Grading the Mets’ minor roster moves

It was another active offseason on the margins for the Mets. Let’s see how they did.

Bats

Mike Tauchman, signed to a minor league deal only days before camp opened, is far and away the best player we’ll cover here. He’s coming off a season with a .356 OBP, a 115 wRC+, platoon-neutral performance, and scratch defense in a corner despite being 35. There’s an argument that he’s a credible starter batting in the bottom half of the lineup, and is at worst a decent part time player who can pair with a right-handed option. If you’re wondering why Mike Yastrzemski got a two-year, $23M contract from the Braves and Tauchman received only a minor league deal, I can’t explain it to you; this acquisition is a legitimate coup.

Per Tauchman himself, it seems like there’s a decent chance he makes the team out of Spring Training. What that means for the rest of the roster is less clear. The Mets reportedly cleared out Carson Benge’s locker and moved him next to the other prospects in deference to Tauchman. Is that meant to be a message about Benge’s performance to date or is it just veteran hierarchy? We leave interpretation up to the reader. It’d obviously be ideal if Benge is good enough to take the job and run with it (and I’d still bet on that outcome frankly). Having Tauchman around as a fallback is great insurance, however, and he’ll also function as a very solid part time player when the time comes.

We’ll call out two other additions here in MJ Melendez and Vidal Brujan. Melendez was signed to a split deal in early February and seemed like an early favorite to make the roster until Tauchman came on board. He was at one point the heir apparent to Salvador Perez in Kansas City, but it quickly became clear that 1) Perez wasn’t going anywhere, 2) Melendez couldn’t actually catch and 3) that Melendez couldn’t actually hit either. He’s been a below average bat with poor corner outfield defense, but is only 27 and hits the ball hard. Maybe there’s something the Mets can fix here that the Royals (hardly a bastion of good development) couldn’t. Melendez does have options remaining as well, so he can be stashed in Triple-A.

Brujan (acquired for cash from the Twins) is another former top prospect who hasn’t worked out to date, but he has more demonstrable utility than Melendez at present. He doesn’t impact the ball with any authority and swings way too much, but his speed and defensive flexibility make him a potentially useful bench piece. Brujan appeared at third, short, second, and all three outfield spots last season. I’d bet on him holding onto a bench spot over someone like Ronny Mauricio to start the season, though he may quickly be squeezed out given his lack of options.

Others players:

• CF Ji Hwan Bae (waiver claim, PIT) – speedy utility type who has never hit; convicted of assaulting his girlfriend in South Korea in 2018, for which he was suspended 30 games
• 3B Jose Rojas (MiLB FA) – 32-year-old Quad-A corner infielder with a 152 wRC+ in the Yankees system in 2025
• SS Jackson Cluff (MiLB FA) – generic upper-minors SS depth
• CF Jose Ramos (MiLB FA) – former Dodger farmhand with decent damage but significant approach and contact problems
• CF Cristian Pache (MiLB FA) – former top prospect who has never hit but can still go get it in center field
• SS Christian Arroyo (MiLB FA) – generic upper minors IF depth
• IF Grae Kessinger (MiLB FA) – slightly more interesting upper minors IF depth; can play all four infield spots and has a penchant for pulled fly balls despite weak exits
• C Austin Barnes (MiLB FA) – 4th catcher type
• C Ben Rortvedt (waiver claim, LAD) – 4th catcher type

Arms

Craig Kimbrel (minor league deal worth $2.5M if he makes the majors) is certainly the most famous name we’ll discuss here. Now 37-years-old, the likely future Hall of Famer posted a 2.25 ERA in 12 innings last year despite a walk rate over 14% and a BABIP of .348. He also spent 39 innings in the minors. Kimbrel still got some decent stuff, though it’s a far cry from his peak form why he was nigh unhittable. That said, when a pitcher of Kimbrel’s reputation is languishing for two-thirds of the season on minor league busses, that’s a decent sign of where things are at. I wouldn’t expect him to make the team out of Spring Training given the bevy of other options available, but boy it’d sure be fun if he had one last run in the tank for a former division rival.

Though less famous than Kimbrel, Bryan Hudson is more likely to make a significant impact on the 2026 squad. He was a disaster for most of last season, no doubt, but his 4.2 inning stint down the stretch with the White Sox displayed a potential return to form in terms of velocity, stuff metrics, and location. Yes, a back strain robbed Hudson of the end of his season, but he was legitimately one of the best relievers in baseball in 2024. Getting him back to that form would be a serious boon to the Mets relief corps, and all he cost them was some cash.

I’ll also call out Mike Baumann here as another interesting arm, though you could argue for a longer discussion of several guys on the list below. He’s got a neat little knuckle curve and a decent fastball. Even more interesting, the Mets plucked him out of Japan despite a middling performance in 15 innings. That could give one the nagging suspicion that there’s something under the hood the team thinks they can maximize here. Will that work? Probably not, but you’ve got to plant your flag and speculate on a dude from time to time.

Others players:

• RHP Nick Burdi (MiLB FA) – upper minors relief depth with strong stuff grades on his fastball and sweeper per Rob Orr’s app
• LHP Anderson Severino (MiLB FA) – cousin of Luis Severino, signed after a standout season in the Mexican League and an even better Winter Ball performance for Tigres del Licey; may compete for a spot as the second lefty early on
• LHP Joe Jacques (MiLB FA) – 30-year-old reliever who spent time in Triple-A with the Mariners and Dodgers and had an ERA over 6 in 2025; has interesting damage suppression traits
• RHP Daniel Duarte (MiLB FA) – former semi-notable relief prospect who blew out his arm in late 2024; had a flat fasteball (good) and interesting slider prior to being hurt
• RHP Carl Edwards Jr. (MiLB FA) – formerly a very good reliever, hasn’t been healthy or effective since 2022
• RHP Kevin Hergert (MiLB FA) – reunion with an upper-minors depth guy
• RHP Jun-Seok Shim (MiLB FA) – was at one point a semi-notable prospect out of South Korea, but has never made it out of the complex while dealing with shoulder issues
• RHP Tyler Burch (MiLB FA) – two-year deal for pitcher coming off elbow surgery
• RHP Ofreidy Gomez (MiLB FA) – flame-throwing reliever with big DSL performance this winter

Conclusion

I planned to have a harsher curve for all grades this offseason, but especially for these sorts of minor moves. It’s very easy to convince yourself that all your low-cost gambles will work out, even when there’s little reason to do so. As of early February, when Melendez, Kimbrel, and Hudson were the most notable additions (all additions I like, to be clear), this was likely to be a B of some sort – solid, but unremarkable.

Tauchman changes that calculus. I think he’s one of the steals of the offseason. Yes, at 35 he might just stop being good at any moment, time comes for us all eventually and not always in steady, predictable ways. But he was legitimately very good last year and the Mets added him to serve as excellent insurance for their top outfield prospect AND a useful reserve outfielder AND a contributor at DH for nothing…well, less than what similar players received in free agency. That addition pushes this category of moves over the line for me; the minor moves receive an A.