Recent NY Mets depth addition could be gone as soon as next week

Every New York Mets fan knows that David Stearns loves his roster tinkering. The chief baseball decision maker is seemingly obsessed with playing at the margins, adding a slew of players recently, like the additions of depth arms Nick Burdi, Robert Stock, and Anderson Severino, all on minor league deals.

All of those guys are unlikely to make the club out of spring training, but hey, a dart throw is a dart throw. On the position player side, Stearns added a bit more of an intriguing dice roll, bringing in former Los Angeles Dodgers top prospect Jose Ramos after he posted a big year in Triple-A in 2025.

Ramos brings with him some intriguing tools and is still relatively young, turning 25 on New Year's Day, but with the Rule 5 Draft around the corner, he might not be here for long.

Former Dodgers prospect Jose Ramos was an intriguing add for the Mets, but as a Rule 5 eligible player, he might not be around for long

We are now past the 40-man roster deadline, so there's no way for the Mets to add Ramos to the protected list ahead of the Rule 5 Draft on December 10.

While some clubs agonize about these decisions, the Mets had a relatively easy time of it this year, with only two players in need of protection and an easy decision for both. Nick Morabito is safe, and Douglas Orellana is exposed, though likely to go unclaimed.

Ramos signed after the deadline, so regardless of whether or not the Mets would have liked to protect him, they have to throw him to the wolves.

The question will be whether or not another team sees the same appeal. At the peak of his prospect buzz, Ramos drew comparisons to Andy Pages, who just put up a 4.1 fWAR campaign for the Dodgers.

On the other hand, he stalled out while Pages rose through the ranks and earned his place amongst the star-studded cast in Los Angeles. The biggest bugaboo for Ramos has been the strikeouts, which began eclipsing the 30% mark once he arrived in Double-A.

The reason to be excited about him is his Triple-A tenure, which consisted of 44 games in 2025, that saw him produce a .295/.359/.557 line. As sensational as that is, it came with a 30.5% K-rate. You can only expect that number to rise to an even more untenable level in the majors.

And that's really what we're talking about here. Any team that selects Ramos would have to keep him on the big league roster for the entirety of the season, or they'd be forced to offer him back to the Mets. With that in mind, his appeal is limited. His true value comes in seeing if he can unlock more with some more Triple-A seasoning, while also serving as a depth option should catastrophe strike the outfield.

Still, there could be a rebuilding team out there that just wants warm, young bodies, and could be tempted to steal him away. All in all, we'll find out whether or not this was just a quick pit stop for Ramos on December 10.