There’s not a lot traction at current between the Nationals and Mets on a possible Josh Bell swap, reports SNY’s Andy Martino. Bell is one in every of a number of designated hitter candidates in whom the Mets are recognized to have curiosity, nevertheless it appears as if talks between the 2 events haven’t proved fruitful. Pat Ragazzo and Michael Marino of Sports activities Illustrated/Fan Nation report that the Mets put forth a suggestion for Bell and a Nationals reliever that included an upper-level minor league starter and outfielder.
The Mets moved final week to start augmenting their DH rotation, flipping reliever Colin Holderman to the Pirates in a commerce that introduced Daniel Vogelbach again to Queens. Vogelbach, nevertheless, figures to be a pure platoon possibility, whereas the switch-hitting Bell could be an on a regular basis possibility who’d push Vogelbach right into a bench position. The Mets have continued to search for potential DH upgrades even within the wake of the Voeglbach deal, Martino writes, with Trey Mancini, C.J. Cron and Willson Contreras amongst those that would possibly nonetheless be into consideration.
They gained’t have the chance to guage Mancini at this time, as he’ll sit down on the heels of an 0-for-22 swoon on the plate. That offensive freefall has dropped Mancini’s batting line from a strong .285/.359/.429 (124 wRC+) to .268/.345/.404 (113 wRC+). Mancini has nonetheless been higher than a league-average hitter on the entire, nevertheless it’s a poor time for him to wrestle by his hardest patch of the season, notably from a crew vantage level.
The Orioles gained 10 video games in a row to thrust themselves onto the fringes of the American Wild Card chase previous to the deadline, however they’ve since gone 2-4 towards the Rays and Yankees in a pair of street sequence. Mancini’s droop clearly isn’t the only reason for the crew’s momentum slowing down, nevertheless it was a contributing issue as Baltimore dropped a number of shut video games. It’s additionally suboptimal for a membership that might nonetheless transfer Mancini previous to subsequent Tuesday’s commerce deadline; an 0-for-22 doesn’t wipe out all of Mancini’s commerce worth, after all, nevertheless it’s harder for a rival entrance workplace to surrender a prospect of word for a hitter in such a pronounced droop.
Cron has a strong .292/.347/.546 line on the 12 months, nevertheless it’s questionable whether or not the Rockies would take into account transferring him when he’s cheaply signed for 2023, notably since Colorado GM Invoice Schmidt has already pushed back towards a significant sell-off. Contreras appears a digital lock to maneuver within the subsequent eight days, however the Mets reluctance to deal from the highest of the farm system would make touchdown maybe the highest rental bat obtainable a problem.
Bell, Mancini and Vogelbach have been only a handful of the Mets’ reported targets as they appear to bolster the lineup, and Martino reported final week that GM Billy Eppler and his crew have been exploring commerce situations involving each Dominic Smith and J.D. Davis. Clearly, there’s some turnover to be anticipated. Martino even floats the potential of the Mets dealing Vogelbach in the event that they land an affect bat, though there’s no indication that’s particularly seemingly.
The precise return the Mets would possibly give up with a view to bolster the lineup is, after all, wholly depending on the caliber of participant on which they settle — however Mike Puma of the New York Put up experiences (Twitter link) that minor league lefty Thomas Szapucki has drawn some curiosity from different groups as New York has poked across the commerce market. The 26-year-old lefty has yielded a staggering 15 runs in simply 5 Main League innings throughout the previous two seasons, however Szapucki has had a pleasant 12 months in Triple-A Syracuse, pitching to a 3.48 ERA with an enormous 31.9% strikeout price towards an 11% stroll price in 62 innings.
These 62 frames have been scattered over 16 begins, which comes out to a median of beneath 4 innings per outing. That’s a little bit of an odd phenomenon, even in at this time’s sport, however the Mets have been cautious with Szapucki’s workload after he underwent Tommy John surgical procedure in 2018 and season-ending surgical procedure on his ulnar nerve final summer time. He started the 12 months throwing simply two to a few innings per begin however has continued to construct up his pitch rely over the course of the 12 months, peaking with a season-high 93 pitches again on July 6.
The Mets and different golf equipment might wish to be cautious together with his general innings complete and his pitch rely on a game-to-game foundation, however he’s a fairly youthful lefty who will be managed at the very least six years past the present marketing campaign. Even when there’s some harm danger, he has three common or higher pitches and will definitely function as a multi-inning reliever down the street if his arm doesn’t show able to a starter’s workload. Speculatively, Szapucki would match the billing of the “upper-level beginning pitcher” the Mets are mentioned to have provided to Washington in Bell talks, although there’s no particular indication that Szapucki was a part of that provide.
