4:35pm: Hechavarria recently triggered an opt-out clause in his deal, per Ken Davidoff of the New York Post (via Twitter), thus forcing the Mets to decide between bringing him onto the MLB roster and allowing him to become a free agent.
Notably, he has agreed to an advance consent clause with the Mets, Tim Britton of The Athletic tweets. If the club outrights Hechavarria, and he clears waivers, he will not be able to elect free agency while still receiving his full remaining MLB salary (as players with 5+ years of service are allowed to do by rule).
Righty Drew Smith was shifted to the 60-day IL to create 40-man roster space.
4:13pm: The Mets have selected the contract of veteran infielder Adeiny Hechavarria, the club tells reporters including Tim Britton of The Athletic (Twitter link). He’ll take the active roster spot of first baseman Dominic Smith, who was optioned back to Triple-A.
The 30-year-old Hechavarria is a slick-fielding shortstop who settled for a minor-league pact this winter. He’ll boost the club’s defensive flexibility, though he isn’t historically much with the bat. Hechavarria is off to a strong start at Triple-A (.348/.382/.446 in 102 plate appearances).
Smith, 23, has hit quite well in limited chances this year in the big leagues. Through 37 plate appearances, the former top prospect owns a .333/.459/.400 slash with six walks against just seven strikeouts. Unfortunately, he’s a bit buried on the depth chart. Carrying a lefty bench bat of this sort is something of a luxury for a National League team. It’s certainly possible to imagine Smith reemerging to play an important role if a need arises; he might also become interesting trade bait.
Too bad for Dom. He finally got things together and was overshadowed by Alfonso. Maybe they can get something decent for him, as the article suggests.
He’s getting overshadowed by Brooklyn Cyclones Manager Edgardo Alfonzo? Haha, Lack of significant bat right now on the bench for PH opportunities.
Would love to see the pirates trade for him.
They can use pop and wouldn’t have a hard time fitting him in the lineup
Uh, Josh Bell? He’s kind of doing extremely well right now. I doubt he’ll sustain an OPS above .900, but I see no reason he won’t have a solid year.
Alonso
He should be dealt for a pitcher. he boosted his trade value by a lot. Should get something decent for him. Jay’s seem like a good match
HECHY LIVES!!!! Best fielding shortstop in MLB, non-Simba division. The glove alone will add to 1-3 more victories a year; and that’s a LOT this year in the NL East. And it’s not like he’s Mario Mendoza with the stick.
Brandon Crawford?
Ya, BC’s in the discussion….they’ve both very good. And a couple of others. But Hechy is among the best.
That will be sweet. Rosario overrated
He has a career wRC+ of 72 he’s an abhorrent hitter
Yeah and Mendoza’s career WRC+ was 38. So he’s correct that Hechavarria is better than Mendoza with the bat. He’s actually a lot better.
Bob Jose Iglesias is the best fielding shortstop in MLB. Better than Simba and Hech
Are you joking? Take a look at their defensive stats. Simmons outclasses Iglesias in nearly every category.
Defense is too hard to measure with numbers. A lot of people don’t go by them
If the numbers were only off by a bit I’d agree with you that they may not be the best indicator of who’s better, but Simmons outpaces Iglesias and every other shortstop (even the ones with larger defensive sample sizes) so thoroughly that it’s not even funny.
If my defense included Holt, Nunnie and Peddie I wouldn’t use numbers to measure.
Thanks for posting your methodology for such an important prediction.
Based on defense alone, I’d rather have Ahmed, Crawford, or Lindor than Hech.
I still wish I could have heard Harry Caray say “a-DEIN-y HECH-a-varr-IA”
Figured Dom was going down for Lowrie when he returns but for Hech? That makes the bench much weaker
Except that the front office has mandated that Thor be used as a two way player now. So Noah broke out his first baseman’s glove during BP today.
“He was our total offense last night. Of course we have to get his bat in the lineup.”
IQ55—He was our total offense–You’re a MET HATER–so stay on your bronx boys and stop your hate-ting yank-thing. How’s Patton’s knee. remember when you would just rag the METS about hurt players and you would say they suck. Go back to your Gary-let me throw the ball into CF-Sanchez. Or Mike-pay me to workout and call me Giancarlo while I K Stanton.
I was gonna agree with you about mikeyank55, but your post is so unreadable it’s too hard to find a common ground.
4 ever has concentration issues. As an example he attack’s Sanchez who is outpacing almost all catchers this year. His mouth was frothing when he posted…probably the result of the dog medicine that he was given a few weeks ago.
And as for the Yankees they are doing fine, thank you. As for a fan who would stay with a name of metsfan4ever, it’s a commentary for someone who continually suffers from an identity crisis.
Teams with the worst team WAR at 1B:
Royals – Seem to want to stick with O’Hearn, but Smith was always a far better prospect. Who would NYM want from KC?
Red Sox – Moreland and Pearce shouldn’t be blocking Dom Smith from the everyday 1B job, no idea what kind of deal these two teams could make, but it’s interesting
Astros – Probably will stick with White and Gurriel, but Smith might be an interesting move, just because he’d most likely go off in Houston.
Athletics – Only on the list because Olson was on DL the whole time. They want him playing every inning, so Smith’s no fit here
Angels – Probably stuck with Pujols and Bour because of Ohtani taking DH. Smith is a better option, but will never happen because that would mean making Pujols a bench player.
Orioles – Chris Davis, no. Dom Smith, yes. Who would Brody want though?
Marlins – Neil Walker, Martin Prado and Garrett Cooper probably shouldn’t block Smith either. Again, who would NYM want?
Padres – Hosmer is stuck there. SD themselves have another blocked 1B they should be actively trying to trade ASAP too in Josh Naylor, 22, who has a .965 OPS at AAA.
Brewers -Smith has a higher ceiling going forward than Thames or Aguilar, but they might be a sleeper trade team too in case they decide to capitalize on this 24 year old who looked like a breakthrough guy this year.
Rockies – Probably will stick with Reynolds and Murphy, but Smith in Denver might turn him into the next Todd Helton. Hmm….
Worth adding in that waiting until today to call up Hech’ saved the Mets 1 million dollars. He was due a bonus for that amount if he was called up before May 3 and spent the entire year on the roster (ie: 150 days or more).
He’ll be released when Lowrie returns… weird to see a Met’s team with to many infielders
Hey pfas-Don’t hold your breath about Jed returning so quickly. He’s been busy working on his putting game with Cespedes this spring and will take his sweet time.
Stick to your entire team that’s hit the links so far Mikey. It’s weird that this team has so much real estate in your head.
IQ55-
see–there you go. how many stankees are on the pay me and don’t play me list…
Wow goat. Our guys come back early by working hard. Start with Cespedes and you can say more than “bahhhhhh”. It took he and the team 4 years to diagnose his injury. Add to that the great job the Mets did is 2016-18 mismanaging their pitching staff and you will see why. Remember your only claim to fame little boys is 2015, and you have not won a championship in over 3 decades. Does that resonate in your little brain or is denial so persuasive?.
This does not occupy any real estate. I always wanted to be a stand up comedian and responding to hopeless Mets fans like goat and 4ever allows me to practice my creative writing. By the ASG the Mets will fade and I will have enough material to do a few gigs on the UES. My show is called, “Flushing Follies”.
IQ55-miss met hater–“As an example he attack’s Sanchez who is outpacing almost all catchers this year”– only in HRs and yes errors too. because you want your C to lead MLB in Hrs and errors. He’s not a C. He doesn’t help his pitchers and that is what he needs to do first, not hit HRs. JT for him would have been a smart trade. JT only 1 yr older. Stay in the Bronx and stop hating on the METS. Just stay with your Bronx Bums.
As for Players getting paid for not playing–DL. our Cespedes vs your jacoby ellsbury, adding $30 mil a yr for the K king Stanton,
He would be really great in the DH spot. Oh wait…..
d’Arnaud released per MLB transaction log
Taking current numbers out and focusing on the future of a ballclub, first team that came to mind for Dominic is Arizona. Walker is performing, so far, however he’s probably not part of the future.
Red Sox would be interesting. Not sure if they have the pieces to deal for him or the motivation to do so. Had they kept Swihart….just kidding.
Cleveland could use a bat. He and Santana can 1B/DH. Another is Detroit with Hicks catching and Cabrera DH’ing.