The Yankees announced that right-hander Stephen Ridings was claimed off waivers by the Mets.
Ridings, 27, was drafted by the Cubs in 2016 but was traded to the Royals and later released. He signed a minor league deal with the Yankees prior to 2021 and briefly got up the majors as a COVID replacement. He only tossed five innings in that stint, spending most of the year in the minors but putting up very impressive numbers on the farm. Between Double-A and Triple-A, he threw 29 innings with a 1.24 ERA, 38.2% strikeout rate and 3.6% walk rate.
That was enough to get him added to the Yankee roster prior to the Rule 5 draft one year ago. However, shoulder issues landed him on the 60-day injured list in April and he never returned. He did start a rehab assignment in September, but only got into two minor league games before the offseason arrived.
Various teams are facing roster squeezes this week, since today is the deadline to add prospects to 40-man rosters in order to protect them from being selected in the Rule 5 draft. As such, some other players are going to get nudged out of their spots, and it seems that Ridings was once such player for the Yanks.
For the Mets, they are looking to rebuild essentially an entire bullpen as they saw Edwin Diaz, Mychal Givens, Adam Ottavino, Trevor Williams, Joely Rodriguez, Seth Lugo, Trevor May and Tommy Hunter all reach free agency as the season ended. They have already re-signed Diaz to return as their closer but they will have a lot of work to do in order to get the entire staff ready for 2023. Ridings has injury concerns but has yet to reach arbitration and still has option years remaining, meaning there’s little cost for the Mets to take a look and see how his arm looks going forward.
Good pick
Local kid…stays local. I didn’t realize the Yankees left him unprotected.
Waived, not Rule 5 drafted.
Right. Interconnected. He was on the 60-man IL, so I suspect they were waiving him as they didn’t want to put him back on the 40-man roster again and hoped he pass through now as teams are finalizing their 40-man rosters in advance of the this evening’s Rule 5 deadline.
He’s one of those type of arms that could be a steal for the Mets, or a bust. Worth a shot as he has a big arm. Not a worry though. While I have issues with some ways the Yankees operate, building bullpens and finding the next interesting bullpen arm isn’t one of them. They seem to have a factory churning them out, or they find them on another team. Marinacchio is the latest. King will be back and healthy it appears. The guy they protected last week, Cordero, has very good potential. They clearly like him more than Ridings.
He’s a big kid with a good heater. This one might end up being worthwhile.
How did they let Ridings get away? I know he’s been injured but he looked great when healthy. Did we learn nothing from the Whitlock fiasco?
He’s 27 with 36 innings pitched since 2019.
He’s the same age as Nestor Cortez who also was a late bloomer. The Mets may have gotten a good one. The Yankees have others they could have left unprotected to keep Ridings.
Joe: one that could have gone but stays though he never progressed is Deivi Garcia. That kid needs a change of scenery or something. Hyped and then blah…..
Joe Says,
Can’t protect everyone. They must have some other arms, they like better. Let’s just hope they are right!
I hope so Mickey. Ridings sure looked good though.
Agreed!
Different scenarios. The Yankees as much as any team have interesting arms that teams target. They’ve had more claims recently than any team. It’s good they can develop them, but they can’t protect all of them. They took at shot at protecting him last year and he missed the entire season.
Yes, Holmes, King, Loasigna, Peralta, Schmidt, German, Marinaccio, Luetge, Abreu, Gil, and Trivino are a good nucleus. I see them landing others in rule 5 or through trades.
Abreu should not be in the same sentence with Holmes, King or Loaisiga. Too wild, has trouble staying in the strike zone. The kind of “long shot” a sub-.500 club takes a chance on.
To sacrifice Ridings to hold onto Abreu is another bad mark by the GM-for-Life.
I think they are sold on Abreau’s sinker.
Neither of them have a large enough sample size to say which is preferable.
Didn’t the GM-for-Life trade Abreu for their catcher, who made the All-Star Game and the league Platinum glove, and then got him back for free? I’m sure you were unhappy when they traded Tauchman for Peralta, and traded for Holmes, or gasp when they reclaimed their retread pitcher Nestor Cortes? Fans are funny.
@Joe, they’re finalizing their 40-man roster that will be locked this evening. The Rule 5 is yet to come. I believe that’s in early December, so they’ll be more fear to come for Yankee fans as they will almost assuredly get a couple arms plucked. Most always return. There’s a bit of a art to when a team will try to slip a player through waivers. The Yankees clearly still like Ridings, but probably were hoping he’d pass through as other teams had already made, or were about to make, final calls on their 40 man rosters. Looks like it almost worked. If I understand the waiver process, it’s in reverse order of standings. The Mets had one of the three or four best records in the game, so he almost made it through. In the end, choices have to be made. They know his medicals, they know the other players. Children will be sacrificed!
NJ.com had a good writeup about the guys the Yankees have to make a decision on.
Haven’t seen it, Joe. I’ll check it out.
Joe, my first impression was the same as yours. Then I did some reading:
‘Blake went on to characterize Ridings’ injury woes as a “host of shoulder stuff” in another conversation with Inside The Pinstripes in August.’
msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/mets-claim-stephen-riding…
Letting Whitlock go for nothing was a fustercluck, but I can’t kill Cashman for this one . . . at least not until Ridings becomes the next Edwin Díaz.
Thanks for the insight on this one Fink!
His journey to the bigs still wasn’t as impressive as Dennis Quaid’s was.
Easy guy to root for, wishing him health and dominance/success. Hate to see him go, this feels like a Whitlock 2.0 to me
Malkovich
Malkovich
Whitlock
Whitlock
Mets just dipping the toe in the water to feel the temperature , see what it’s like taking someone from the Yankees.
Mets are collecting Gingers. The Gingerbread Men are going to join the Cookie Club and devour souls.
Apropos of nothing, but his B-Ref photo makes it look like he shaved off his eyebrows.
He gets an extra MPH on his fastball that way
Bhahahaha……. And the hair off his arms, too. Minimize wind resistance. Bill M, i bust a gut over your line.
you know you have a deep core of relievers when you leave a guy like this unprotected. big if, but if he figures out how to stay healthy he could be a beast