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.

2) Taylor Saucedo is only on the NY Mets roster because he is a lefty

Buried a little deeper on the 40-man roster than Ruf is lefty reliever Taylor Saucedo. The key for him is that he throws left-handed. It’s a quality not too many Mets pitchers have. Other than Brooks Raley and David Peterson, the club doesn’t have any other candidates currently on the 40-man roster to work as a southpaw reliever.

Saucedo was a November waiver claim from the Toronto Blue Jays with minimal big league experience. He turns 30 this summer and hasn’t dazzled at the minor league level either. A promising campaign in Triple-A after converting to a reliever did eventually lead to a promotion in 2021. He continued to pitch well in the minors last season. At the big league level, however, he has been rocked for 17 earned runs in only 28.1 innings of work.

Saucedo was a safety addition for the Mets in case they couldn’t find any other lefties for the 40-man roster. An internal candidate like Josh Walker might be just as reliable. Saucedo definitely doesn’t have the numbers to deserve his presence on the 40-man roster. The rules of waiver claims are what has kept him there for now.

If he somehow remains with the organization and even pitches in the big leagues at some point this season, Saucedo would be a great steal. First, he’ll need to prove himself worthy.

3) Zach Greene is a Rule 5 Draft pick with the odds stacked against him

Rule 5 Draft picks never really deserve their spot on the 40-man roster in January. There’s a reason why their former club made them available. They just haven’t done enough to justify being a major league option. This is true for Zach Greene whom the Mets snagged from the New York Yankees in this offseason’s Rule 5 Draft.

At 26, Greene pitched last year exclusively at Triple-A where he was actually pretty good. A 9-0 record and 3.42 ERA highlighted his year. As the case often is with Rule 5 Draft picks, they’re in a battle to keep more than their 40-man roster spot. Unless he makes the Mets Opening Day roster, Greene will have to be returned to the Yankees.

Working against Greene is a lack of patience the Mets should have. This isn’t a ball club that should give chances to anyone undeserving. Greene will have to outperform quite a few more experienced arms in spring training in order to pass them on the depth chart. It’s a battle for two roster spots he’s undertaking. Even if the Mets view him ahead of someone like Saucedo, the question becomes whether or not he deserves to be on the big league team.

Let’s see if Greene can stun us all and earn his spot on more than just the 40-man roster.

5) The NY Mets should already have Khalil Lee upgrades in mind

Khalil Lee isn’t working out for the Mets. When the team first acquired him, there was some real hype. Maybe he could be a future center fielder for them.

In only 20 plate appearances at the MLB level, Lee has 2 hits. One was a home run in 2022. The other came during a desperate stretch in 2021 when Lee struck out 13 times in 18 plate appearances. Lee hasn’t played particularly well at the minor league level either. He slashed just .214/.330/.370 in 453 trips to the plate last year.

The weaknesses he came to the Mets with have continued while the strengths haven’t really taken off. Lee struck out 150 times in only 108 games last year. It has been a problem throughout his career. Without the power to back it up, it’s hard to see him having much of a future with the Mets.

Lee is only 24 so maybe there is hope he can turn things around and be more like his better self. He did hit .274/.451/.500 in 2021 down in Triple-A. I’d be willing to give him a shot. It doesn’t change the fact that it’s hard to say he actually deserves a spot on the 40-man roster. Because it would require the team to make him available on waivers, we probably will see Lee get one final shot.