The Mets announced a series of roster moves today. Outfielder/designated hitter Jesse Winker has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list. He takes the active roster spot of outfielder Starling Marte, who has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a right knee bruise, retroactive to July 7th. Right-hander Tylor Megill was transferred to the 60-day IL to open a 40-man spot for Winker. The Mets also selected the contract of right-hander Alex Carrillo, a move which was reported earlier. Righty Zach Pop has been designated for assignment as a corresponding move there. The Mets also announced that they have signed right-hander Junior Fernández to a minor league deal.
Winker, now 31, had a solid bounceback season with the Mets in 2024. After a down year in 2023, he put up a .253/.360/.405 slash and 118 wRC+ with the Mets last year. That prompted the club to re-sign him via a one-year deal with a $7.5MM guarantee. This year, he got into 24 games and hit .239/.321/.418 before an oblique strain sent him to the IL. He missed a little over two months but can now return to the club’s corner outfield and designated hitter mix.
Subbing out of that mix is Marte. It’s not known how serious this current injury is but he also spent almost a month on the IL last year due to a right knee bone bruise. He is hitting .270/.353/.387 for a 116 wRC+ this year. The Mets have Juan Soto, Brandon Nimmo and Tyrone Taylor in the outfield most nights. Marte has mostly been in the DH spot, but now Winker will take up that role. They hit from opposite sides of the plate, with Marte being a righty and Winker a lefty, so that may impact the club’s deployment when factoring in the opposing pitcher.
Megill landed on the 15-day injured list on June 15th due to a right elbow sprain. His 60-day count is retroactive to that initial IL placement, so he will be eligible for reinstatement in mid-August. He recently started throwing again but it seems the Mets don’t expect him to be able to return within the next month.
The club has been hit hard by the injury bug in recent weeks, with Megill just one of the victims. The situation has led to the Mets frequently cycling pitchers through the roster as they attempt to paper over the large number of absences. Pop was one pitcher who was run through the machine, getting added to the roster just three days ago. He pitched an inning and a third for the Mets on Sunday, allowing three earned runs on five hits without striking anyone out.
He now has 162 1/3 innings of major league work under his belt. He has occasionally shown glimpses of being an effective ground ball guy. 55% of the balls in play he’s allowed have been pounded into the ground and his 7.8% walk rate is also decent but he has only struck out 17.8% of batters faced. He has a 4.88 ERA overall, which isn’t terrible, but his best work is a few years old now. He has a 6.68 ERA dating back to the start of the 2023 season, in 68 2/3 innings.
He is now out of options, which has limited his ability to cling to a roster spot. But he’s cheap, as the Blue Jays are on the hook for the majority of his $900K salary since they released him earlier this year. Other clubs can sign him and only pay him the prorated portion of the league minimum for the time spent on the roster. He also got a brief stint with the Mariners before joining the Mets. He has the right to reject outright assignments and will likely end up back on the open market in the coming days.
Fernández, 28, signed a minor league deal with the Royals in the offseason but was released a few days ago. He had logged 38 1/3 Triple-A innings in the Royals’ system with a 4.93 ERA, 30.3% strikeout rate and 50% ground ball rate but a concerning 14.9% walk rate.
His big league career has had a somewhat similar shape. He has 54 big league innings under his belt with the Cardinals and Pirates, with a 5.17 ERA, 18.7% strikeout rate, 13.9% walk rate and 49.4% ground ball rate. As mentioned, the Mets have been hit hard by injuries, so there’s little harm in adding some non-roster depth.
Photo courtesy of Bruce Kluckhohn, Imagn Images