NEW YORK: A tricky week of squad juggling has resulted in the departure of three Mets players, including a prominent member of the 2020 Bullring.
The Mets appointed Brad Brach on the right to allocate him to free up space from the 40-man roster on Thursday, completing a series of transactions that also involved DFA pitcher Corey Oswalt and receiver Ali Sanchez.
When a player is designated for assignment, that player is immediately removed from his club’s 40-man roster and from the 25-man roster if he was also there. The Mets have seven days from the time of each DFA to change these players, put them in direct exemptions, or release them.
It’s not uncommon to designate players to make room for acquisitions, and for the Mets, it was necessary; they acquired the Albert Almora playing field, Jonathan Villar football field and Khalil Lee’s prospect in less than a week, forcing them to drop three more from their 40-man roster.
Less common is to appoint someone with a guaranteed contract, such as Brach. A 2019 commercial acquisition of the Cubs, Brach later re-signed in New York for a year with a 2021 player option. He later exercised that option, which had been inflated to $ 2.075 billion due to a number of prorated incentives.
As such, Brach thought about repeating his role in the Mets ’bullring in 2021. But the team later acquired lifeguards Trevor May and Aaron Loup, among others, reducing Brach’s role.
Brach, a New Jersey native and lifelong Mets fan, also struggled in 2020, losing most of his summer camp and the first two weeks of the season due to a diagnosis of COVID-19. The right-hander posted an ERA of 1.50 in his first 11 appearances, but finished his season with three ugly outings, which included eight walks, six runs and a single recorded outing.
If the Mets cannot change Brach, any team claiming resignation may hire him for the Major League Minimum; the Mets would be hooked by the difference. Even before designating Brach for the assignment, the Mets had tried to continue to improve their bullpen with additional depth signings.
Oswalt’s DFA should affect the Mets ’initial release in a similar way, with their acquisitions of Joey Lucchesi, Jordan Yamamoto and Sean Reid-Foley covering their possible exit. Oswalt spent the last three seasons as one of the Mets ’substitute rotation options, but struggled in that role, posting an ERA of 6.19 in 13 starts and 10 appearances in relief. He was much more effective at Triple-A Syracuse, where he posted an ERA of 2.91 out of 16 starts in 2019.
Sanchez, a defensive-minded catcher, made his Major League debut last summer, but came buried in 2021 behind James McCann, Tomás Nido and Patrick Mazeika in the depth box.