NY Mets trade power-hitting roster casualty to NL team they don’t have to worry about

It was inevitable that the New York Mets would lose recently DFA’d outfielder Alexander Canario to someone. A strong spring training to go along with the intrigue of his power bat made him a guarantee to land somewhere on the waiver wire. What would the basement teams in baseball have to lose? Furthermore, with the season now underway, we do need to consider more than teams like the Chicago White Sox plucking everyone away in the near future. Perceived good teams may actually be able to steal players away.

We don’t have to worry anyone right now or Canario as he was officially traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for cash considerations.

The Mets sent Alexander Canario out of the playoff picture by sending him to the Pirates

Losing 3 games to the Miami Marlins in walk-off style is a bad omen for the Pirates who’ll get their chance to employ Canario in their outfield. There’s a good chance the Pirates were always interested in him, but as the Chicago Cubs had a preference for sending him out of the NL Central, a trade to the Mets for cash took priority.

Mets fans were traded to a late surge by Canario in the spring. He’ll join a Pirates roster with no regular playing time in the outfield, but opportunities to give veteran Andrew McCutchen a respite at the DH spot and work his way into some other spot starts for starting left fielder and leadoff man Tommy Pham. At 38 and 37 respectively, the pair of righty outfielders could benefit from additional time off.

We can only hope Canario’s stay in Pittsburgh isn’t temporary as the Atlanta Braves suddenly have a need in their outfield following the suspension of Jurickson Profar for the next 80 games. Canario will remain one of those players on the outskirts of anyone’s roster due to his lack of minor league options. Still only 24 and with some proven MLB experience albeit in a small sample of 45 plate appearances, the good news is Canario isn’t about to torture us from within our own division or likely even in the Wild Card race. 

Pittsburgh will visit Citi Field on May 12, putting Canario in a realistic position to stick around on their roster as a part-time or bench player. Can he last another month and a half? If what we saw in spring training was any indication, the Pirates will have to accept the strikeouts and love the pop—no, not soda.