Catcher Gary Sánchez has agreed to a Minor League deal with the Mets, the team announced Tuesday. Sánchez will report to Triple-A Syracuse.
Terms of the agreement weren’t released, but according to a report from MLB Network insider Jon Heyman, Sánchez would earn $1.5 million if he makes the Majors and the deal includes $1.2 million in incentives.
The 30-year-old backstop opted out of his deal with the Giants last week when he was not promoted to the big league roster. In 16 games with Triple-A Sacramento, Sánchez batted .164 with no homers and eight RBIs, along with 19 strikeouts.
6:56pm: Major League Baseball announced Thursday evening that Mets star Max Scherzer has been suspended for ten games for “violating the prohibitions on foreign substances.” He was also fined an undisclosed amount, which Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports at $10K.
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Bellino opined that Scherzer had used “something likely more than rosin” based on its stickiness. MLB’s announcement reflected a similar sentiment. “Based on the umpires’ training to detect rosin on a pitcher’s hands, they concluded that the level of stickiness during the fourth inning check was so extreme that it was inconsistent with the use of rosin and/or sweat alone,” the league wrote. MLB’s press release says umpires “appropriately ejected Mr. Scherzer from the game” at that point.
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7:53pm: In a surprising twist, Scherzer informed reporters this evening he’s elected not to appeal after all. The right-hander said he’d initially believed an appeal would be heard by a neutral arbitrator but later was informed it would go in front of an MLB official. (Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic specifies that special assistant to the commissioner John McHale would have heard the appeal.) As a result, Scherzer conceded he wouldn’t win and has elected not to pursue it.
“There’s been a lot of pitchers that have pitched well but maybe don’t have the team behind them,” Kershaw said. “Just reflecting on that, and just thankful for being part of great teams, that’s what wins signify to me.”
That’s why the Dodgers’ 5-0 victory over the New York Mets on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium carried so much extra meaning for the 35-year-old left-hander, who picked up his 200th career win in dominant style and historic fashion.
Not only did Kershaw become the 117th major league pitcher to reach the 200-victory club, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, but he got there with a higher career winning percentage (.694) than any other member, improving his career regular-season record to 200-88.
The New York Mets are recalling Brett Baty, their top infield prospect, according to multiple reports.
Baty is expected to join the Mets on Monday in Los Angeles for the start of their three-game series against the Dodgers, per multiple reports.
Coming out of spring training, Baty opened the season at Triple-A Syracuse. In nine games, he is hitting .400 with five homers, 15 RBIs, seven walks and nine strikeouts.
When the Mets optioned 21-year-old catching prospect Francisco Álvarez to Triple-A Syracuse in the final week of Spring Training, they envisioned him accumulating significant reps behind the plate, improving at a rapid rate and, eventually, earning a permanent promotion.
Instead, circumstances have changed the organization’s plans. The team learned Thursday that starting catcher Omar Narváez is likely to miss two months or more due to left calf strain. The Mets placed Narváez on the 10-day IL on Friday, clearing the path for them to recall Álvarez, their top-ranked prospect per MLB Pipeline as well as the No. 1 overall prospect in the game.
“The first thing that came to mind was that I needed to go back down there and work hard and prove myself, so that they can call me back up eventually,” Álvarez said through an interpreter following his March 22 demotion. “I think going down there, it’s going to help me get the reps that I really need and just get that experience to eventually come back up and succeed.”
A power-hitting Venezuelan who came to the Mets on a club-record $2.7 million signing bonus in 2018, Álvarez debuted last season with 14 plate appearances down the stretch, hitting his first career homer and even taking an at-bat in the postseason. He crushed 27 home runs with an .885 OPS last season in the upper Minors, though those numbers served to hide some of Álvarez’s lingering weaknesses.
Justin Verlander will be placed on the IL with a low grade teres major strain. He will continue throwing at moderate intensity and we will rescan in a week. We will provide an update at that time.
The Mets have accepted failure with their trade for Darin Ruf by designating the righty hitter for assignment, The Post has learned.
The Mets decided they would rather have Tim Locastro’s speed off the bench in a year when new rules are expected to enhance stolen bases over continuing to try to revive Ruf in New York.
The Mets currently owe Ruf $3.25 million – $3 million for 2023 and $250,000 as a buyout on a $3.5 million option for 2024.
They have until Monday to trade him and try to offset some of that money.
After that, Ruf would become a free agent and can then sign for the major league minimum, with the Mets responsible for the rest.
Those who know him say his view of subordinates can be similarly binary — morons and moneymakers, doers and duds — producing sometimes savage encounters in the workplace. Business associates have been routinely berated in front of peers, their intelligence insulted in a hail of expletives. “That’s your best idea?” he has asked his traders, peppering profanities. “Are you stupid?”
At minimum, Cohen’s overlapping roles now can produce some surface tensions in his days. He is an inveterate ticker-reader who could not stop gushing about the preseason “vibe,” an obsessive trader who recently started working from Citi Field on Thursdays so he could join team meetings a few hours after the market opens.
He is a famed bottom-line watcher outwardly unbothered by the hundreds of millions of dollars he stands to lose this season on the team, to which several executives from his hedge fund, Point72, now dedicate part of their time.
“He does a great job,” said Buck Showalter, the seen-it-all Mets manager, “of eliminating excuses.”
Even Cohen’s speaking manner betrays a certain wear-you-down relentlessness. He often begins sentences with “listen” and ends them with “right?” — a tic that conveys his wishes clearly: Hear him out and kindly agree with him.
The Mets will prepare to play the first half of the season without Jose Quintana.
The left-hander is expected to be shut down from throwing for at least three months, according to sources, after he was diagnosed last week with a stress fracture on the fifth rib on his left side.
Under that timetable, Quintana would begin throwing again in mid-June at the earliest to ramp up for a return to the Mets’ rotation around the All-Star break.
Quintana, 34, arrived in the offseason on a two-year contract worth $26 million.
In order to combat the age and injury concerns, in addition to having eyes on a deep postseason run, the Mets are planning on using a six-man rotation at certain spots in the season. That won’t be a permanent move, but The Athletic reports that whenever the Mets play games on more than 10 consecutive days, they’ll loop in a sixth starter.
This makes a lot of sense. Let’s run through the five starters and why they might need an extra day here and there:
Justin Verlander is 40 years old and had Tommy John surgery in 2020. In his first season back, he worked 175 innings in 28 regular-season starts and then made four more playoff starts, last taking the ball on Nov. 3. He hasn’t made 30 or more starts in a season since 2019.
Max Scherzer is 38. He was limited to 23 starts last year. Though his arm seems bionic, he’s dealt with back and side injuries some in recent years. He hasn’t hit 180 regular-season innings since 2018.
Kodai Senga is the young one here, at 30. He’s in his first season stateside and in NPB, it is customary to throw once a week. He threw 148 innings last season after 111 1/3 in 2021. His career high of 180 1/3 came in 2019.
Carlos Carrasco hits his 36th birthday before the season starts. He managed 152 innings last year, but hadn’t gone more than 80 prior to that since 2018.
José Quintana is 34. He worked 165 2/3 innings last season after just 63 in 2021 and 10 in 2020.
Regan was replaced on Dec. 8 by Jeremy Hefner, who was 33 at the time and still holds the job. Regan claimed in the suit the Mets offered him a minor league contract at reduced terms. Regan was listed last season as senior adviser, pitching development.
“BVW specifically informed Mr. Regan that he wasn’t being retained because of his age,” the suit said, referring to Van Wagenen by his initials.
The Mets declined comment and Van Wagenen, who was fired when Steve Cohen bought the team in November 2020, said he deferred to the team for any comment.
Regan’s suit contends the team “has further harassed and discriminated” against him by “further decreases in salary, further denials of opportunities which he deserved, and even a reduction in housing allowance.”
“WAR doesn’t care if you were beloved as a player, admired as a man. WAR doesn’t care if you were the smartest player on the field, or the dumbest. According to WAR, you are what the numbers say you are.
And in Mattingly’s case, WAR says… he was just a pretty good glove man.”
The 30-second spot effectively delivers dry humor as Mets players fill in as ticket sellers. Brandon Nimmo bolts through an office to a ringing phone yelling “I got it, I got it, I got it” — you know, as outfielders do — before picking it up with a gigantic grin.
Kodai Senga, speaking Japanese in a video call with Tomás Nido, tells the catcher that, indeed, “My ghost fork is just a pitch. It’s not a real ghost.” Nido, seated at a cubicle and holding a landline to his ear, relays this discovery to a fan, who we infer has just asked that burning existential question.
Francisco Lindor and Mr. Met also appear in the commercial, which was filmed last week in Florida. Senga participated remotely from Japan.
Goldberg has done Super Bowl ads before, typically with eight or nine months of lead time. This one came together in about one month, the shortest timeline he’s ever worked on.
“Over this holiday, I was actually talking with our agency partners, and they threw out a crazy idea: ‘What about a Super Bowl ad?’” Goldberg said. “I said, ‘That’s insane, but let me see.’ And we started hatching a plan, and I brought it to Steve, and Steve was like, ‘That’s a great idea. Do you think it could work?’”
Former Mets great Carlos Beltran is getting another chance with the club.
Sources tell The Post the Mets are hiring their former star center fielder to join their front office, where he will work under GM Billy Eppler. It isn’t clear what Beltran’s duties will be yet, but he is a well-regarded baseball mind as well as a former superstar player.
Beltran’s hiring comes three years after he was hired as Mets manager then fired after he was linked to the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal. Mets manager Buck Showalter considered Beltran for his coaching staff a year ago as assistant hitting coach but wasn’t able to do it at the time.
Beltran recently informed YES Network that he was leaving his broadcast job with them. Andrew Marchand reported in The Post there were plans to move Beltran from broadcasting games into the studio to do pre- and post-game duties.
A woman is alleging that a New York Mets outfielder physically and verbally abused her in Syracuse last year.
Khalil Lee, 24, is named in a warrant issued by Syracuse police for criminal obstruction of breath, a charge often associated with domestic incidents.
Lee is also named in a lawsuit filed in federal court Wednesday alleging he abused his former girlfriend while playing for the Syracuse Mets.
In the lawsuit, Lee’s former girlfriend, Keriwyn Hill, of Brooklyn, alleges that on May 7, 2022, Lee assaulted her by pulling her hair and choking her during an argument. Hill says the assault left multiple bruises and marks on her body.
Hill, now 26, went to the Syracuse police the next day and reported the assault.
National League batting champion Jeff McNeil and the New York Mets agreed Friday to a four-year, $50 million contract extension, sources familiar with the deal told ESPN, ensuring one of the team’s core players will remain in Queens as it looks to win its first World Series since 1986.
The deal, which is pending a physical, includes a fifth-year club option that could take the overall value to $63.75 million, sources told ESPN.
McNeil, who turns 31 a week after Opening Day, was scheduled to go to an arbitration trial with the Mets, where he was requesting $7.75 million and they offered $6.25 million. Instead, the gap spurred conversations about keeping McNeil past his remaining two years of arbitration and landed on buying out two free agent seasons.
Outfielder Tommy Pham and the New York Mets agreed on a one-year, $6 million contract Wednesday, sources told ESPN, continuing the team’s offseason bonanza and pushing the Mets’ record payroll past the $450 million mark.
Pham, 34, could serve as a right-handed complement to Daniel Vogelbach as designated hitter for the Mets. He also played 134 games in the outfield last year for Cincinnati and Boston, hitting .236/.312/.374 with 17 home runs and 63 RBIs.
“When pitchers and catchers report next month, the Mets will get a look at Kodai Senga’s signature pitch: the ghost fork. Those who have seen it say it delivers on the hype.”
The shortstop initially reached a 13-year, $350 million agreement with San Francisco; however, the club had “concerns” with his physical. In an interview with The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, Correa revealed that the Giants’ conversations about his ankle with him were centered around the future, specifically “that in the future it might not hold up. Which I couldn’t understand.”
Correa went on to add, “I never missed a game because of my ankle. You look at my complete medical record in the big leagues, there is zero treatment on my ankle. And it has never hurt. I couldn’t understand how they were predicting the future, saying 8-10 years down the line something might happen to it.”
The shortstop, then, agreed to a 12-year, $315 million deal with the Mets, but the same scenario happened again. However, Correa revealed a new detail that may raise some eyebrows: New York used the same ankle specialist as San Francisco who did not pass him.
“He had already given an opinion to another team about my ankle. He was not going to change that. He was going to stand by what he was saying, of course, because that is what he believed,” Correa said to Rosenthal. “We did have other ankle specialists look at it and say it was going to be fine, orthopedists who know me, even the one who did the surgery on me. They were looking at the functionality of the ankle, the way the ankle has been the past eight years.”
I’m in 100% agreement on the importance of intellectual diversity. What I’m not so sure about is that the Yankees are necessarily ahead of the Mets based on these three guys. Don’t get me wrong, I like the hires for the Yankees. Without knowing all the voices in the Mets organization, however, it’s completely possible the Mets have as much diversity of thought as the Yankees.
The next step forward for Steve Cohen and GM Billy Eppler should be to add a person or people whose eyes are trained to provide deeply informed answers to questions like that. Intellectual diversity is one element that differentiates good front offices from great ones, and the Mets could stand to improve in this area.
The team has scores of terrific scouts, analysts and bright minds—longtime amateur scouting director Tommy Tanous, for example, remains a valued voice in the Cohen administration—but overall, the difference between the teams is notable.
Cashman not only has Naehring, a former MLB infielder, but ex-Chicago Cubs GM Jim Hendry, and the recently hired Brian Sabean and Omar Minaya—four people to the Mets’ zero to provide crucial balance and traditional scouting and player development skills.
Star shortstop Carlos Correa and the Minnesota Twins are finalizing a six-year, $200 million contract, pending a physical, after weeks of discussion to salvage a deal with the New York Mets broke down, sources familiar with the situation told ESPN.
The stunning turn caps a whirlwind month for Correa, who agreed to a 13-year, $350 million contract with the San Francisco Giants on Dec. 13. After the Giants raised concerns about Correa’s surgically repaired right leg, he pivoted quickly to the Mets, who offered him a 12-year, $315 million contract. The Mets flagged his physical as well, and efforts to amend the deal fell apart, leading Correa back to Minnesota, where he signed after a topsy-turvy offseason last year, too.
The New York Mets and star shortstop Carlos Correa aren’t on the same page in contract negotiations.
The Mets have become “very frustrated” with the process over the last few days and are considering walking away, a source told Andy Martino of SNY.
The two sides reached a 12-year, $315-million agreement on Dec. 21, but the pact was never finalized because of concerns flagged during the medical about an old ankle injury. Lawyers representing the team and player have reportedly been unable to agree on what language to add to the contract that would protect the club in the long term if the ailment becomes an issue.
Correa’s camp is now talking with other teams, according to Martino.
Does Jon Heyman have a business card with Boras Corporation on it?
Carlos Correa’s camp renewed contact with at least another interested team or two beyond the Mets on Thursday as negotiations over proposed contract language changes in the agreed-upon $315 million, 12-year deal ran into at least a hiccup or two.
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