There are a bunch of past Mets who we have come to love over the years and some of them continued to rake in the major leagues, but others… disappeared. Where are they?
Asdrubal Cabrera played with the Mets from 2016-2018. Throughout those two and a half seasons, he bat .270/.338/.465 for the team in that time. The now 33-year-old remains in the majors with the Texas Rangers having just signed a one-year, $3.5 million deal this past offseason. So far in 2019, Asdrubal has three home runs and is hitting .269/.310/.654.
Former Mets pitcher Matt Harvey keeps striving for the Dark Knight persona he left in Queens after playing with the Mets from 2012-2018. After playing for the Cincinnati Reds last year, Harvey putting up a 4.94 ERA with. both the Mets and Cincinnati last year. Matt signed a deal this offseason with the Los Angeles Angels. Harvey has only pitched two games so far this season. His first outing was decent having pitched a no-hitter into the fifth inning before giving up two runs. Overall, he only had one strikeout the whole six innings he pitched. His second outing on April 4, was less than ideal as he gave up eight earned runs in only four innings pitched. With this mixed bag of starts, it is hard to tell what the Angels will get from Harvey this year.
Walk-Off Wilmer Flores continues to play for the Arizona Diamondbacks. This offseason the Mets decided not to tender Flores a contract and the fan favorite became a free agent. Wilmer has been playing mostly at second base for the NL West team. This year Flores has five hits in as many games, batting .263/.300/.368 overall.
Daniel Murphy landed in Colorado this offseason after a nice run with the Nationals and a quick stop with the Cubs. While fielding a ground ball, Murphy sustained an avulsion fraction of his left index finger. Murphy is planing to utilize other courses of treatment rather than having surgery in an attempt to shorten his time on the IL. However, no matter what course of treatment he chooses he will miss at least a month of baseball.
What happened to outfielders Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Matt den Dekker? The two made their way up and down throughout the organization due to the countless injuries to the starting players. Now they will be teammates on the Long Island Ducks in the Atlantic League. That team will be managed by Wally Backman and Ed Lynch is the pitching coach.
During the 2018 offseason, veteran lefty Jon Niese was signed by the Texas Rangers. The Rangers soon were forced to release him due to his sub scapularis muscle strain. The Long Island Ducks recently selected the rights of the Niese after a tryout camp in Florida. Niese played for the Mets from 2008-2016 before being traded to the Pirates. He hasn’t played in an affiliated ball after finishing the 2016 season in Pittsburg.
Jose Lobaton, the Mets back-up catcher to Devin Mesoraco last year, signed with the Seattle Mariners this past offseason. He did not make the major league team and will start the year in AAA for the Mariners. He’s joined by Justin Dunn, Jarred Kelenic, Anthony Swarzak, Gerson Bautista, Nabil Crismatt, and Zac Grotz as players from the 2018 Mets organization to now play for the Mariners.
Former Mets first baseman Lucas Duda has landed in the Kansas City Royals organization. Duda played for the Mets from 2010-2017 as their starting first baseman. After the first half of the season, the young home run-hitter was traded to the Tampa Bay Rays and played there for the second half of 2017 leading to free agency.
Duda signed a deal with the Kansas City Royals at the end of the 2017 season for a 1-year $3.5 million deal. Halfway through the 2018 season, he was dealt to the Atlanta Braves where he remained for the rest of the 2018 season. Duda hit free agency again in 2018 and was signed by the Minnesota Twins in February of this year. The Twins signed him to a minor league contract. However in March, eight days before the start of the season, the Twins released Duda. Soon after his release, the Kansas City Royals re-signed him to a minor league contract. Duda has made the Royals major league roster and has gone 1-for-8.
Two former Mets have found their way back to the National League East, both Neil Walker and Curtis Granderson are in the big leagues with Marlins. Both players went their separate ways halfway through the 2017 season. Curtis went from the Mets to the Dodgers in 2017, then 2018 to the Blue Jays nd then to the Brewers until now settling in Miami for 2019. Walker went from the Mets to the Brewers in 2017, then spent 2018 with the Yankees and is now in Miami with his old friend from his Mets days. Granderson has started five out of the Marlins seven games so far batting .231/.421/.538. Walker has played in all seven games so far and he has numbers similar to Granderson’s batting .214/.353/.429.
Kevin Plawecki was traded to the Cleveland Indians in January of this year from the Mets. The young catcher played for the team from 2015-2018 constantly being sent to the minors with the acquisition of veteran catchers and then being called back up when said catchers were injured. Plawecki has started two out of the Indians six games so far, he has two strikeouts and a walk in five plate appearances.
Jenrry Mejia started his comeback tour on Thursday for the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox. He did it against the Mets too. Mejia picked up a 1-2-3 save in Pawtucket’s 6-3 win over the Triple-A Syracuse Mets. Former Mets Domingo Tapia, Juan Centeno, and Bryce Brentz are on the Pawtucket roster with Mejia.
There are other former Mets who remain free agents this year include: Jose Bautista, Adrian Gonzalez, Austin Jackson, AJ Ramos, Jose Reyes, and Bartolo Colon.
The Mets have even brought back some old faces for the 2019 season in Jeurys Familia, Devin Mesoraco, Ruben Tejada, Carlos Gomez, Dilson Herrera, Travis Taijeron, and Rene Rivera.
