Mets Have 40-Man Roster Decisions Looming

As Adam Rubin of ESPN New York points out in a report published earlier today, the Mets will have to make a ton of 40-man roster decisions in the days following the completion of the World Series.

March 23, 2013; Port St Lucie, FL, USA; New York Mets general manager Sandy Alderson takes in the spring training game against the Washington Nationals at Tradition Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Barr-USA TODAY Sports

Due to the fact that the Mets finished the season with eight players on the 60-day disabled list, the Mets basically finished the season with 48 players on the 40-man roster (the eight DL’ed players didn’t count at the time).

As Rubin points out, the Mets have to activate those players from the 60-day disabled list no longer than five days after the World Series ends.  Once that happens, the Mets will have to start subtracting other players from the 40-man roster.

In addition to adding the DL’ed players back onto the roster, the Mets will also have to add a number of prospects in order to protect them from being claimed in the Rule 5 draft (those players have to be added prior to November 20th).

The players Rubin lists as being the most likely to lose their spot on the 40-man roster are Jordany Valdespin, Scott Atchison, Greg Burke, Robert Carson, Sean Henn, Zach Lutz, Mike Baxter, Andrew Brown, and Kirk Nieuwenhuis.

Thoughts:

Of the nine vulnerable players Rubin listed above, I’d be in favor of removing all of them except Andrew Brown from the 40-man roster.  In addition, the Mets should be open to removing David Aardsma, Tim Byrdak, Pedro Feliciano, Frank Francisco (this should be a lock), Omar Quintanilla, Aaron Harang, and Daisuke Matsuzaka.

If the Mets removed all of those players, it would allow them to activate the players who ended the season on the 60-day disabled list, and give them the ability to protect eight prospects from the Rule 5 draft.  Among the prospects the Mets should be protecting, is left handed pitcher Steven Matz, who spent 2013 with Low-A Savannah, right handed pitcher Jacob deGrom, who split 2013 between Double-A Binghamton and Triple-A Las Vegas, and Double-A closer Jeff Walters.

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