Double Canario Salute

Happy Monday everyone! It’s the last day of spring training so you know what that means! An Opening Day sale! I talked to the bigwigs upstairs and convinced them to knock 10 percent off the already discounted yearly subscription price for this week only! So now you can get the daily -including Saturday and Sunday- installments for the cartoonishly low amount of $45, when it really should be $60 ($5 per month), but it’s usually $50! They should throw me, I mean the bigwigs upstairs, into the nearest rubber room for this!

Allow me to reintroduce Alexander Canario. He was a top prospect in the San Francisco Giants organization until the 2021 trade deadline, when the outfielder was the main piece dealt to the Chicago Cubs for the talents of Kris Bryant for a few months. Canario only appeared in 21 games for the Cubbies the last two seasons, but he hit pretty decently and was still considered someone with a lot of talent, so it was a little surprising one month ago when the Cubs chose to drop the 24-year-old from their 40-man roster to make room for their new signee, old chum Justin Turner. Risking losing him for nothing if he got picked up on the waiver wire, the Cubs traded Canario to the Mets for $100,000. Over the last couple of days, it’s looking like the shrewdest use of Steve Cohen’s money the entire offseason. (Okay, not the shrewdest. Pretty darn shrewd though, considering the potential Justin Turner karmic turn possibility.)

Canario has been on a tear the last few days, upping his Grapefruit League OPS to an almost Baty-level 1.058. He hit two home runs in yesterday’s 10-2 victory over the Miami Marlins. One was a grand slam. The other was an absolute no-doubt 425-foot bob-omb. And we are now within 72 hours of Opening Day. Seemingly every 30 minutes there’s a new feel-good story about a new player making a team, which means every 30 minutes a fringe player out of minor league options is about to land on the waiver wire. It’s why even though there’s only one backup catcher left in major league camp (Hayden Senger), that guy (Hayden Senger!) hasn’t been told he’s made the team as the backup catcher. There are about to be a bunch of potential backup catchers on the market for Mets President of Baseball Operations David Stearns to potentially choose from. (Don’t quit the Whole Foods job just yet, Hayden.) 

This mad dash to beef up rosters at the margins at the last second works to Stearns’ advantage when it comes to this sudden glut of outfielders. AC (he needs a nickname) is out of minor league options. At this point, I’d be surprised if Stearns tried to just ram him through waivers in the naive hope nobody will claim him so he can be stashed in Triple-A. He needs to either trade Canario or, and I hate to bring it up, trade Starling Marte, and have Canario take his spot as an over one decade younger, higher ceiling, much cheaper replacement. The Mets have been reportedly kinda sorta half-heartedly looking to deal Marte, but they couldn’t find a decent deal and/or get another team to take on a satisfactory percentage of his $20.75 million salary for 2025. Now? The Mets might be more motivated. Personally, I’d rather keep both Marte and Canario. I also would rather have Starling Marte’s salary than not have it, but ya see, life don’t work that way. 

Speaking of the outfield, I assumed it was a typo that explained why Brandon Nimmo was listed as the center fielder in yesterday’s lineup, but the team committed to the bit for most of the contest. Stearns on the PIX11 broadcast said Nimmo might potentially play center when the games count in “in-game” situations, like if a tough righty is giving Tyrone Taylor/Jose Siri a particularly hard time at the plate and a Jesse Winker or whoever pinch hits for them. Then Winker would move to left and Nimmo to central. I wonder though - if you’re willing to do that, then why have two center fielders who don’t really hit and are mostly just there for their excellent fielding/good vibes? Seems like a redundancy. And if you dealt one of Taylor or Siri (neither have minor league options left), tada, you can keep Marte and Canario. Unlikely, sure. But you’d have a hard time convincing me Stearns and company haven’t not thought about it.

Besides, Tyrone Taylor homered. And so did Starling Marte. So shut up, me.

Brandon Nimmo was more like Brandon Barrels yesterday, going 3 for 4 with a triple and double. The guy went from missing almost three weeks of game action with knee soreness and his plantar fasciitis to playing center field and hitting balls for authority that in some MLB ballparks would be homers. He’s never shaving that beard.

Brett Baty made yet another nice play at second base, drew a 9-pitch walk, then topped himself with a 10-pitch base-on-balls. 

Juan Soto had the day off for two unspoken reasons: 1)He’ll be fresh for the game against the Yankees this afternoon oooo; 2)It gave Alexander Canario a chance to add to his trade value

Soto, to Abbey Mastracco of the New York Daily News: “I’ve been watching this team, since 2018, and they’ve [had] a lot of up and downs. They’ve been through good things, bad things, all kinds of things, but I feel like Steve [Cohen] has been changing the culture in here and been doing a lot of good things for these players, for these coaches and for this whole organization. We’re in a good spot.” Where’s a brick wall when you need to run through one?

The Mets seemingly debuted their new hit celebration for 2025. Nimmo was first:

Later Francisco Lindor did it and made it look 10x cooler:

Some punching bag action and an uppercut to God. Beats the salt n’ pepper thing.

The Mets ultimately decided Dedniel Núñez wasn’t quite ready. He’ll start the year in Triple-A Syracuse after missing the last few months of 2024 with a strained flexor tendon. There’s one spot left in the bullpen with Fantastic Max Kranick and Huascar Brazobán still waiting to hear if they’ll make the team. Both have minor league options so guess what? It could be some rando off the waiver wire! 

John Harper on SNY’s website made some “bold” predictions for the 2025 MLB season. Among them: Dedniel Núñez will replace Edwin Díaz as the Mets closer (possible tbh), Clay Holmes makes the All-Star team (also possible), and the Mets will lose to the Dodgers in the NLCS again (boring).

The great Devin Gordon wrote about what it’s like to be a Met fan these days. It’s kind of confusing. “What if — and yes, I know what I’m tempting here, perhaps even guaranteeing, by putting these words out into the world — the Mets are actually good now? I’m not sure how to be a Mets fan if the Mets are no longer the Mets.”

Griffin Canning was okay in his final tune-up before starting the third game of the regular season. He only lasted 4.1 innings, throwing 83 pitches. Against a B-squad of Miami Marlins, Canning allowing five hits, two earned runs, walked three, but struck out six. He mostly focused on three pitches like last time.

According to the Fangraphs database, who get their info from MLB, these were the actual Met height changes documented by Major League Baseball when they measured the hitters for the ABS system:

Lindor from 5'11" to 5'10" 

Marte 6’1” to 6’0”  

Soto 6’2” to 6’1”  

McNeil 6’1” to 6’0” 

Vientos 6’4” to 6’3”  

Nimmo 6’3” to 6’2” 

Only one hitter grew an inch. His incredible spring continues...

Baty 6’2” to 6’3”

During Stearns’ chat with Gary Cohen and Daniel Murphy, he revealed that after Ronny Mauricio gets in “full game shape” down in the Florida State League, he’ll find his way back to Triple-A playing 2B-SS-3B. “And once he’s in Triple-A and feeling good, we know how talented this guy is, and when there’s a need we wouldn’t hesitate to call him up.” That will be my new ring tone. It was also revealed that Jet(t)! Williams will start in Double-A, play more center field than before but will otherwise play “the three up the middle.”

Jose Iglesias made the Padres big league squad. He had signed a minor league contract. Bully for him. The Pads don’t play at Citi Field until September. I still don’t think he’ll be a dad by then.

In an annoyingly related story, Jon Heyman reported that the Mets are looking for a right-handed infielder. Ya don’t say.

Officially official: Your Mets Opening Day rotation:

1. Clay Holmes

2. Tylor Megill

3. Griffin Canning

4. David Peterson

5. Kodai Senga

Paul Blackburn will be the mop-up ‘pen man. What will it be by September? Who the hell knows? 

Even though Megill is always there for the Mets the last few years in late March, sticking with the team all year is another story. “Obviously, it’s been a few years of being a fill-in with guys going down and coming in,” Megill told reporters yesterday. “At some point, things gotta change. I want to be a guy who sticks.” We’ll see if the sinker he added in the middle of last season and the curve he learned from his Brewers closer brother this offseason will make the key difference. Phase One is already complete: he already beat out Blackburn for a rotation spot, after Blackburn took his spot in the rotation last trading deadline. 

The Piazza Club at Citi Field is now the Heineken Diamond Lounge. Funny, I don’t remember a Heineken on the Mets.

Luis Torrens seems to get hit where you don’t want to get hit more that any catcher I’ve seen, other than the guy he is replacing, Francisco Alvarez. 

The Chicago White Sox claimed Mike Vasil off waivers from the Rays. Vasil was a pitcher the Rays poached from the Mets in the Rule 5 Draft. He faced the Mets the other day and did well. The White Sox have to keep Vasil on the major league roster all year, or they have to offer him back to the Mets.

After some folks were legitimately worried the Mets looked stinky this spring, they’re going into the final game of spring training 13-13-4. Still the best in team ERA, and still the worst in team OPS. Even Steven (Matz). 

The Mets play the Yankees this afternoon at Clover Park at 1:10pm on SNY, and then it’s goodbye spring training. Intriguingly, Marcus Stroman is scheduled to get the start for New York (AL). And yes, it’ll be Soto’s first game against the team he played for in 2024. It’s looking like a bullpen game for the Mets: Ryne Stanek, A.J. Minter, Max Kranick, Danny Young, Huascar Brazobán, and Dedniel Núñez will take turns on the hill.