The Mets are in agreement with first baseman Joey Meneses and reliever Hobie Harris on minor league deals. Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported (X link) the Meneses deal, while MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo reported the Harris addition (on X). Meneses is a client of the MAS+ Agency; Harris is represented by Gaeta Sports Management.
Both players are former Nationals. The 32-year-old Meneses spent two and a half seasons in Washington. He had a monster showing in a limited sample as a rookie in 2022, hitting .324/.367/.563 in 56 games. The rebuilding Nats gave him two seasons to see if he could build off that surprising debut, but he hasn’t maintained anything near that form. Meneses was a roughly league average hitter in ’23, turning in a .275/.321/.401 slash with 13 homers over 154 contests. His numbers declined sharply again this year, as he finished with a .231/.291/.302 mark and a trio of home runs across 313 plate appearances.
The Nats waived Meneses at season’s end. He elected minor league free agency after going unclaimed. He’ll need to earn his way back to the big leagues. Meneses will battle for a job as a right-handed bench bat. Mark Vientos will lock down one corner infield spot. That could come at first base if the Mets allow Pete Alonso to walk. Vientos could move back to the hot corner if the Mets re-sign Alonso. Jesse Winker also hit free agency, so there could be a path to some at-bats at designated hitter depending on how the offseason plays out.
Harris, 31, has limited big league experience. He pitched in 16 games for the Nats in 2023, allowing 12 runs over 19 1/3 innings. Harris issued 13 walks and managed just nine strikeouts in that brief stint. The Pittsburgh product pitched in Triple-A with the Twins this past season. He allowed nearly seven earned runs per nine through 54 1/3 innings. Harris has struggled in the upper minors in consecutive years. He can run his fastball into the 94-95 MPH range and missed bats on an impressive 14.6% of his offerings this year, though. That was enough for the Mets to bring him aboard as minor league bullpen depth.
Here come the replacements for Alonso and Manaea.
What if the mets randomly decided to become the brewers because they do quantum math physics and realize that moneyball gets more wins
Then Meneses makes absolutely no sense. He’s a moneyball pariah.
He will likely be organizational depth at AAA.
Hobie Harris and Ryne Stanek can bond over their love of Kid Rock and Limp Bizkit
The Mets goal was to get a former RF from the Nationals and now they have their man
That Cinderella story certainly ended quickly didn’t it..
Trust in Stearns.
I don’t mind them signing Meneses. Hes a much better hitter than DJ Stewart. Great off the bench bat and occasional DH. Marte will get hurt, its bound to happen. I hope they still resign Winker though
C’mon, Mets. Sign Joey Gallo and Patrick Corbin. I triple-dog dare ya!
Someone will take a shot on Corbin. What once was a conventionally promising career — and included his key role in bringing the Nats a World Series title in 2019 — devolved into possibly the worst 5-year record ever for a starting pitcher (33-70, 5.62). Yet from 2020-2024, he started 137 games, and never missed a start due to injury. The guy was never hurt, and they kept throwing him out there and he kept responding with just enough quality starts to stay in the rotation. Yeah, he got bombed sometimes, but paraphrasing an old saying, “You gotta be pretty good to lose 63 games in 4 years.” Corbin starts the season at 35 years old. He’s lost some velocity, and he’s already banked a ton of $$$, but…he IS a free agent.
Someone will sign Corbin to a one year deal. He’s the perfect type for a team looking for possible rebound candidates to use as trade chips mid-season (almost has Pirates written all over him)
Gallo has somehow managed to hit under .200 in each of the past 5 seasons and still managed to hit 98 Home Runs over that span. I say send him to Denver and do away with the humidor and lets see what happens
Wrong Joey. We wanted Mr. Wendle back
Meneses can hit a little…but his lack of power is huge miss, low velocity when hitting the ball won’t fix it either.
He’s a right handed Dom Smith.
Two more Syracuse Mets!! Ye-haa!
This report neglects to mention that Meneses drove in 89 runs in 2023. Yes, his home runs declined from his ’22 numbers, but the guy has a knack for RBIs. When the Nats sent him down in ’24, he was leading the team in RBIs — how often does that happen? The HR fall-off was a concern, since Meneses had always been a decent power guy throughout his minor league career. When the average dropped too, and given his status as a late-blooming MLBer past 30, that was all she wrote. But Meneses is worth a look as a potential reclamation project. He’s a good guy, too.
I think we can expect Meneses to be highly motivated and bide his time in Syracuse waiting for an opportunity the way Jose Iglesias did. Meneses doesn’t have a long big league resume like Iglesias, but he was dangerous hitter and could contribute when called upon.