5 Mets players who don’t deserve to be on the 40-man roster

The 40-man roster for the New York Mets will have some changes before we get to Opening Day. Any new additions they may make could cause them to DFA a player. Some of the lesser deserving members of the 40-man roster are protected because of contractual obligations or other MLB rules like a lack of options. If we take those out of the equation and look at it purely from a standpoint of deserving their roster spot, five players seem to stand out above the rest.

While it’s understandable as to why each of these five players is on the 40-man roster, many will agree they have yet to earn their spot. Can they do so in the spring or even after the season begins?

1) Darin Ruf is the first player the NY Mets should cut

The Mets will make a roster move once the Tommy Pham signing becomes official. Do they do the obvious long-overdue task of designating Darin Ruf for assignment?

Sitting on the backburner for a future Rising Apple story is an argument as to why keeping Ruf could make sense. I agree with the take. He’s already on the DFA bubble and wouldn’t hurt to keep around if only to give someone like Brett Baty a chance to heat up in the minors.

Ruf certainly doesn’t deserve his roster spot. He was atrocious for the Mets last year. You’d think at some point he would have accidentally hit a home run. Instead, he made games late in the year against lefty starters worrisome. Knowing he’d start in lieu of Daniel Vogelbach was a kind of frustration I’m not sure Mets fans have experienced.

The fact that Ruf has made it this far into the offseason still with the Mets has me thinking he’ll at least make it to camp with the club. Will Billy Eppler cut ties sooner? Let’s make it a 51/49 shot in favor of Ruf staying.