2 days Ago
The Mets have had a fairly active offseason already, signing three pitchers and a veteran infielder and trading for Rays centerfielder Jose Siri earlier today. However, David Stearns and the rest of the front office chose not to make any additional 40-man additions ahead of the Rule 5 draft, leaving several notable Mets exposed. Mike Vasil and Dominic Hamel are the headliners; both are former top-10 prospects in the system who got shellacked last year at Triple-A in what was a very juiced run environment.
Neither was in line to make the offseason top-10 this time around, but both are going to look like attractive Rule 5 candidates. Nate Lavender is another notable name that went unprotected. A funky lefty reliever, Lavender was on the verge of a major league role in 2024, but his elbow gave out early in the season and he underwent Tommy John surgery.
He’ll miss most of the 2025 season, making him a prime guy for a rebuilding team to draft and stash (players on the 60-day IL don’t count against the 40-man roster). There are a handful of other names with name recognition as well. Matt Allen is the highest profile guy, a first-round pick that the Mets got in the third at the cost of most of their draft pool.
Injuries have derailed his career and he’s unlikely to get picked. Luke Ritter is a familiar name as well, and he might be a useful 4th bench bat, but not much more than that (it’d be cool for him to get a shot somewhere). And there’s a long tail of other guys: C Hayden Senger IF Jeremiah Jackson OF Matt Rudick OF Carlos Cortes RHP Landon Marceaux RHP Layonel Ovalles RHP Joander Suarez RHP Jordanny Ventura Leaving open spots on the 40-man roster likely indicates that the Mets intend to be very active this offseason, but with marquee additions and around the roster margins.
We’ll see what the implications of this strategy are when the Rule 5 draft takes place at the Winter Meetings on December 11th..
