The Mets announced Wednesday that they’ve signed outfielder Nick Plummer to a one-year, Major League contract. The Cardinals opted to let the 25-year-old become a minor league free agent earlier this month rather than adding him to the 40-man roster. Plummer is repped by Wasserman.
The Cardinals likely gave at least some thought to keeping Plummer, given that he’s a former No. 23 overall pick (2015) who enjoyed a breakout season between Double-A and Triple-A this season. In 478 plate appearances across 117 games, Plummer raked at a .280/.415/.479 clip with 15 home runs, 20 doubles, six triples and 13 stolen bases (in 24 attempts). He played center field earlier in his career and has continued to do so into the upper minors, but he’s begun to see more time in the corners in recent seasons as well.
Strikeouts and struggles with opposing lefties have both been an issue for the left-handed-hitting Plummer in the past, but he improved in both areas in 2021. After striking out in 31% of his career plate appearances in the low minors, Plummer cut that to a more manageable 26.5% in 2021. He also slashed .315/.457/.534 in 92 plate appearances against lefties — a small but nevertheless encouraging sample for a former first-rounder who appeared to make strides in various areas.
Signing Plummer to a big league deal puts him on the Mets’ 40-man roster but also prevents the rare (but not unprecedented) scenario where he inks a minor league deal after Rule 5 protection day and then is subsequently selected by another club in the Rule 5 Draft. This is Plummer’s first addition to a 40-man roster and, as such, he still has all three minor league option seasons remaining. He’ll give the Mets an intriguing upper-level depth option in the outfield.
Major league deal? Ok… sounds a whole lot like Sam McWilliams all over again…
Its prob like a 1M guarantee which is less than half a percent of the payroll. If he sucks, u can always waive him and just eat the money. He has all his options i would think. If he puts up an OBP 80 points lower than his last year’s MiLB total, ur absolutely thrilled with that
This has spite written all over it lol
All their troubles down the drain!
Lol wut
Maybe the timing is just a coincidence, but could this signing be revenge for the Matz STL deal?
No.
It’s Matz’ agent, not the Cardinals
nice flier to take a chance on. worth the ML spot – he was a R5 candidate and might have gotten another offer like this one.
Eppler is on fire!
Hahahahahahahababababaabb
Imagine if Cohen didn’t sign him and how he would have freaked out lol
I’m sorry, Mr. Cohen, but I’ve decided to sign with Roto-Rooter instead.
Hahahahahahahababababaabb
Welcome back Cey Hey!
Occam’s razor?
Could it simply be that player agents are using Cohen to get higher contracts for their clients?
–
Down below a guy says the Yankees need a defensive C, SS, 1B and maybe a few starting pitchers. They had the 2nd highest payroll in MLB in 2021.
Think maybe the players agents are taking advantage of what are beginning to look like 2 inept, desperate, sucker FO’s that think like their fans – just throw money at each problem?
Samuel, Gotta leave again, though. Busy beyond belief with writing, but couldn’t resist this Mets thread. Did you know about Driveline’s Carter Capps resigning as Mets minor league pitching coordinator? I posted something below. He left after 10 months on the job.
No, but I’m familiar with Driveline.
They made a good move there. I’ve been writing that restructuring a baseball ops operation takes years. Look at the Orioles that had nothing technically in place. It takes patience and support – obviously the Mets don’t have that.
@Samuel, I meant Capps was resigning as in leaving, not re-signing as in staying put.
Regarding the possibility of players and agents using Cohen to up contract offers from other teams, it’s not far-fetched. I had mentioned that possibility when Cohen came on board. The rich new kid on the block being “broken in” after flaunting his wealth. That Lindor deal was the first indicator of something like that going on.
Who would you rather have? Wander Franco for 12 years at $223MM or Francisco Lindor for 10 years at $341MM? By the way, the Mets will have four more years of paying Bobby Bonilla when Lindor’s $5MM deferments kick in.
@ceyhey
Cohen never had that choice.
I was saying before that might be why the Dodgers had to pay Andrew Heaney so much. It’s unlikely any other team would have paid him close to that. He may have just demanded more money from the Dodgers because he knew they had it effectively forcing them to bid against themselves. That’s the problem with throwing a ton of money around. All the players that sign with those teams expect them to outbid the market by a larger margin than usual. You would think players would prefer a team like the Dodgers and sign an equal or even slightly smaller contract for the chance to compete with such a great team. Instead the knowledge they spend that much money seems to be getting used against them and they are forced to overpay like some not contending teams do who have trouble attracting free agents in the first place
Well the Mets are the opposite of Roto-Rooter in that they don’t clear crap but pile up as much as possible. Seriously why did he even let it known that he was mad at Matz’s agent. That’s the difference between the Mets and the Braves the Braves keep all their moves close to the vest and you don’t know about their moves until it happens and the Mets like some desperate reality TV Housewife let the whole world know everything because they want to compete with the Yankees for the city’s newspapers sports section backpage headline.
That’s why all those GM candidates turned them down
You Should …
Good obp guy and baseball prospectus likes him fine by me.
Anyone need a plummer? Oakland could have used him for their stadium septic situation and patrolling the OF of course for any messes
Cards were plenty patient with Plummer. He was awful the first few years in the low minors, but finally they turned him around. Maybe they pick him up again, in the Rule 5 draft, just to spite the Mets’ management. They have room on their 40-man roster.
“Signing Plummer to a big league deal puts him on the Mets’ 40-man roster but also **prevents** the rare (but not unprecedented) scenario where he inks a minor league deal after Rule 5 protection day and then is subsequently selected by another club in the Rule 5 Draft.”
It’s so hard to read all the way to the end.
Just spend 10 years running thousands of simulations with OOTP and you’ll know everything about how baseball works
right on, ever notice how eerily close ootp comes to predicting real life stats?
Plummer is gonna clean up the messes, get rid of the clogs, and make sure the pipeline is running smoothly.
Revenge for Matz I see. Well played, Steve. Well played.
Thats a bummer, they signed Plummer
Wonder if he can pitch? Cohen can stop pouting now.
World Series or bust!
This is a fine move, probably was the type of guy they would’ve targeted in R5 but this way you can send him down without having to offer him back. Low-risk move for sure.
Mets needed a 4th OF.
I’m sure they will eventually find one.
The Mets need at least one starting OFr. Right now they’ve got Nimmo, Lee and this guy. A lot more work to be done.
Even worse for the Mets than not signing Matz is this item:
While Cohen was busy tweeting about Matz’s agent, former MLB pitcher (and Driveline employee) Carter Capps was leaving his role as the Mets’ minor league pitching coordinator to become the University of Seattle’s pitching coach. Capps was hired by the Mets last January to build a modern pitching pipeline by fixing their outdated methods for developing pitchers. Ten months later, he’s gone.
That’s a more significant loss than not signing Matz. Don’t look now, but the Mets’ pipeline is leaking.
@ Cey Hey;
The Exodus continues……
This is actually a win for the way MLB has evolved! Smart FO’s are running circles around the big spenders that just throw money at problems. The players know it. The agents know it. The coaching staffs and FO people know it.
The game has changed – not with the bat flipping and strutting – but with the intelligence in most FO’s and with many of the managers.
@Samuel, The Mets were late to Driveline game and are now out of it, at least for now. I don’t know what college pitching coaches make, but Capps seemed to have a lot of responsibility with the Mets. Gotta wonder what Capps might be telling his former Driveline colleagues about his Mets experience.
The Mets look completely dysfunctional. While other FOs are signing players while trying to be smart about it, the Mets are still trying to figure out who does what. The worst thing they could do is overspend in an effort to catch up. Considering how they’ve recently lost Wheeler, Syndergaard, Matz, and probably Stroman for virtually nothing, the smart thing to do would be to trade deGrom if he’s healthy. Otherwise, they will surely lose him next winter when he opts out. Of course, it would be a PR disaster with Mets fans.
“Gotta wonder what Capps might be telling his former Driveline colleagues about his Mets experience.”
B I N G O
FO people talk. Coaches talk. Players talk…….
Think possibly that last night Matz was in touch with some if his former Mets teammates and they brought him up to date on the situation there and on what their futures will be?
Yes. Also, players and their agents know a frustrated Cohen is participating in negotiations. This is making Marcus Stroman and others very happy. Everyone in the game is plugged into what’s going on with the Mets.
Food for thought: If the Mets decide to rebuild, they would have no real need to keep Diaz as their closer. If they were to trade him, Cano would outlast him in a Mets union. A prediction of mine from a couple of years ago. I was kinda kidding at the time though not really.
in a Mets *uniform
I agree with everything you are saying except for the idea of trading Jacob. DeGrom is one of those special players that you keep for your fans. He probably won’t pitch long enough to be a hall of famer but he has a window where when healthy he might be the single most valuable player in either league. The Mets have demonstrated no ability to evaluate talent versus cost so there is no reason to thinking trading Jacob would get the right assets. The Mets should just hope that deGrom gets his health back and roll with him whether they win 65, 75 or 85.
@ MannyBeingMVP;
I think the point is that deGrom has an opt out after 2022. If this dysfunction continues and another team can match or beat the contract dGrom has with the Mets, than there’s a good chance he leaves. In anticipation, the Mets may want to try to get something for him.
However, as Cey Hey noted, that would be a PR disaster with Mets fans.
I’m sure Cohen will try to head that off. But overpaying for FA’s will not work. They need a scouting department upgrade, a development upgrade (losing Carter Capps speaks volumes), a technical upgrade, upgrade of FO departments, coaching upgrades, etc…..and a manager would help. That will take quite a bit of time. It’s why I wrote a month ago that it’ll take one of deGrom or Alonso demanding out to get that organization to professionalize.
DeGrom specifically got a no trade clause cuz he didn’t want to leave NY. You are deluding yourself if you think players care one iota about “LOL Mets” the way fans do. DeGrom has never given any indication he wants out. You are making all of this up out of nowhere.
Capps…darn solid before the league didnt like that he was breaking the game.
As a cards fan I saw plummer play live last year. Guy has made major adjustments. Hope he has a breakout season.
Some cheap some OF depth for a team that badly needs it.
For sure. The only outfielders on the Mets 40-man roster are Brandon Nimmo, Dominic Smith, Khalil Lee, Mark Payton, and now Plummer. Five guys, though Jeff McNeil can play there and may have to if the Mets don’t make a free-agent splash. With December 2 just eight days away, they need to do something quickly or else sweat out the world stoppage. Suzuki will sign with someone soon, based on what we’ve been reading.
Dodgers better do things too. They are a 3rd place team rn
The Dodgers have Andrew Friedman calling the shots and a wealth of talent throughout the organization. They also have five years of averaging 102 wins per 162 games. The Mets average 77. The two situations aren’t close to being comparable. By the way, the Mets don’t even have a manager. That is pathetic when you consider they parted ways with Rojas nearly two months ago. Rojas found a new job in MLB before the Mets found his replacement. Think about that.
cap
Dodgers a third-place team right now. It’s good to finally see you have a sense of humor.
Cohen needed a Plummer to fix his leaking franchise.
I see you were up all night again
He’ll need more than that to put smiles on the faces of Mets fans. A trade for Royals pitcher Richard Lovelady might do the trick.
Oh yeah. This is the one. 14 billion dollar owner and twitter crybaby opens up his wallet to sign ill wait a guy named plummer. But will pay 12 dollar a hot dog and 9 dollars a beer to watch a bunch of 4.50 era pitchers and a mediocre lineup
Dont worry fellow met fans bobby bonilla is gonna come out of retirementand start earning his 1.2 million salary he will earn til wander franco cobtract is up
This guy finally gets a Major League deal and Mets fans trash him.
Classy
No one is trashing him its that as mets fans we want a winner and with degrom getting older now is the time not 3 years from now!
At least they are now figuring out to target young minor league free agents with some potential instead of Jake Marisnick or something
I have no problem with this signing and they should be making tons more like this on the pitching side
Then you really won’t like what I’m fixing to tell you…Plummer is almost a younger version of Marisnick, just not quite as good in the outfield. Otherwise, their game is similar. Average power, a little above average speed, lots of strikeouts and low average.
Unconditional release prediction for Plummer: May 24th
Glad he is getting a chance hope it works out for him. He was blocked in St. Louis
It will be fun when the camera shows the dugout and you get to see a butt crack.
History shows that the Cardinals have let outfielders get away and they have become productive players. This could work well for the Metropolitans. Good luck to you Mr Plummer.
Gee, what’s going on here, another bottom-ender, who is making these picks?