The Mets announced a series of roster moves today, including the previously-reported claimed of right-hander Rico Garcia off waivers from the Yankees. Righty Dedniel Núñez was transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man roster spot for Garcia. It was recently reported that Núñez will require Tommy John surgery. The Mets will need to open an active roster spot for Garcia once he reports to the club. The Mets also recalled catcher Francisco Alvarez and optioned fellow backstop Hayden Senger. Additionally, left-hander Richard Lovelady has been sent outright to Triple-A Syracuse. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment last week. He has the right to elect free agency though it’s not yet clear if he has done so.
Alvarez got out to a bit of a slow start this year. The Mets optioned him to Triple-A about a month ago, as he was sitting on a .236/.319/.333 slash line at that time. He had hit just three home runs, after having missed the first month of the season due to a hamate fracture.
The optional assignment has seemingly lit a fire under him. He has 12 home runs in 29 games since being sent down, leading to a gargantuan .255/.352/.623 batting line for Syracuse. Now that he’s in a groove, the Mets have called him up and will see if he can carry that over at the major league level.
While the optional assignment ended up being relatively brief, it will be costly for Alvarez. He came into this year with two years and six days of service time, putting him on track for free agency after 2028. By spending a month in the minors, he won’t be able to push his service clock to the three-year line in 2025. That means the Mets have gained an extra year of club control over Alvarez, pushing his path to free agency until after 2029. He was going to reach free agency after his age-26 season but that will now be pushed until after his age-27 season. He is on track to qualify for arbitration this winter as a Super Two player, giving him four passes through arb instead of the usual three, but the delayed free agency is a hit to his career earning power.
As for Lovelady, he’s a veteran lefty who is out of options, which has led to him being on the fringes of a few rosters this year. He started the year with the Blue Jays but was designated for assignment after two appearances. He elected free agency and signed a minor league deal with the Twins, pitched well at Triple-A for a couple of months and then opted out of that deal. He has bounced on and off the Mets roster since then, twice getting added and then cut after a brief stint in both cases.
For the whole season, Lovelady has a 10.80 earned run average in 8 1/3 innings, though mostly due to allowing four earned runs in his second outing of the year. During his time in the Twins’ system, he tossed 20 2/3 Triple-A innings with a 1.31 ERA, 26.5% strikeout rate, 8.4% walk rate and 60.4% ground ball rate. Every other time he has cleared waivers this year, he has elected free agency, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if he does so again in the coming days.
Photo courtesy of Vincent Carchietta, Imagn Images