3 NY Mets players from the 2024 Opening Day roster who’ve already signed minor league deals

A minor league deal was all these ex-Mets from last year's Opening Day roster could get this winter.

San Francisco Giants v New York Mets
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3) DJ Stewart

We’ll always have August of 2023, won’t we? The Mets were out of contention. Up came a guy named DJ Stewart. Few knew who he was. He wasn’t having a huge year in Syracuse or anything. Picked up as a minor league free agent in the offseason, Stewart came up with some big hits and then crashed and burned in September. Remaining minor league options helped him stick around through spring training where he’d eventually make the Opening Day roster.

Thought of as a more athletic and useful Daniel Vogelbach simply because he could play the field, Stewart failed to capitalize on his opportunity to be the regular left-handed half of a DH platoon. He hit only .177/.325/.297 for the Mets in 194 chances at the dish. His .244/.333/.506 performance from the previous year in only 185 plate appearances did in-fact appear to be a fluke. The power became nothing special. He was not the run-producer we convinced ourselves he could be.

Stewart lasted the full 2024 season with the Mets organization, opting for free agency after the year ended. He was sent to the minors upon the acquisition of Jesse Winker in a trade with the Washington Nationals. Stewart would appear later on in three games in September, predictably going 2 for 7 with 3 strikeouts and no runs batted in.

This coming season, Stewart will be a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates on a minor league deal. A frustrating player for sure, he might be a guy Mets fans can root for just a little bit. We never had any expectations. He made a dark period in 2023 more tolerable.

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