3 former Mets failing miserably with their new teams in 2024

2) Daniel Vogelbach

Many felt like Daniel Vogelbach was eating up a roster spot on the Mets last year. Well, he’s gobbling up one again on the Toronto Blue Jays this season. The 31-year-old is barely playing with most of his appearances coming as a pinch hitter. The same shortcomings we witnessed in New York are there. Vogelbach is a patient hitter, sometimes to an extent to make fans nauseous. 

Vogelbach started as the DH for the Blue Jays on April 24 but hadn’t had a plate appearance since April 17. His last start before Wednesday was way back on April 13. Those chances to get regular at-bats just aren’t there even with all of the right-handed pitchers Toronto faces.

The Blue Jays must’ve known what they were getting into when they signed Vogelbach to a minor league contract. A low-risk deal, it’s livable if you have room on the roster for such a rarely used player. This was the mistake the Mets made. They didn’t have the space. They lacked the will to bench him.

Now 9 games and 22 plate appearances into his season, Vogelbach is predictably hitting .118/.318/.176. He has 5 walks and 6 strikeouts. Two of those Ks came in his start on Wednesday after a week to grow cold.

There’s a 100% chance Vogelbach ends up DFA’d within weeks. Toronto isn’t getting anything out of him. Didn’t they see the warning signs from his time with the Mets last year?