Mets 40-man roster: Three guys who could lose a spot before Opening Day

Jacob Rhame

The soon-to-be 27-year-old Jacob Rhame has been through 47.2 big league innings thus far. The results have been far from promising with a 6.23 ERA on the other side of things. Rhame hasn’t blown batters away with strikeouts either—a skill needed to allow an organization to stay a little patient with a player.

Rhame came to the Mets in 2017 from the Los Angeles Dodgers in the August trade deadline deal for Curtis Granderson. He debuted shortly after, leaving a bad impression with a 9.00 ERA in his first 9 frames.

It’s getting harder to believe Rhame will ever become a solid bullpen arm at the major league level. In the minor leagues last year, he did little to support his case with a 5.23 ERA on the year.

Last year, I think the Mets still believed they could get a little more out of Rhame in the future. Amongst those fringe major league pitchers we saw from the bullpen, he was one of the younger ones. It made sense to allow him more time.

Rhame didn’t get to see much big league action in 2019 and it feels even less likely he will in 2020. The bullpen has been revamped and I think the veterans the Mets brought in are ahead of him on the depth chart.

When home runs aren’t doing damage to his statistics, walks are. He has been especially inconsistent in the former, throwing his share of meatballs at the minor league level since coming over to this organization.

Right now, Rhame is a guy the Mets may have around just because they haven’t had someone to replace him on the 40-man roster. This could soon change.