The New York Mets have added top prospect Amed Rosario, outfielder Wuilmer Becerra, catcher Tomas Nido, and right-handed pitchers Chris Flexen, and Marcos Molina to the 40-man roster according to MiLB Roster Tracker on Twitter. The Mets 40-man roster is now currently full.
Each will be protected from being selected in the Rule 5 Draft and automatically receive invites to major league spring training.
Original Report – Nov 17
Last November the New York Mets decided to add pitchers Josh Smoker, Jeff Walters, Robert Gsellman, Seth Lugo and outfielder Brandon Nimmo to the 40-man roster to protect them from the Rule 5 draft.
One player they didn’t protect was right-handed pitcher Matt Bowman, who was subsequently taken by the St. Louis Cardinals and stuck with them the entire 2016 season. Another player they didn’t protect was outfield prospect Wuilmer Becerra, who wasn’t taken because teams thought the talented outfielder was too far away to contribute or be carried on a major league roster for an entire season.
Bowman and Becerra show two different examples of thought processes, chances teams take and the end result of the Rule 5 draft.
Sixteen players were taken in the 2015 Rule 5 draft; ten pitchers and six position players including the top two picks. Six of them stayed the entire season with the drafting team (Bowman included) and are now under their control. Two other players, Luis Perdomo and Jabari Blash, were drafted then traded to the San Diego Padres and had their rights retained by them.
The last player the Mets drafted was lefty Sean Gilmartin who played an important role in their bullpen in the 2015 season. Gilmartin is one of three players, Odubel Herrera and Delino DeShields Jr. being the other two, that have had varying levels of success since being taken in the 2014 Rule 5 draft.
Before we discuss the minor league players the Mets should protect, here is info on exactly how the whole Rule 5 draft process works.
In brief, the drafted player must stay on the team’s 25 man roster he is drafted by (or traded to) for the entire season, or must be on the active roster for 90 days if they serve time on the disabled list. The drafting team must pay the team the players is drafted from $50,000 for his rights. If the drafting team decides they don’t wish to keep the player on the 25-man roster they have to put him on waivers and then offer him back to his original team for $25,000 if he passes through.
Logan Verrett, who was drafted by Orioles, claimed by Rangers, made their Opening Day roster then returned to Mets, is a perfect example of the different scenarios that can happen to a player taken in the Rule 5 draft.
Players are eligible for the Rule 5 draft if they sign when they were 19 or older and have played four years in professional baseball, or were 18 year old or younger and have played five years.
The Mets have one no-brainer to be added to the 40-man roster this offseason to protect him from the draft, and that is top prospect Amed Rosario. He’s coming off the best offensive season of his young career and is considered one of the top prospects in all of baseball.
That’s the easy part, now we have to try and figure out the other players the Mets will protect. Over the past six offseasons the Mets have protected an average of five players from the Rule 5 draft by adding them to the 40-man roster. The Mets current 40-man roster is sitting at 35 (still with some wiggle room) and given the Mets past history I will try to make the case for four more players besides Rosario I believe they could protect.
Photo: Ed Delany
Tomas Nido C – Quite possibly the Mets position prospect that took the biggest leap towards becoming a great asset now and in the future. The 22-year old catcher had a career year with the St. Lucie Mets hitting .320/.357/.459 with 23 doubles, seven home runs, 46 RBI and struck out just 42 times in 344 at-bats.
He was a mid-season and post-season all-star in the Florida State League and won the Mets Sterling Award for St. Lucie. The improvements weren’t just on offense though, he threw out a career high 42% of would-be base stealers. He also became a better receiver according to the pitchers I talked to.
Nido is a definite protect for me after breaking out on offense and defense. I realize the chances of him getting picked and sticking aren’t great, but it’s not a risk I would take with the Mets lack of talent at the catching position in the minor leagues.
It’s also not unheard to see a lower level catcher taken. In 2014, the first pick of the draft was Oscar Hernandez who didn’t have an at-bat above Low-A. Another example is Adrian Nieto who was taken in the 2013 draft after having a career year in Advanced-A. Lastly, of course, most Mets fans will remember when the Mets lost Jesus Flores right from St. Lucie to the Nationals in the 2006 draft.
Paul Sewald RHP – The reliever with a nasty slider that has dominated his entire minor league career with a 2.20 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, and 66 saves in 72 chances. The 26-year old continues to post strong strikeout numbers, 80 in 65.2 innings this year for the Las Vegas 51s, despite a fastball that tops out in the low 90’s.
Adding Sewald to the 40-man roster is a no-brainer at this point, and I would argue that he should of been brought up in September to help a tired bullpen.
Wuilmer Becerra OF – This is the second straight year that the young talented outfielder is eligible to be taken in the draft. Becerra, 22, had somewhat of a lost year that ended in July when he had shoulder surgery on his throwing arm.
His season started off well with him hitting over .400 for much of the first month. He wound up hitting .312/.341/.393 in 263 plate appearances. The power numbers were down for Becerra who knew about his injury in spring training but decided to play through.
Part of the reason I believe there’s a possibility of him getting drafted is how the drafting team could manipulate his injury. Becerra could start the season on the disabled list as he’s still recovering from his surgery, then stay the maximum 20 days on his rehab assignment. The team that drafted him would then need to keep him active on the 25-man roster for 90 days but 31 of those days would be with expanded rosters. This leaves it possible that the drafting team would only have to carry Becerra on their 25-man roster for 59 days, which doesn’t seem that impossible.
Kevin McGowan RHP – This is my darkhorse candidate to get protected after having the best season of his career. The 25-year old had struggled in recent years as a starting pitcher before being converted to relieving in 2016, when he saw an uptick in velocity. The tall righty started the season with the St. Lucie Mets and flat out dominated with a 0.82 ERA, 0.73 WHIP, and 33 strikeouts compared to four walks.
He earned a promotion to the Binghamton Mets where he went 4-1 with a 2.61 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, and had 48 strikeouts in 49.2 innings. The 25-year old also made one appearance for the 51s in August. McGowan made 42 appearances in 2016 (4 starts), pitching at least two innings in 24 of them.
McGowan has a fastball in the low 90’s that he has gotten into the mid-90’s coming out of the pen. He also has an above average changeup and a decent breaking ball. His ability to pitch in many roles holds value for the Mets and any team looking to secure cheap arms.
Others players in the discussion –
Two talented arms that are also in the discussion are right-handed starters Marcos Molina and Chris Flexen. Molina is returning from Tommy John surgery in the Arizona Fall League right now. Molina has the most upside of any pitcher discussed in this article but has thrown only 41 innings in A-Ball, still needs mechanical work and has thrown only 12.2 innings post TJS in the AFL after missing the entire 2016 regular season.
Flexen, 22, was one of the players discussed in the initial trade that brought Jay Bruce to the Mets. He went 10-9 with a 3.56 ERA, 1.31 WHIP but had only 95 strikeouts compared to 51 walks in a career high 134 innings. He flashes a fastball in the mid-90’s with a good curveball yet still had trouble putting hitters away in 2016.
Champ Stuart has rebuilt some of his prospect value with a strong showing in the AFL where he’s hitting .372/.400/.535 with four doubles and eight stolen bases in 12 games. The young outfielder has 80 grade speed and plays an above average center field. The problem for Champ is making contact, striking out 35.9% of the time in his minor league career including 36.0% in 203 plate appearances for the Binghamton Mets in 2016. More on him here.
It was a breakout year for Mets infield prospect Phillip Evans who hit .335/.374/.485 and won the Eastern League batting title. Prior to 2016, Evans had four straight seasons with an OPS lower than .700. He can play shortstop, second base and third base.
Ricky Knapp is a right-handed pitcher that has flown under the radar despite pitching at the top three levels of the Mets minor leagues in 2016 and having a solid all-around year (13-6, 2.69 ERA, 1.14 WHIP). The 24-year old starter is rarely talked about because his fastball sits in the 88-93 MPH range and has struck out only 322 batters in 431 innings. He has a Verrett-like repertoire with four average pitches without one being a plus.
The rest of the players that are Rule 5 eligible include RHP Tyler Bashlor (96/97 MPH fastball), OF Travis Taijeron (110 minor league homers), RHP Corey Oswalt (3.00 ERA in AFL), RHP Nabil Crismatt (2.47 ERA in 2016), 3B/1B Jhoan Urena (former Top 10 Mets prospect), UT Jeff McNeil, 1B/3B Matt Oberste, RHP Luis Mateo, OF John Mora, RHP Beck Wheeler, RHP Tim Peterson, RHP Logan Taylor, and INF L.J. Mazzilli.
The deadline to add a player to the 40-man roster and protect him from the Rule 5 Draft this year is Friday, November 18. The draft itself will take place on December 8 at the end of the Winter Meetings.
Who do you think the Mets will protect from the Rule 5 draft?
