The Mets last year had to dip into their depth to an extreme level – meaning we saw more than a handful non-roster invitees in Queens. Now that’s not a good thing, as it meant something went terribly wrong (and we don’t need to dive any deeper into that). Let’s go meet our non-roster invitees!
First up in this series is Alex Claudio. The 30-year old lefty pitcher has been in the major leagues since the year 2014. He was originally drafted in the 27th round by the Rangers back in 2010 and stayed in their organization until after the 2018 season when was traded to the Brewers for a competitive balance pick. He stayed with the Brewers for two seasons and then signed a deal with the Angels. The Angels released him at the trade deadline last year and he was picked up two weeks later by the Red Sox but never saw any time at the major league level with Boston.
Being released, picked up by another team midseason and then not making that team’s big league roster is a definite sign of a down year:
2019: 62.0 IP, 83 G (League Leading), 4.06 ERA, 4.92 FIP, 1.306 WHIP
2020: 19.0 IP, 20 G, 4.26 ERA, 4.09 FIP, 1.263 WHIP
2021: 32.2 IP, 41 G, 5.51 ERA, 5.10 FIP, 1.592 WHIP
It’s also no secret that the Mets need a lefty in the bullpen, badly. Lefties hit Claudio .275/.333/.532 which is not that much better than righties (.281/.370/.453). However, a couple of seasons ago when he led the league in games, he was much better against lefties. Lefties hit .219/.302/.378 while righties hit .274/.357/.469.
The Mets are hoping Claudio can find his former stuff. And the Mets are desperate for lefties. Given the amount of time Claudio has seen in the majors, I expect we’ll see him on the Mets 40-man and active roster at some point this season (if he sticks with the Mets).
