Earlier today Baseball America announced numerous new minor league free agent signings with former Mets minor leaguers Josh Rodriguez and Brandon Allen among them. Rodriguez is headed to the Oakland Athletics while Allen signed with the Cincinnati Reds, both on minor league deals.
Rodriguez hit .282/.367/.493 in 115 games for the AA Binghamton Mets in 2015 and led the team with 19 homeruns, 76 RBI, 70 runs scored, and 11 stolen bases. He was also a 2015 Eastern League All-Star and participated in the homerun derby. He got a cup of coffee with the Las Vegas 51’s going 6 for 20 with five RBI in five games.
Josh has shown the ability to play all over the field, playing every position but pitcher and catcher last season for the Mets with the most games being at third base (66). He captured three minor league milestones during the 2015 campaign playing in his 1,000th game, getting his 1,000th hit, and smacking his 100th homerun. He made his Major League debut in 2011 with the Pittsburgh Pirates going 1 for 12 in seven games.
Allen was the White Sox 5th round pick in 2004, he was ranked as the 99th and 85th best prospect in baseball by Baseball Prospectus in 2008 and 2009 respectively. This was his second straight season playing for the Mets organization with 222 of his 227 games coming with the Las Vegas 51’s.
In 2015, Brandon hit .273/.350/.478 with 29 doubles, 16 homeruns, and 68 RBI in 124 AAA games. The left-handed hitter played 65 games in left field, 57 at first base, and four in right field. With Mike Hessman retiring, Brandon is now 5th on the active Minor League homerun list with 194 in 4300 at bats. He also has 12 homeruns in 344 Major League at bats.
The Mets have already seen Adam Kolarek sign with the Baltimore Orioles and Martires Arias with the San Diego Padres. Kolarek was released by the Mets while Arias became a free agent after the 2015 season completed.
These two, along with Travis Taijeron at Vegas, struck me last summer as viable players to me in the mix through June, when guys were coming up in droves & performing just enough to keep the team from sinking like a rock, but not well enough to proceed & prosper. J-Rod, especially, I thought was a perfectly viable candidate to fill in for Wright at third. He had the pop that none of the other 3B types could offer. I felt badly for all of them, esp. Taijeron, who clearly earned at least a Sept call up.
One of the big issues was the Mets have little wiggle room on the 40-man roster. Of the three Taijeron has the best chance to see the Majors, could be with MEts. J-Rod and Allen have already gotten their chance albeit very limited for Rodriguez.
Yep, makes sense for now. I was referring more to the early part of the season, when there was flexibility with the bodies flying on & off the DL. Need & production often trump master plans on some players. In hindsight, who would give more promise at 3B in May/June… J-Rod or Muno?
I had no problem trying Muno but that experiment failed pretty quickly. I agree that someone else should have been given a shot for sure.
I agreed w/Muno, too. He looked like the next Wally Backman, but got exposed in a heartbeat. When all of the upheaval began & the roster was turning over hourly, it seemed, it would have been nice to give these guys with demonstrable pop an equal try at the wheel. We’ll have no idea what their thinking was on this, I guess…
First I heard about Kolarek. He really looked good a few years back. Not sure what happened to derail him. Wishing him luck with O’s.