Morning Mets Notes: New York Looking to Make Trades to Clear 40-Man Roster

We’re getting down to crunch time with regard to finalizing the Opening Day roster for Major League organizations, and it’s going to be rough for the Mets; they need to make multiple moves to clear roster space for players like Omar Quintanilla, Aaron Laffey, LaTroy Hawkins, Scott Atchison, and Marlon Byrd. So, word on the street is Sandy Alderson is willing to trade non-core prospects to clear roster space instead of putting them on waivers.

Mar 11, 2012; Lakeland, FL, USA; New York Mets relief pitcher Jenrry Mejia (32) pitches against the Detroit Tigers during the game at Joker Marchant Stadium. The Mets beat the Tigers 11-0. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

This makes sense, as the Mets would like to get something in return for the players they have to take off the roster instead of losing them to other teams via waivers. Who exactly is available? Reese Havens, Juan Lugares, Cesar Puello, Gonzalez German, Elvin Ramirez, Darin Gorski, and Hansel Robles. It will be interesting to see if any teams have interest in these players, but Adam Rubin has a good feeling each will clear waivers and remain under New York’s control for their minor league assignment. It’s similar to what they did last season by sending Quintanilla to Baltimore for cash; they knew he’d be picked up by someone else, so they figured it’d be best to get something in return instead of just letting him walk. Amongst the players available via trade, none of them performed well enough in the spring to create a lot of interest from opposing organizations, and Robles and Gorski (which could be the most attractive) still need a good amount of seasoning in the minors before they’re ready for the Bigs.

There was plenty of news and notes coming out of PSL yesterday, and Danny Abriano put it all in one place for you to review. Jeremy Hefner got hit with a Carlos Beltran comebacker, but he’s thankfully going to be OK. However, Jenrry Mejia is not OK, and will be out for six weeks with elbow inflammation. He’s been instructed to not throw for two weeks, then go through a month-long throwing program to get back into game shape. The Mets could have used him in place of Shaun Marcum, who now has neck pain, and will likely start the season on the DL. Adam Rubin says Aaron Laffey will be the insurance plan for the rotation if Marcum is out for a prolonged period of time.

New York dropped their Grapefruit League match-up to the Cardinals yesterday, 11-4. Although most of the attention went to Hefner’s potential injury, Lucas Duda hit his fifth homer of the spring in a 3-for-4 performance, and Marlon Byrd added two more hits. You can get your Rising Apple recap right here.

There were plenty of solid articles to read up on at Rising Apple yesterday. Michael Lecolant stepped into a time machine to give you a season preview of the 1973 NL Champion Mets, while Sam Maxwell gave you part three of a four-part series featuring a Q&A from author Ira Berkow, who most recently wrote the book, Summers at Shea. The staff put together their playoff predictions as part of our 2013 MLB season preview series, and Danny told us why talking about Zack Wheeler being inserted into the Big League rotation now needs to stop.

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