Mets place Cesar Puello on waivers

According to Adam Rubin of ESPN New York, the Mets have placed Cesar Puello on waivers.

Puello, 23, is out of options, meaning the Mets had no way to send him to minor league camp without putting him through the waiver process.

If a team claims Puello, the Mets could always pull him back, but it doesn’t appear that they would.

Puello was in camp with the Mets until Wednesday, but there was no room on the roster with the team expected to carry Eric Campbell as the final piece on the bench.

In 2013, Puello hit .326/.403/.537 with 16 home runs and 24 steals for Double-A Binghamton.

Puello was suspended for the end of the 2013 season due to his connection with Biogenesis/PED’s that dated back to 2012.

In 2014, with the organization apparently down on him, Puello didn’t start as often and hit .252/.355/.393 for Triple-A Las Vegas.

Thoughts:

On Tuesday, I wrote that the Mets should do everything they could to hang onto Puello.

The gist…

1. With Matt den Dekker now gone, the Mets don’t have a major league ready outfielder aside from Puello who would be able to step in if any of their outfielders (starters or otherwise) suffered an injury. Brandon Nimmo will likely not be ready until late in the season (if at all in 2015) and Michael Conforto appears ticketed for High-A St. Lucie.

2. Regardless of the roster construction, Puello – who has a plus arm, plus speed, and the potential to hit for both power and average – is worth keeping.

3. If the Mets do place Puello on waivers, there’s a decent chance a division rival will claim him.

At the moment, it appears that the Mets’ bench will consist of Anthony Recker (catcher), Ruben Tejada (infield), Kirk Nieuwenhuis (outfield), John Mayberry, Jr. (first base/outfield) and Eric Campbell (infield/outfield).

For the Mets, the decision should’ve been easy.

In order to keep Cesar Puello, all they had to do was flip him with Eric Campbell (who has all of his options) and have Campbell open the season with Triple-A Las Vegas.

Campbell can play all four infield positions and both corner outfield positions, but plays none of them well. If the Mets carried Puello instead of Campbell, the only thing they wouldn’t have had was a true backup third baseman.

However, if David Wright got hurt or needed a day off, Daniel Murphy could’ve simply shifted over to third base.

Extra versatility on the bench is nice to have, but not when it comes at the expense of losing a player like Puello.

Hopefully, the Mets won’t regret letting Puello go – either due to how he performs or who he performs for.