Mets promote Recker, option Monell to Triple-A Las Vegas

By Danny Abriano
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The Mets announced after Sunday’s 18-inning win in St. Louis that Johnny Monell has been optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas and Anthony Recker has been promoted.

In 49 plate appearances with the Mets, Monell hit .178/.245/.222 with no home runs and four RBI.

Recker, who was optioned to Las Vegas in the middle of June when Travis d’Arnaud was activated, hit .143/.276/.265 with two home runs and three RBI for the Mets earlier this season.

During his time with Las Vegas, Recker hit .293/.398/.640 with seven home runs and 19 RBI in 19 games.

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Thoughts:

Monell, who displayed power during spring training, simply couldn’t muster much with the bat during his time in the majors. Optioning Monell down and replacing him with Recker should give the Mets a bit more pop out of the backup catcher spot, and it’s likely that Recker will be behind the plate in Washington, D.C. on Monday night since Kevin Plawecki played all 18 innings on Sunday.

However, the fact that this is the one move the Mets made on the heels of going 1-for-25 with runners in scoring position on Sunday — while their bench continued to be largely anemic — is kind of comical.

At the moment, the Mets arguably have a bench made up of players who should all be in the minors: Recker, John Mayberry, Jr., Danny Muno, Eric Campbell, and Kirk Nieuwenhuis. Compounding that problem is the fact that the team is without David Wright and Travis d’Arnaud, and will likely soon be without Michael Cuddyer as well. Then add in that Juan Lagares is hurt and ineffective and Lucas Duda is mired in a month-long slump, and you get a serious problem.

Again, Recker is an improvement over Monell. But that move being the only one made after another weekend of offensive futility is quite mind boggling.

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