Mets Non-Tender Paulino, Baxter
The Mets gave up some outfield depth and right-handed hitting at the catcher position by non-tendering Mike Baxter and Ronny Paulino.
Baxter, a Queens native, had pop and could play the outfield corners. The move leaves the Mets in even greater need of backup plans for presumed starters Jason Bay, Andres Torres and Lucas Duda.
As for Paulino, his exit clears a path for Mike Nickeas, a good defensive catcher with a suspect bat.
The moves allow the Mets to officially add Jon Rauch and Frank Francisco to the 40-man roster, so they can quit sneaking around. Good for them!
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It seems reasonable that Baxter can or will be resigned despite the non-tender. If he isn’t, there are always plenty AAAA outfield options to sign to minor league deals. I think we might pull a little extra for Baxter given he’s a Queens product who grew up a Mets fan.
“Sneaking around”—LOL!
Hey, what about bringing back Pelfrey? Any chance they could trade him—even though he’s due a “reasonable” $6 million or so?
Give Pelfrey back his mouth guard that he liked to flip around and chew on. It will at least keep his hand out of his mouth. As a matter of fact, since he likes to lick on his fingers so much, it’s not a far step to develop a Whitey Ford splitter and go 22-5. Thole won’t be able to catch it, so five strikeouts a game will get first base, but it’s worth a shot.