3 Mets players on the 40-man roster in danger of not making it to Opening Day
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The 40-man roster for the New York Mets will continue to change with each addition the club makes. Before Opening Day, several returning players will part from the organization or at least be removed from the choice of 40 to begin the year on the team.
We have already seen the Mets make a waiver claim on William Woods and DFA him when they needed a spot on the roster. Similar players shouldn’t get too cozy.
Which three players should be most concerned about losing a 40-man roster spot before Opening Day? For different reasons, it’s these guys we should expect to see get the DFA slip.
1) The Mets can’t possibly invite Darin Ruf back for another year
It would be criminal of Billy Eppler to believe Darin Ruf belongs on the Mets roster in 2023. Why is he still here? My guess would be the team hopes to trade him for some international bonus money. Never forget the Mets paid a dollar for Cameron Maybin. Weirder trades have happened.
Ruf does have more positional versatility than his DH counterpart, Daniel Vogelbach. He can at least play right field. That’s a lousy reason to keep him around. When the team has an offseason to look at more legitimate upgrades, they need to make a move with Ruf even if they ultimately end up having to DFA him and pay the salary.
Ruf’s rough patch with the Mets won’t scare off every team. Acquiring him for free without having to pay much or any of his salary could be worth it for some clubs. I could totally see the Tampa Bay Rays adding him on the cheap and only giving the Mets their oldest Single-A prospect they have while Steve Cohen continues to be the one paying Ruf.
Something will happen with Ruf. The Mets aren’t the best team they can be with him around.
2) The Mets need to have a lot of faith in Zach Greene to keep him
The Mets won’t DFA Zach Greene because they can’t. The Rule 5 Draft pick taken from the New York Yankees will either be on the 26-man roster or get sent back to his former club.
Greene doesn’t have any MLB experience and is already 26. He did get to Triple-A last year and put together a nice season. The Mets, seeing him available, thought it was worth at least adding him to the organization.
What’s making it feel more like Greene won’t be here is how aggressive the Mets have been at adding other relievers around him. Injuries can change things. However, Greene is already behind several players on the bullpen depth chart. There are the veterans without major league options plus Drew Smith automatically making it to Opening Day.
We can picture the club having at least one reliever who can give them some length. This leaves Greene in a battle for one of the final two spots. The Mets could use another lefty reliever with MLB experience. If they land him, Greene gets into a fight for only a single roster spot.
Knowing they either have to keep him on the 26-man roster all year or return him to the Yankees isn’t enough of a deterrent. If he’s bad, they won’t mind doing so. If he’s good, he’ll deserve to stay anyway.
Will we even get to that point?
3) Mets reliever Stephen Nogosek is out of minor league options
Stephen Nogosek pitched very well for the Mets last season in the opportunity he got. The 2.45 ERA in 22 innings of work was refreshing for a ball club that hasn’t recently developed any reliable relievers. Nogosek has been someone the Mets have released before, but the two sides liked each other enough for a reunion.
His time with the ball club began in 2017 through the Addison Reed trade to the Boston Red Sox. Salvaging something from that deal, even the last reliever in the bullpen, would be a nice little reward.
Nogosek’s biggest problem is that he is out of minor league options. It’s hard to envision a scenario where he gets promoted and manages to stay on the 26-man roster all season. He is already on the 40-man roster bubble from the moment he does get promoted. Do the Mets bother keeping him with this knowledge?
New York has a few non-roster invitees to spring training including Tommy Hunter, Jimmy Yacabonis, and Zach Muchenhirn. We saw Chasen Shreve, a NRI player in 2022, pitch his way onto the Opening Day roster. Hunter would be the undeniable favorite to do so. Fortunately for Nogosek, Hunter is also out of options so he probably wouldn’t become the casualty if the Mets went with him.
Assembling a bullpen is never easy. It’s the life of a reliever to get DFA’d. The Mets have loaded up on plenty of fresh arm options for the 2023 season. They may not be done yet either.
Next. 3 worst Mets free agent signings in the Steve Cohen era. dark