WASHINGTON — Old friend Robinson Cano is about to get another crack at continuing his baseball career.
According to The New York PostCano is nearing a major league deal with the San Diego Padres.
Following a year-long PED suspension in 2021, Cano returned to the Mets this season, but looked like a shell of the player, who was an eight-time All-Star during the prime of his career.
The Mets designated Cano for assignment on May 2 when teams were forced to cutdown their roster from 28 to 26 players. Cano declined an opportunity to go down to the minor leagues, which ultimately led to his release from him.
Cano had two-years remaining on his contract, and New York still owed him a total of $37.6 million through 2023.
San Diego will most likely be paying the 39-year-old the prorated league minimum salary of $700,000.
McCann’s Wrist
Mets catcher James McCann is sitting on the bench for the second straight game.
McCann did not start Wednesday night’s game, and now Tomas Nido is catching Thursday afternoon’s rubber game as well. While It’s unusual for a catcher to man the backstop in a day game after a night game, there is a reason for this occurrence: McCann is dealing with left wrist soreness.
According to McCann, he has mainly been experiencing soreness in his wrist while swinging the bat, and only a little bit when he catches, which is where he first felt it.
The 31-year-old says he could’ve played Wednesday and Thursday, but since It’s early in the season he wants to “be smart” and not make it worse by pushing it. He believes the type of general soreness he is dealing with is from wear-and-tear, which is nothing he hasn’t dealt with in the past. However, since It’s kind of a different feeling, McCann and the Mets wanted to air on the side of caution.
“If this is July, August, September, It’s not even a question,” McCann said of his availability the last two days.
McCann will be available off the bench for the Mets during Thursday afternoon’s matchup with the Nationals. He expects to catch Max Scherzer when the Mets return home on Friday to face the Seattle Mariners at Citi Field.
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Roster Move
The Mets continued to play musical relief pitchers, optioning Stephen Nogosek to Triple-A Syracuse in order to activate righty Jake Reed prior to the series finale with the Nationals.
The idea was to bring in a fresh arm in the bullpen after Nogosek hurled three hitless innings in long relief the night before.
reed awning Inside the Mets that he found out he was being called up last night and by the time he finished packing to head to DC, it was around midnight.
Reed and his wife, who were on the road with Triple-A Syracuse in Scranton, PA, were unable to find any available flights last night, so they decided to drive down on Thursday morning around 6 AM According to Reed, his wife drove the whole way while he slept in preparation for the Mets’ 1 pm game.
The 29-year-old dealt with an oblique strain, which caused him to miss the entirety of spring training. After making two scoreless rehab appearances with Single-A Port St. Lucie, Reed has posted a 7.94 ERA across four games in Triple-A this season.
Rotation Alignment
Manager Buck Showalter revealed the Mets’ rotation alignment for their first two games against the Mariners this weekend.
Scherzer will pitch on Friday, while Chris Bassitt will go on Saturday in order to get an extra day of rest this time around.
Showalter and the Mets have typically given Scherzer an extra day throughout the early portion of the season.
ReadMore:
– Exploring Potential Relief Pitcher Options to Help Stabilize Mets’ Bullpen
– Mets Ace Jacob deGrom Begins Throwing Progression
– Chasen Shreve, Joely Rodriguez Proving to be Formidable Aaron Loup Replacements in Mets’ Bullpen
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George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism