Photo By Ernest Dove
The New York Mets have announced five players have been outrighted from the 40-man roster. All five players played in the Mets minor league system last year:
OF/DH Wuilmer Becerra – The third piece from the famed R.A. Dickey trade earned his way into the 40 man roster despite never having played above St. Lucie. He had shoulder surgery, and he hasn’t quite been the same hitting .267/.332/.335 while repeating St. Lucie this year.
RHP Tyler Pill – Pill had a terrific run in Vegas leading to him getting a surprise call-up to the majors with the Mets pitching staff decimated by injury. He was unable to replicate his success in the majors, and his season came to a premature end as he needed season ending arthroscopic elbow surgery.
OF Travis Taijeron – Taijeron seemed to be set for minor league free agency until the Mets outfield was ravaged by injuries late in the year. He mostly struggled with the Mets, but he was able to hit his first Major League homer and his first walk off hit with a single against the Braves on September 26th.
RHP Erik Goeddel – Goeddel pitched effectively in his first two years with the Mets pitching to a 2.48 ERA, 1.000 WHIP, and a 9.0 K/9. In fact, he pitched well enough to make the 2015 NLDS roster. Since then he’s struggled, and he needed surgery last year to remove a bone spur. After being outrighted, he cleared waivers and is now a free agent.
INF Phillip Evans – The hits that fell for Evans in 2016 when he was the Eastern League batting champ weren’t falling in Vegas. Despite a down year for Vegas, he was called up to the majors where he hit .303/.393/.364 in 19 games. It wasn’t enough to convince the Mets to keep him in the roster.
I know the success of the 2018 season will not be affected by out righting any of these 5 players, but I was surprised that they did not keep Evans around after a productive September. It seems they are filling either 2nd or 3rd base outside the organization so he probably would have be DFA’d at some point in 2018 anyway.
Good luck Philip. I thought you ha so much promise when we drafted you in 2011 – at least you had a cup of coffee in the bigs. Same can be said for Travis and Tyler- doubt that they will make the show again.
Evans certainly deserved to be kept, and I don’t agree that he would’ve been DFA’d. There is room on the roster for more than one additional infielder. And there are other cuts that can and should be made before him – Matt Reynolds being at the very top of that list. Its nearly impossible for me to fathom how Reynolds was kept over Evans.
Evans didn’t just have a good September with the Mets. Its gone unnoticed to most people around here, but Evans actually had a great second half in Vegas – performed very well in Vegas over the second half of the season (.328/.387/.527). It was only his age-24 season which makes him three years younger than the league average. He still has three options left, and still has his prime years ahead of him.