Gabriel Arias can answer a NY Mets roster role David Stearns has whiffed on many times

On Friday afternoon, the New York Mets took advantage of their poor record and put in a successful waiver claim on Gabriel Arias. A 26-year-old hitting .219 in his career but .244 this season, the Cleveland Guardians decided to move on from the versatile infielder in favor of Angel Genao.

While Arias did make an error against the Mets this week, his reputation is favorable for his defense. A good arm and favorable defensive metrics, we can understand why David Stearns put in the claim.

The Mets have routinely employed players like Arias who aren’t nearly the same level of big league hitter. Zack Short, for instance, managed to get way too much playing time. Not known for exceptional speed, Arias fills the Mets’ need, or at least belief that it is one, for a utility infielder. In the coming weeks, he’ll have a chance to prove he’s worth filling in one of those final roster spots for next season.

The Mets can’t do much better than Gabriel Arias for this bench role

Other than some missing speed, Arias profiles well as a 26th man on the team. He has limited experience in the outfield, but that’s not really what they’d want him for anyway. Those three spots are covered on a regular basis. They’ll surely have a Tyrone Taylor type of player on the team next season. They haven’t given up on Brett Baty at the corners either.

Arias isn’t all that removed from being a top 100 prospect. At his highest, Baseball Prospectus ranked him 57th heading into the 2022 season.

Decent power with a 2.6% home run rate (the league at 3% during his career), an offensive downfall of his has been striking out. He was at an insane 42.5% with Cleveland this year prior to his DFA. That number has increased each year since debuting in 2022.

Arias has dramatic reverse splits in his career with a .243 average against righties and .171 versus lefties. Out of options, he joins a Mets roster full of guys trying to make a strong impression in the final weeks. This team has missed a lot on players like him with additions like Short, Vidal Brujan, Joey Wendle, etc. This one has a low bar, but if he hits .244 with good defense, can we be really all that upset?

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