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Tim Locastro

Padres, Tim Locastro Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Padres have agreed to a minor league contract with fleet-footed outfielder Tim Locastro, reports Jon Morosi of MLB Network. The Warner Sports Management client will join their big league camp as a non-roster invitee.

Locastro, 31, spent the 2023 season with the Mets organization, appearing in 43 big league games and another 19 minor league contests while also missing time with a thumb injury that required surgery. He received just 67 plate appearances in his 43 big league games — a reflection of his prowess as a pinch-runner and defensive replacement but generally light bat at the plate. Locastro batted .232/.338/.393 in his small sample of MLB work, bringing his career line to .228/.327/.337 in 616 MLB plate appearances.

While Locastro doesn’t walk much (5.8%), he’s generally had solid bat-to-ball skills (20.8% strikeout rate) and has also made an artform out of bolstering his OBP by crowding the plate and leaving himself susceptible to being plunked by opponents. It’s perhaps a dubious (and painful) “skill” to master, but Locastro has been hit in a borderline comical 7% of his MLB plate appearances. That’s allowed him to further capitalize on his elite speed; he’s swiped 45 bags in 50 attempts as a big leaguer.

Locastro has lost a bit of that speed as he’s aged but still remains among the game’s fastest players. Statcast credited him as the very fastest player in MLB from 2019-21 and ranked him in the 99th percentile in 2022, but he was “only” in the 93rd percentile of big leaguers in terms of sprint speed in 2023.

The Padres already have a heavily right-handed-hitting roster, and Locastro would further add to that if he were to make the roster. But he’s an elite source of speed off the bench who can handle all three outfield spots, and the Friars are perilously thin on outfield depth — regardless of handedness. At the moment, the Padres have only three outfielders on the 40-man roster: Fernando Tatis Jr., Jose Azocar and Jurickson Profar.

Locastro joins Oscar Mercado as a veteran non-roster option in camp, as well as former big leaguers Cal Mitchell and Bryce Johnson (who each have far less MLB experience). There’s a chance that top shortstop prospect Jackson Merrill will break camp with the club as a left fielder as well, but the 20-year-old has just 46 games above A-ball and none in Triple-A, so he could also head to the minors to begin the season.

Mets Claim Zack Short From Tigers

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Former Tigers infielder Zack Short has been claimed on waivers by the Mets, the Tigers announced. This comes amidst a flurry of roster moves for the Tigers, who needed to open up several spots on the 40-man ahead of the deadline to move players off of the 60-day injured list, as well as the deadline to add players to the 40-man before they can elect minor league free agency.

Drafted by the Cubs in 2016, Short was traded to the Tigers in 2020 in exchange for veteran outfielder Cameron Maybin. He made his big league debut the following season, appearing in 61 games for Detroit and struggling his way to a .141/.239/.282 batting line. The utility infielder spent almost all of the 2022 season at Triple-A, but he made his way back to the majors in April 2023 and never looked back. While no one could argue his bat was an asset, he posted a much-improved .204/.292/.339 slash line while showing off his defensive versatility all over the diamond. By the end of the year, he had appeared in 112 games, occasionally as a starter but just as often as a pinch runner or mid-game defensive replacement. 

While his offense may never be a strength, Short draws walks well, and he can put his plus speed to work when he reaches base. Moreover, his defense might not stand out at any one position, but he is capable of covering second, third, and short, and even the outfield in a pinch. As long as he doesn’t regress at the plate, his flexibility could earn him another shot at MLB playing time next season, especially since he is out of minor league options.

In further Mets news, all six players the team placed on outright waivers last week have cleared, per Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. Bryce Montes de Oca and Peyton Battenfield have been sent outright to Triple-A and will remain with the organization, while Tim Locastro, John Curtiss, Elieser Hernandez, and Denyi Reyes have elected free agency.

Mets Place Six Players On Outright Waivers

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The Mets have put six players on outright waivers, reports Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. Outfielder Tim Locastro and pitchers Denyi Reyes, Bryce Montes de Oca, John Curtiss, Elieser Hernández and Peyton Battenfield are now available to other clubs.

Locastro, best known for his speed, got into 43 games. He hit .232/.338/.393 in 67 trips to the dish. Locastro has played for four major league clubs, compiling a .228/.327/.337 slash in 290 MLB contests. He has 45 stolen bases in 50 career attempts, including a perfect 6-6 showing this year.

Reyes and Hernández were expected to be depth starters for New York in 2023. The former pitched nine times (including three starts), turning in a 7.78 ERA across 19 2/3 innings. Hernández never pitched as a Met. Acquired in a trade with the Marlins last offseason, he spent almost the whole season on the injured list with shoulder and pectoral concerns.

Curtiss pitched 15 times for New York after rehabbing from Tommy John surgery. He posted a 4.58 ERA through 19 2/3 innings. His season ended a bit early when he underwent surgery to remove a loose body from his elbow, although he is expected to be ready for Spring Training.

Montes de Oca lost the entire ’23 campaign after undergoing a Tommy John procedure in March. New York claimed Battenfield off waivers from the Guardians in the season’s final month, keeping him in Triple-A. Neither Montes de Oca nor Battenfield have the requisite service time to become free agents. They’d remain with the Mets as non-roster players if they clear waivers. The others will likely choose free agency unless another team places a claim.

Mets Designate Abraham Almonte For Assignment

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The Mets announced four roster moves in between games of their double-header with the Braves today, including the news that outfielder Abraham Almonte has been designated for assignment.  Right-hander Denyi Reyes was optioned to Triple-A, while righty Tyson Miller was called up from Triple-A and outfielder Tim Locastro was reinstated from the 60-day injured list.

Almonte signed a minor league deal with New York during the offseason, but he didn’t make his 2023 debut until four days ago, after the Mets selected his contract to the active roster.  With his appearance in the first game of the Atlanta double-header, Almonte’s tenure with the Mets could be over after four games, and one hit over 12 plate appearances.

The four-game cup of coffee at least ensured an 11th consecutive MLB season for Almonte, an Immaculate Grid favorite who has seen action with eight different Major League clubs.  The switch-hitter has a career .235/.302/.374 slash line over 1371 PA, as Almonte is known most for his outfield versatility than his prowess at the plate, though his glovework has allowed him to find backup or part-time roles for over a decade.

Assuming he clears waivers, Almonte has the right to elect free agency in the event an outright assignment, since he has been outrighed before in his career.  The Mets could also choose to release Almonte entirely, if they prefer to use younger players down the stretch rather than keep a veteran around at Triple-A.

Locastro returns after undergoing thumb surgery in May, and his thumb injury occurred during a rehab assignment when Locastro was already on the injured list recovering from back spasms.  The lengthy absence has limited Locastro to just 11 games, and he looks to get some outfield work while the Mets try to fill the void left by deadline trades and Starling Marte’s IL stint.

Tim Locastro To Undergo Thumb Surgery

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Mets outfielder Tim Locastro will have surgery on the torn ulnar collateral ligament in his thumb, with manager Buck Showalter relaying the news to reporters, including Tim Healey of Newsday.

Locastro, 30, joined the Mets on a minor league deal this winter and made the club’s Opening Day roster. He got into 11 games with the Mets in the early going, though only made 10 trips to the plate since he was largely serving as a pinch runner and defensive replacement. He then landed on the injured list April 17 due to back spasms, heading out on a rehab assignment about two weeks later. It appears that he injured his thumb during that rehab, with Showalter telling Healey that it occured when diving back into first base. It seems the issue is serious enough that he will now have to go under the knife.

The outfielder is already on the 60-day injured list, having been transferred there when Gary Sánchez was added to the roster last week. That makes Locastro officially ineligible to return until mid-June, 60 days from his initial IL placement. The Mets haven’t announced a timeline on his return but the surgery will undoubtedly keep him out of action well beyond the next few weeks. Gilberto Celestino of the Twins also underwent surgery on the UCL in his thumb this year, with that club announcing his timeline as six to eight weeks. It’s now been almost 12 weeks and he’s yet to begin a rehab assignment. Not all injuries are the same but it seems like Locastro won’t be an option for some significant period of time.

Locastro wasn’t going to be a core member of the club but the Mets likely gave him a roster position to take advantage of his baserunning abilities. His sprint speed was ranked in the 99th percentile last year and he has 43 career steals in 48 attempts. The club’s 31 steals on the year place them right in the middle of the league, tied with three other clubs in 14th place. Though Starling Marte, who has 12, is the only player on the roster with more than four. Locastro has a career batting line of .224/.325/.326 in 559 plate appearances.

Mets Select Gary Sanchez, Place Tim Locastro On 60-Day IL

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May 19: The Mets announced that they’ve selected Sanchez’s contract, optioned Perez to to Syracuse and placed outfielder Tim Locastro on the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot for Sanchez. Locastro has a sprained ulnar collateral ligament in his right thumb. New York also announced that Nido is heading out on a rehab assignment with the team’s Port St. Lucie affiliate, so further changes to the catching corps could be on the horizon.

May 18: The Mets are selecting the contract of veteran catcher Gary Sánchez, reports Andy Martino of SNY (Twitter link). He’s expected to be formally added to the roster before tomorrow’s game against the Guardians. The Mets will need to create a spot on the 40-man roster before the contest.

Sánchez signed a minor league deal with the Mets a little over a week ago. It was his second non-roster pact of the season. He’d initially signed with the Giants shortly after Opening Day but never got a big league look thanks to significant struggles with their top affiliate in Sacramento. He opted out and caught on with New York thereafter.

The two-time All-Star’s deal with the Mets allowed him to opt out if he wasn’t added to the MLB roster by tomorrow. He’s fortunately gotten out to a much better start for their Triple-A club in Syracuse than he had with Sacramento. He mashed at a .318/.531/.545 clip with a homer, two doubles, eight walks and nine strikeouts in seven games there. His overall Triple-A batting line for the season is a modest .208/.386/.286 thanks to the tough first month, but he’s clearly acquitted himself nicely in his brief time with his new organization.

With the opt-out date looming, reports earlier in the week suggested the Mets were strongly considering calling Sánchez up. Now that they’ve done so, he’ll be guaranteed a prorated $1.5MM salary (roughly $1.1MM through season’s end). Even with the Mets paying a 110% tax on that figure, bringing their total expenditure to around $2.31MM, that’s a reasonable sum for a capable #2 catcher.

Sánchez isn’t going to supplant highly-regarded rookie Francisco Álvarez as the starter. He’ll add an experienced depth option to the bench, offering some extra right-handed power for skipper Buck Showalter. Sánchez is no stranger to New York, of course, as he starred for the Yankees for the first four seasons of his career. His offensive production has fallen off since the start of 2020, as he carries a .195/.287/.394 line in a little under 1100 plate appearances through the past three years.

A much maligned defensive catcher over his time in the Bronx, Sánchez garnered respectable reviews from public metrics last year during his lone season with the Twins. Statcast rated him around league average as a pitch framer and blocker. He threw out a solid 28% of attempted basestealers. If he can carry over roughly average defense with some power and plate discipline, he’d be a solid backup catcher.

New York is without offseason signee Omar Narváez and expected backup Tomás Nido due to injuries. They’ve been relying on journeyman Michael Pérez as Álvarez’s backup of late. A career .180/.250/.308 hitter, Pérez has one remaining minor league option year. Unless the Mets elect to carry three catchers, he’s likely to be optioned to Syracuse or designated for assignment.

Mets To Select Tim Locastro, Designate Darin Ruf For Assignment

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9:15am: The Mets announced they have selected right-hander Tommy Hunter to the roster, a move that had been previously reported as upcoming. Ruf was designated for assignment as the corresponding move. The corresponding move for Locastro was the placement of Edwin Diaz on the 60-day injured list.

7:38am: The Mets are finalizing their bench ahead of Opening Day, as Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports that the club has designated first baseman and outfielder Darin Ruf for assignment. That paves the way for non-roster invitee Tim Locastro to make the Opening Day roster.

Ruf, 37 in July, was acquired by the Mets in a deadline trade with the Giants last summer that sent JD Davis and three prospects to San Francisco. Following a stint in South Korea’s KBO, Ruf had spent the past three seasons hitting well for the Giants while bouncing between first base, the outfield corners, and the DH slot. Over that time, Ruf slashed .248/.358/.455 with 32 home runs and 28 doubles in 726 plate appearances, good for a wRC+ of 125. Upon acquiring Ruf, the Mets envisioned his career .891 OPS against left-handed pitching as the perfect complement to the lefty-swinging Daniel Vogelbach in a DH platoon.

Unfortunately for both Ruf and the Mets, however, that did not pan out down the stretch in 2022, as Ruf struggled mightily in 28 games as a Met, slashing a disastrous .152/.216/.197 (24 wRC+). With a guaranteed $3MM salary in 2023 and a $3.5MM club option for 2024 that came with a $500K buyout, the Mets kept Ruf on the 40-man roster throughout the 2022-2023 offseason in hopes he would be able to rebound this season. However, Sherman notes that Ruf received a cortisone injection in his wrist last month before struggling badly during camp, posting a .498 OPS in 35 spring plate appearances.

That was enough for the Mets to cut bait on Ruf, it seems, and they now have seven days to try and arrange a trade to reduce the amount of Ruf’s $3.5MM guaranteed money they’re on the hook for. Should no trade take place and Ruf pass through waivers successfully, Ruf can sign with any club for the prorated big league minimum, with Mets paying the remainder of the $3.5MM figure.

In Ruf’s place, outfielder Tim Locastro is set to make the Opening Day roster. The 30 year-old Locastro has a career wRC+ of just 82, 18% below that of the league average hitter, but is a capable defender at all three outfield spots, sports a solid career on-base percentage of .325, and most importantly, is one of the premiere baserunners in the sport. With 39 career steals in 43 attempts as a part-time player, Locastro’s 88% success rate on the basepaths is excellent, and his sprint speed has consistently topped the Statcast leaderboards through his career, ranging from 30.8 ft/s in 2019 to last year’s 30.1 ft/s figure.

Given Locastro’s already premiere baserunning abilities, he figures to benefit considerably from this season’s rule changes. In addition to larger bases in 2023, pickoff attempts have been limited. After two pickoff attempts, a third attempt must end in an out being recorded or else the runner will automatically advance one base. With Locastro likely to serve as a pinch runner and late-inning defensive replacement for the most part, the DH at-bats that would have gone to Ruf seem likely to instead go to Tommy Pham, who struggled to an 89 wRC+ in 144 games last season but sports a career .843 OPS against left-handed pitching.

Mets, Tim Locastro Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Mets have agreed to a minor league contract with outfielder Tim Locastro, reports Pat Ragazzo of Sports Illustrated’s Fan Nation (Twitter link). The Warner Sports Management client will be invited to Major League Spring Training.

Locastro, 30, has spent the past season-plus with the Yankees, appearing in 47 games but logging just 69 plate appearances in that time. He’s given the Yankees some vital speed off the bench late in games, swiping eight bases in ten attempts while displaying sprint speed that’s ranked in the 99th percentile of MLB players, per Statcast.

Of course, Locastro’s opportunities at the plate have been limited because he’s struggled so considerably with the bat over the past two seasons. After a decent two-year stretch in Arizona that saw him bat .260/.367/.370 in 332 plate appearances (thanks in no small part to being plunked by pitches a whopping 26 times), Locastro has combined to slash .181/.257/.275 in his past 202 trips to the plate.

Despite his blistering speed, Locastro has a sub-par throwing arm that has contributed to below-average marks from both Defensive Runs Saved and Ultimate Zone Rating. Statcast’s Outs Above Average thinks he’s been a bit better than average in 1046 innings, but the consensus among publicly available metrics is that Locastro isn’t the lights-out defender some might expect for a player with his wheels.

The Mets are slated to start Mark Canha, Brandon Nimmo and Starling Marte in left, center and right, respectively, but Locastro could push for a backup role during Spring Training. Khalil Lee is the only other pure outfielder on the 40-man roster, although Darin Ruf has plenty of corner outfield experience. Locastro will join veteran Abraham Almonte as an outfield hopeful on a non-roster deal this spring, and he’ll give the Mets some speed to stash in Triple-A if he doesn’t make the roster out of camp.

Yankees Select Jhony Brito, Matt Krook

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The Yankees announced they’ve selected pitchers Jhony Brito and Matt Krook onto the 40-man roster. New York also outrighted outfielder Tim Locastro off the roster, and the speedster elected minor league free agency upon clearing waivers.

Both Brito and Krook have played seven seasons in the minor leagues. That’d have given the right to elect free agency this evening if the Yankees didn’t place them on the 40-man roster. New York clearly values both enough to keep them from hitting the open market, with each player cracking a 40-man for the first time.

Brito, 25 in February, is a former amateur signee out of the Dominican Republic. He’s a quality strike-thrower, and Baseball America wrote this summer that he could develop into a back-of-the-rotation starter. The righty split this year between Double-A Somerset and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, working to a 2.96 ERA through 112 2/3 combined innings. He only struck out 20% of opponents but had a tiny 7.7% walk rate.

Krook spent the whole year in Scranton, starting 22 of 29 appearances. The University of Oregon product, a fourth-round draftee back in 2016, pitched to a 4.09 ERA over 138 2/3 frames. He had a solid 25.7% strikeout percentage but walked an elevated 12.1% of batters faced. The left-hander is generally regarded by evaluators as a likely future reliever.

Locastro, a 30-year-old outfielder, has seen sporadic action for the Yankees in each of the last two seasons. He appeared in 38 games this year but worked mostly as a late-game entrant based on his speed and defense. Locastro hit .186/.239/.349 in 46 plate appearances this year and is a career .227/.325/.331 hitter. He spent most of the season in Scranton, putting up a .240/.332/.395 line over 47 games.

Yankees Activate DJ LeMahieu From Injured List

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The Yankees announced they’ve activated infielder DJ LeMahieu from the 10-day injured list earlier today. In a corresponding move, outfielder Tim Locastro was optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. LeMahieu spent most of September on the injured list with right second toe inflammation.

LeMahieu has posted a .262/.358/.381 slash line in 120 games this season, good for a wRC+ of 117. While a far cry from his peak during the 2019 and 2020 seasons, which saw him post a combined 8.2 fWAR in 195 games while placing in the top 4 of MVP voting in both years, LeMahieu’s production in his age 33 campaign can be seen as something of a bounce-back after a 2021 season that saw his defensive metrics slip while his bat hovered around league average (100 wRC+). With other infield options such as Josh Donaldson and Isiah Kiner-Falefa struggling at the plate this season, LeMahieu’s bat returning to the lineup should provide the Yankees with a boost to their infield headed into the postseason.

As for Locastro, while his hitting has left much to be desired (he’s slashed just .186/.239/.349 in 46 plate appearances with New York this season), he has served as a capable bench piece this season, effectively fielding all three outfield spots while swiping eight bags in just ten attempts. While Locastro will finish the regular season in Triple-A, he may be called upon by the Yankees for his baserunning skills during the postseason.

In other Yankees news, the team provided an update on injured utilityman Matt Carpenter. He took batting practice this afternoon and may take some live at-bats with Double-A Somerset in lieu of traveling with the big league club to Texas next week, per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. Carpenter has hit exceptionally for the Yankees this year, slashing .305/.412/.727 in 154 plate appearances, but has been on the injured list with a fractured foot since early August.

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