Though the team did not formally announce it, the Mets agreed to a minor league contract with infielder Matt Reynolds earlier this month, tweets Anthony DiComo of MLB.com.
It’s a homecoming of sorts for the now-31-year-old Reynolds, a second-round pick of the Mets back in 2012. He spent parts of the 2016-17 seasons on the Mets’ big league roster and has since received very brief looks with the Nationals and Royals at the MLB level. In all, Reynolds is a .212/.282/.323 hitter through 251 plate appearances as a big leaguer.
Reynolds spent the 2021 season in the White Sox organization but hasn’t gotten a call to the big leagues since a that brief Kansas City audition in 2020. He played in 93 games for the ChiSox’ Triple-A affiliate last year, hitting at a solid .269/.373/.395 pace while splitting his time at the two middle-infield spots (in addition to a lone five-inning appearance in right field). In parts of seven Triple-A seasons, Reynolds is a .283/.363/.435 hitter.
Obviously, the infield is quite crowded in Queens, where the Mets have Robinson Cano, Francisco Lindor, Eduardo Escobar, J.D. Davis, Jeff McNeil and Luis Guillorme all slated for time on the big league roster. Reynolds will likely head to Triple-A Syracuse and see plenty of action at shortstop, though he also has experience at second, third and in all three outfield positions as well.
I once thought he’d be a good bench player obviously I was wrong.
Why wrong? He’s really not too bad. Nothing to get excited about, but a decent backup IFr/last guy off the bench/AAA depth
Well, a career .605 OPS and just 251 career at-bats across seven seasons. All of that says that, no, he’s not good bench player. And at 31, there’s no reason to believe he has any upside left at this point.
Maybe a warm body for injury depth?
Pretty much.
Could happen, but I don’t think he’s primarily here as AAA roster filler. The org doesn’t really have a legit AAA-caliber shortstop right now.
Old retreads of Alderson check. Waiting for the signing of Eric Campbell and Kelly Johnson
don’t forget Mr.Uribe.
Allan Dykstra waiting by the phone.
Noooo!! Both of those guys stink of Wilpon failures. Campbell somehow stuck around for years, and the Mets traded for KJ for what felt like 2-3x.
Kelly Johnson was actually a very solid pick up both times for the Mets.
bringing him back for one more shot at the career campaneris, you love to see it
A minor step toward their next title in 2049
What heck is your deal? You have make some useless, obnoxious comment on every Mets article? Get a life.
His typical explannation goes along these lines “you obviously don’t understand my sophisticated use of alliteration metaphor irony and other literary devices.” This troll is a failed writer who is pathetically trying to refine his craft on the MLBTR comment board. I wish I could laugh about this but the only emotion I could muster for 48team is pity
He wants a 48 team MLB league. What do you expect?
The idea of the Mets winning the World Series right before 2050 would be pretty funny. They win then shortly after the Earth reaches its climate disaster point.
Almost poetic.
classic Alderson nostalgia signing; expect little more than AAAA depth
Wasn’t he the guy that was on the 2015 World Series roster, but didn’t play? I know Adalberto (then Raul) Mondesi did for the Royals. I think Reynolds was on the Mets team also.
I believe he was added to the playoff roster after Ruben Tejada’s leg was crushed by Chase Utley’s slide. So he was there, but had no regular season experience at the time.
Not saying Reynolds doesn’t have a shot at the bigs, but sometimes minor league moves are simply made to bolster the minor league team.
Exactly. Now, having said that, injuries do happen and having guys like Reynolds around who can fill in in a pinch is a great idea.
Just a depth guy that could play multiple positions…he always seemed to light it up during spring training with the CWS.
Well, that puts a nice wrap on the Mets off-season.
Well since the lockout is prob not going to end, I think everyone’s off season is under a nice wrap
Sorry, but I remember 1994. I am a bit cynical.
He was making a funny, Reynolds wrap, get it?
You’re not alone. I don’t trust owners like Jerry Reinsdorf not to try to weaken or break the union like the NHL owners did when they canceled an entire season.
Reynolds is not a bad emergency middle infielder. Decent contact hitter and solid glove
Now let’s see the Mets follow up by signing Mark Reynolds, Harold Reynolds, Craig Reynolds, Shane Reynolds and RJ Reynolds.
Bryan Reynolds is off-limits, though.
I was a big RJ fan back in the day
As was I Cosmo. RJ was a bit of a tweener, not usually good enough to be an everyday player but great to have as a fill-in starter and bench bat. I understood when the Pirates moved on from him (Bonilla’s inability to play 3B moved him to RF, RJ couldn’t play CF well), but I never understood why RJ’s career basically vanished after that. He went to Japan for a year, didn’t do great, and then nothing.
Ronn Reynolds?
How about Kevin McReynolds
I think that sort of breaks the rules of the game
Is Ryan Reynolds available?
After he sells Mint Mobile, he might be.
Read too quickly. Thought it said “Mark Reynolds”. I need to lie down.
@ 48 team… more like 2059 or 60 depending on how you feel that day, heck let’s go 2089 just for licks n tickles.
MLBTR really need to come up with some standards for how to describe a players slash line. Wasn’t AAA a hitters paradise this year? Yeah he walks, but no power and middling average just doesn’t seem to be “solid” to me. Passable might be a better description.
Solid comment
OPS+ and WRC+ are possibly what you’re looking for
I knew this guy wasn’t going to amount to anything before he even got called up and I got baraded by other Met fans saying “Reynolds is a great super utility guy with a league average bat, you don’t know what your talking about”. I guess I was right …. again
Oh my goodness, Reynolds was sooooo over hyped by the team. I remember thinking like you: what the heck do folks see in this guy? It was just hype, the team trying to sell some excitement to fans that just wasn’t there.
Exactly, its not like he was McNeil who batted over 300 in every level in the minors. Reynolds never hit above average at any level
Was it the team or the clowns commenting on MetsBlog and the other sites and on sportsradio. It was relentless before the big trades in ’15 with constant bashing of Sandy and company for not calling him up when Ruben Tejada his like Ruben Tejada and Wilmer Flores fielded like Dick Stuart. After the Mets didn’t trade for Tulo in the off-season, Reynolds’s inflated Las Vegas numbers made people think he was the answer and the front office was just too stupid realize it. I guess the front office wasn’t wrong there.
I just remember the team kept leaking stories about how excited they were about Reynolds, the announcers, the local media were hyping him up, and, yet, he was like 24 years old and not being considered for the job at SS. It drove me nuts. I’m sure the fans and bloggers took the nonsense and ran with it though.
Dr. Strange Glove
Does the signing of Matt Reynolds, similar to that of the Nats minor league deal with Maikel Franco hint at organizations lining up the dreaded REPLACEMENT PLAYERS for next spring?
Hey, where’s Tommy? Someone find Tommy
We’re out on the road
Moving equipment, where’s the equipment?
Soon we’re going home
I really doubt it. Both those guys are in the union, and likely would never agree to be replacement players.
Franco and Reynolds are two completely different kinds of players. I think Franco is a guy that will see some considerable time in the bigs. The Reynolds signing really just feels more like the Mets bolstering their AAA squad moreso than anything else. It’s good to have seasoned veterans even at the AAA level, helping guys on their way up the ladder.
I think Reynolds has more value cuz you never know when you need a backup IFr for a spell. When do you ever need a player who can’t hit or field? Franco isn’t a much better hitter than Reynolds at this point. What value does he bring?
I would love to see replacement players instead of no ball at all. Bring it on that’s what I have been saying to all of my friends; bring up the AAA guys and lets get it on!
Didn’t the Phillies just sign 6 guys?
Bring back Big Sexy!!! The Mets should just make him our new mascot
Yes, the Phils just signed six guys — including 2021 reliever Cam Bedrosian. But these all fall under the heading “guys with some potential” as opposed to “old guys on the downside of their careers.”
I doubt most good minor leaguers would agree to that. How would it even work?
Guy was crap the first time why would they think he will be better this time around.
He’s a backup middle infielder. He’s fine as that. How good do you expect a backup infielder to be?
Wouldn’t be surprised if he was brought back into the organization with an eye toward a post playing career coaching job in the not too distant future.
I forgot there was another Matt Reynolds. My mind went to the reliever who initially looked promising for the Rockies but had injuries and fizzled out.
There’s ‘finding players who you might actually get something out of’ versus ‘adding players who have no chance at all of contributing anything meaningful, from what is a potentially valuable minor league roster spot.’ This is the latter.
After all, your AAA SS’s are likely to get MLB playing time even if only in the dog days of 2022. These Mets continue to carry the reek of past Alderson teams who gave precious playing time to guys like Cameron Maybin, Travis Blankenhorn, Wilfredo Tovar, Albert Almora, Jr….—all of whose ilk, position players and pitchers, would eventually contribute more than negative 7 fWAR precisely because the team failed to do more than fill out their upper minor leagues with guys like Matt Reynolds.
The current Mets major league roster projects to roughly 87 wins if supplemented by replacement level (ie 0.0 WAR) players, but the current FO shows no signs to date of understanding how using dismal ballplayers like Reynolds even in small roles over the course of a season can turn a contender into a .500 club. After all, they’ll use 30, even 35 of these players between April and October. And that’s where these Mets currently are, an 87 win team well on its way to being sabotaged by its choices on the periphery.
It’ll be interesting to see if Eppler can bring at least a little more savvy on the fringes than he showed with the Angels, and if he’s allowed to put that into practice on the affiliates’ rosters..
“Obviously, the infield is quite crowded in Queens…”
It obviously isn’t.
You named six players, one of whom is likely to be cut in ST, and two of whom are clearly part-timers / backups. In fact, oddly enough, the Mets currently have a respectable IF and a respectable bench (they’re short a real 4th OFer, but they’re always short a real 4th OFer)
Congrats to the Buck and the Mets. Also congrats to the Mets fan base as you do have an owner that wants to win! .Give Hal credit for reducing traffic in the Bronx on the streets and on the subways.