Last night, the Mets non-tendered catcher Ronny Paulino and outfielder Mike Baxter essentially making them free agents. The team’s 40-man roster now stands at 38.
Mike Pelfrey, Manny Acosta, Ramon Ramirez and Andres Torres were each tendered contracts and offered salary arbitration.
The team has yet to officially announce the signings of Jon Rauch and Frank Francisco, both of whom will need to be added to the 40-man roster within the next few days.
Original Post 12/12
Tonight is the deadline for teams to decide whether they intend to tender arbitration-eligible players a contract. If the player is dissatisfied with the contract, the player has the right to go before an arbitrator if the salary is not settled beforehand.
The Mets have five such players and they include Mike Pelfrey, Ronny Paulino, Manny Acosta, Ramon Ramirez and Andres Torres.
All are expected to be tendered with the exception of Paulino according to Andy Martino who writes:
Given the club’s discontent with its backup catcher, it is difficult to imagine a second season in Flushing for Paulino, who batted .268 with two home runs and 19 RBI this past season. Team officials have long indicated a likelihood that the Mets will non-tender Paulino, and pair Josh Thole with Mike Nickeas next season.
Paulino didn’t make any friends in his first season with the Mets, and he irritated team brass with his lack of work ethic, game preparation and offensive production.
Despite coming off a season that saw Mike Pelfrey’s win total drop from 15 to 7 and his ERA rose from 3.66 to 4.74, he is still expected to be tendered by the Mets because he can still give the Mets innings according to Sandy Alderson.
With Johan Santana’s health still in question and uncertainty with the rest of the rotation, Pelfrey remains a valuable arm who the Mets can’t afford to lose – even at between $5-6 million dollars next season.
