $250K buyout on a 2019 club option. Rodney will also earn an additional $1.5MM if he finishes 55 games in the upcoming season, or $1MM if he makes 65 appearances. In a subsequent tweet, Nightengale further specifies that the reliever will make $300K per five games finished, starting with his 35th game and ending at 55 games.
Dec. 15: The Twins have announced the signing. Rodney told reporters in a conference call that he was indeed told that he’d have the opportunity to step into the Twins’ ninth-inning vacancy (Twitter link via MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger).
Dec. 14, 10:35am: Mish now corrects his report (via Twitter): Rodney is only promised $4.5MM and can earn another $1.5MM via incentives, it turns out. There’s also an option for the 2019 season, Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com tweets.
10:28am: The Twins have struck a deal with free agent righty Fernando Rodney, according to Craig Mish of MLB Network Radio (Twitter links). He’ll receive a $4.5MM guarantee on a one-year term upon passing a physical, becoming the latest in a long line of relievers to secure significant annual salaries in an otherwise sluggish free agent market.
Rodney is nearing his 41st birthday but still brings a power arsenal to the table and drew interest from multiple organizations. And he has ample experience in the late innings, making it seem likely that he’ll step into the Twins’ open closer role.
While the veteran hurler managed only a 4.23 ERA on the season in 2017, he did save 39 games for the Diamondbacks. The runs tended to come in bursts, too, as Rodney gave up three or more on five separate occasions but did not allow an opponent to cross the plate in fifty of his 61 appearances.
Those clean frames don’t often come without baserunners, of course, as Rodney has a long-established penchant for doling out quite a few free passes. He averaged 4.2 per nine in two of the past three seasons and 5.1 per nine in 2016.
That often makes for an adventure — as it’s familiarly known, The Fernando Rodney Experience — but there are reasons that Rodney is still often effective. He continues to generate strong groundball numbers (52.2% in 2017), doesn’t allow many long balls (0.67 per nine for his career), and still generates a healthy number of swings and misses (12.2% in 2017) with an arsenal predicated on mid-nineties heat and a devastating change.
[Related: Updated Minnesota Twins depth chart]
For the time being, Rodney projects to join impressive sophomore Trevor Hildenberger, Ryan Pressly and Tyler Duffey as right-handed options at the back of the Minnesota bullpen, with Taylor Rogers serving as the primary left-handed setup option. Of course, there’s still plenty of room for the Twins to supplement that relief corps both in free agency and on the trade market.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Mets Sign Anthony Swarzak
The Mets have announced their deal with righty Anthony Swarzak, as Marc Carig of Newsday first reported (via Twitter). It’ll be a two-year, $14MM contract for the Jet Sports Management client, according to Carig. Swarzak will take home a $1MM signing bonus and then salaries of $5MM and $8MM, per Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (via Twitter).
Swarzak, 32, will bolster the late-inning mix for the Mets, who had stated all winter long that the bullpen was a priority. He was the option chosen after New York failed to land a few other targets, Carig notes.
Of course, the veteran looks to be a nice consolation prize. After all, he turned in 77 1/3 innings of 2.33 ERA ball, with 10.6 K/9 against 2.6 BB/9, in a strong 2017 campaign.
That was a notable breakout for a reliever that had only once previously allowed less than four earned runs per nine over a full MLB campaign. The eight-year veteran owns a lifetime 4.22 ERA in 561 1/3 career frames.
While it’s easy to raise an eyebrow at the idea that Swarzak can sustain the improvement, there was more to it than sample fortune. The veteran clearly found something, as he turned in a personal-best 95.0 mph average fastball and a 14.0% swinging-strike rate that dwarfed anything he had shown previously. The velo boost was also evident in Swarzak’s slider, which was quite a different pitch than it was in most of his prior work. He was equally effective against lefties and righties in his sparkling campaign, MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo notes on Twitter.
For the Mets, the move gives new skipper Mickey Callaway one more arm to call upon when the game is on the line. Deepening the relief corps as much as the organization hopes may still require further acquisitions, though perhaps not at this contractual magnitude. Since the club was chasing some higher-priced pieces that have since signed elsewhere, it’s also possible that there could be some extra cash available for further relief moves or to address other needs.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Minor MLB Transactions: 12/15/17
Here are the notable minor moves from the day:
- Righty Alex Wimmers has signed with the Marlins on a deal that includes a spring invite, MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro tweets. The 29-year-old, a former first-round pick, has appeared in each of the past two seasons in the majors with the Twins, but has struggled mightily with his control in limited action at the game’s highest level. In his 47 1/3 innings at Triple-A in 2017, Wimmers worked to a 3.23 ERA with 9.1 K/9 versus 2.1 BB/9.
- Also joining the Marlins is outfielder Rafael Ortega. The 26-year-old struggled in an extended run with the Angels in 2016 and spent all of the ensuing season at Triple-A. He did show well there, posting 472 plate appearances of .317/.383/.468 hitting with six home runs and 26 stolen bases. Depending upon how many open outfield spots remain when camp opens, it’s certainly possible Ortega could push for a spot on the active roster.
- The Nationals have brought back lefty Tim Collins on another minors deal, Jorge Castillo of the Washington Post reports on Twitter. Collins, who is still just 28, pitched competitively for the first time since 2014 during his recent minor-league run with the Nats. He walked 14 and allowed 15 earned runs in his 17 1/3 frames across three levels of the minors, but did at least pick up 23 strikeouts in his preliminary effort to return from consecutive Tommy John procedures. Before the unfortunate health downturn, Collins had turned in 211 frames of 3.54 ERA ball over four seasons with the Royals.
Rangers Acquire Matt Moore
The Rangers have officially acquired lefty Matt Moore from the Giants. Texas will also add $750K of international bonus pool spending capacity while shipping minor-league righties Sam Wolff and Israel Cruz to San Francisco.
With the move, the Giants have cut loose a pitcher that was slated to open the season as part of the organization’s rotation. As a peak at the club’s depth chart shows, the organization doesn’t exactly have an established player ready to step in, though there surely are options. Chris Stratton and Ty Blach will likely enter camp as the favorites to round out the starting unit, with pitchers such as Tyler Beede, Andrew Suarez, and Joan Gregorio also in the picture in the near future.
GM Bobby Evans says that his organization will reallocate Moore’s $9MM salary to upgrade elsewhere. (H/t Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area, via Twitter.) Certainly, the organization has been looking to add power bats all offseason long, and it’s evident now that the goal is to do so without running afoul of the $197MM luxury tax line. Evans says the club’s “focus remains to strengthen our outfield defense and our everyday lineup.” Of course, there are limits to what kind of asset can be had for the level of payroll capacity that was freed with this trade, though further dealing could open more space.
For the Rangers, Moore will fill out a southpaw-heavy starting staff — now and, perhaps, in 2019, as he can be kept at a $10MM price (or turned onto the open market with a $750K buyout). The organization has aggressively pursued pitching this offseason, with this acquisition following earlier moves that brought in Mike Minor, Doug Fister, Chris Martin, and Tony Barnette. Click here to see the updated depth chart after the move. While the Rangers have given some indication of pursuing a higher-end rotation option, at this point the staff seems mostly set unless a new opportunity arises and the organization finds a way to make all the pieces fit.
In Moore, they’ll add a hurler who seemed on his way to establishing himself as a top-end starter before Tommy John surgery intervened. Moore looked to rebound somewhat in 2016, the year in which he was shipped from the Rays to the Giants in a deadline deal that sent Matt Duffy and prospects to Tampa Bay. The southpaw ended the year with a 4.08 ERA over 198 1/3 innings, with 8.1 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9.
The Giants’ belief at that point was surely that Moore would at least continue to provide quite a few solid innings, with perhaps some hope that he’d make yet further strides. But his 2017 follow-up effort fell flat, as Moore’s velocity trended down and his swinging-strike rate sat at a full-season-low 8.6% rate. He ended the year with 174 1/3 frames of 5.52 ERA ball. Though he managed a fairly typical 7.6 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9, Moore was harmed by a 1.39 HR/9 rate.
While the primary motivation here is likely financial, the Giants will add two arms in the process. The 26-year-old Wolff had some success upon moving to the bullpen in 2017, posting a cumulative 2.93 ERA with 12.3 K/9 and 4.0 BB/9 over 43 innings split about evenly between Double-A and Triple-A. That said, he is expected to miss significant time due to injury in 2017, per ESPN.com’s Keith Law (via Twitter). Cruz, 20, has yet to advance past the Rookie ball level, where he struggled to a 5.91 ERA but did manage 11.8 K/9 against 4.5 BB/9 in 32 innings in 2017.
John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle reported the deal (Twitter link). Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area (via Twitter), ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick (via Twitter), and Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (via Twitter) all added components of the return. Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News (via Twitter) reported the amount of international bonus pool capacity.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Mets Sign Jose Lobaton
The Mets have inked a minors deal with veteran catcher Jose Lobaton, per a team announcement. He’ll receive an invitation to MLB camp next spring.
Lobaton, a 33-year-old switch-hitter, has played for the division-rival Nationals for the past four seasons. While he is generally regarded as a reliable asset behind the dish, Lobaton has limped to a .210/.281/.307 batting line over 657 plate appearances during his tenure in D.C.
While he’s an established MLB asset, Lobaton’s struggles of late always made it seem likely he’d end up settling for a minor-league arrangement. Catching depth is always important to have, though, and Lobaton will certainly rate among the better insurance policies around the game.
Perhaps it’s not too soon to fully rule out a run at a MLB roster spot for Lobaton. Current Mets options Travis d’Arnaud (who’s projected to earn $3.4MM in arbitration) and Kevin Plawecki (who’s out of options) have certainly had their share of ups and downs, after all. But it seems quite likely the Mets will open the 2018 season with those two players sharing time behind the dish.