Played Off the Stage

Academy Award winners deemed guilty of defying brevity in their acceptance speeches Sunday night heard the orchestra subtly nudging them off the Dolby Theatre stage. New York Mets receive a more definitive elbow toward the rideshare area on Seaver Way when the powers that be decide it’s their time to go. Designated for assignment. Waived. Released. Granted free agency. Traded. Traded for cash considerations, which used to be referred to as sold. However a Met becoming a former Met winds up classified, it has to feel as if something wicked has befallen any ballplayer once he is cast out of the Emerald Citi.

Yet each of them, from the fleetingest of complete unknown cameoists to those who filled substantive supporting and leading roles, deserves an encore in our consciousness. Hence, as we’ve done in the aftermath of every Oscars ceremony since 2007, we now take a moment to remember the Mets who have left us — in the baseball sense — in the past year.

Cue the montage.

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JORGE YABIEL LOPEZ
Relief Pitcher
March 29, 2024 – May 29, 2024

One out later, Shohei Ohtani, who had been too quiet for too long, homered. It was 9-3. Versus Freddie Freeman, Lopez didn’t get a strike call he wanted on a checked swing. Lopez barked at De Jesus. De Jesus ejected Lopez. Perhaps the umpire could have been the bigger man, but Lopez had recently hit him with a pitch, so who knows what he was thinking? A more apt question might be what the hell was Lopez thinking when, as he trudged to the dugout, he flung his glove over the protective screen and into the stands.
—May 30, 2024
(Released, 6/5/2024; signed with Cubs, 6/12/2024)

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JOSEPH THADDEUS “Joe” HUDSON
Catcher
June 21, 2024

We saw Joe Hudson, a career journeyman on a weekend pass to the majors because Luis Torrens took a couple of days of paternity leave. Hudson caught the Mets’ final defensive half-inning, action enough to qualify him as Lifetime Met No. 1,239. Joe didn’t get to bat in what might be his only Mets game, temporarily placing him in the company of another Joe H. who crouched behind the plate without getting to stand beside it, the immortal Joe Hietpas amid the last wisps of 2004, a decidedly less jubilant season-ending occasion than the one that soaked Mays in 1973 (though Hietpas can probably still taste the cup of coffee and consider it champagne).
—June 22, 2024
(Free agent, 10/21/2024; signed with Astros, 12/9/2024)

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MATTHEW JOSEPH “Matt” FESTA
Relief Pitcher
June 30, 2023

They brought in Matt Festa, whom I’d never heard of before today and learned was a Met around 4 pm. The roof caved in on Festa: three singles, a pair of lineouts, a double. Gameday’s version of this was a steady drumbeat of IN PLAY, RUN(S).
—June 30, 2024
(Free agent, 7/5/2024; signed with Rangers, 7/11/2024)

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BENJAMIN JOSEPH “Ben” GAMEL
Outfielder
June 26, 2024 – August 15, 2024

Harrison Bader pinch-ran. Ben Gamel (still on the team, apparently) and Tyrone Taylor walked. Then Lindor came through to make it 4-2. One out later, Jesse Winker, who to this point in his Met tenure hadn’t been any more a factor in any day’s Met offense than Ben Gamel, singled for insurance.
—August 8, 2024
(Claimed off waivers by Astros, 8/20/2024)

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JULIO ALBERTO TEHERAN
Starting Pitcher
April 8, 2024

With Aaron’s legacy in the spotlight and Baker visiting the SNY booth, the Mets a little too respectfully fell behind Atlanta, 4-0, early. Julio Teheran, whose name is familiar within the realm of Mets-Braves recaps, pitched in road grays while toeing a rubber he presumably knows well. Two innings as the Mets’ starter of next resort went all right. The third went about as well for the Mets on the 50th anniversary of 715 as the fourth went well for the Mets on the 30th anniversary of 715. I should probably explain that.
—April 9, 2024
(Free agent, 4/11/2024; signed with Cubs, 4/15/2024)

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COLE YOUNG SULSER
Relief Pitcher
April 8, 2024 – May 7, 2024

You watch the Mets at Truist Park, and you expect Travis d’Arnaud to do something harmful to them. Sure enough, he does that in the sixth, driving in the go-ahead run for the Braves off another pitcher-come-lately, Cole Sulser. Sulser replaced Yohan Ramirez on the roster Monday afternoon. Sulser didn’t give up anything else, though, same as Reed Garrett hadn’t given up anything at all once he took over for Teheran. Those relievers who are used when the manager doesn’t want to use the relievers he’d rather use sometimes come through somewhat.
—April 9, 2024
(Traded to Rays, 7/26/2024)

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PHILLIP ROGER “Phil” BICKFORD
Relief Pitcher
August 2, 2023 – September 30, 2023

The bottom of the ninth beckoned, and because it was tied, Buck beckoned Bickford…Phil Bickford. Perhaps from warming up alongside Adam Ottavino and then being called on, Bickford took Showalter’s selection as less a vote of confidence than a saveless sigh. If a lead was to be preserved, Otto would be signaled in. The implicit message to Phil: just don’t blow it here, OK pal? Phil just blew it here. He hasn’t blown so many that we have to borrow some Gott-brand vitriol and direct it toward Bickford. I mean, two months ago, how high was your Phil Bickford Awareness Quotient? I kind of knew he’d been a Dodger, but before we traded for him, I was as likely to think “Phil Bickford” was SNY’s State Farm Agent of the Day. Either way, Phil walked Carter Kieboom on as few pitches as possible without simply waving him toward first; hit Jake Alu on an oh-two pitch, with the first strike having been the gift of clock violation; allowed a seamless sac bunt from Ildemaro Vargas (when did bunting become in vogue again?); and, inevitably, gave up the winning infield-in hit to Jacob Young. This projects as last time this season I plan to list a plethora of Washington Nationals in one paragraph.
—September 7, 2023
(Released, 3/26/2024; signed with Yankees, 4/2/2024)

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MICHAEL HARVEY TONKIN 1.0
Relief Pitcher
March 29, 2024 – April 4, 2024

The Mets actually held a 3-0 lead in the first game, an advantage the Mets ceded slowly (single Tiger tallies in the sixth, seventh and eighth), before surrendering the contest all at once (luckless Michael Tonkin bending, then breaking in the eleventh).
—April 5, 2024
(Traded to Twins, 4/9/2024)

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YOHAN MANUEL RAMIREZ 1.0
Relief Pitcher
March 30, 2024 – April 6, 2024

Three games into the new season, and I already don’t want to dwell on the most recent baseball game the Mets played and lost. For the record, Tylor Megill labored for four innings Sunday and left with tenderness in his shoulder, slating him for an MRI. Carlos Mendoza served a suspension for Yohan Ramirez throwing in the general airspace around Rhys Hoskins the day before. Ramirez was suspended for three games but opted to appeal it, so fill-in manager John Gibbons used Yohan for three innings, a sure sign of an appeal likely to be dropped.
—April 1, 2024
(Traded to Orioles, 4/11/2024)

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MICHAEL HARVEY TONKIN 2.0
Relief Pitcher
April 20, 2024 – April 21, 2024

Go figure, Michael Tonkin is a Met again (his between-stints limbo that included one outing as a Twin qualifies him for Recidivist status; his absence of 15 games is the shortest for any of the 56 in the boomerang subgenre).
—April 21, 2024
(Claimed off waivers by Yankees, 4/25/2024)

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YOHAN MANUEL RAMIREZ 2.0
Relief Pitcher
May 10, 2024 – May 14, 2024

Quintana did correct himself in the fourth and fifth, and there was representative bullpen work from unusual suspects — Recidivist reliever Yohan Ramirez doing his best Michael Tonkin impression…
—May 11, 2024
(Traded to Dodgers, 5/20/2024)

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TYLER RYAN JAY
Relief Pitcher
April 11, 2024 – July 1, 2024

After the offense had woven enough of a cushion in support of Jose Quintana and Drew Smith, Carlos Mendoza was confident enough to tell 29-year-old rookie lefty Tyler Jay to come on in, the lead is wide. Jay is a journeyman’s journeyman who persevered through quite a journey to replace Dedniel Nuñez on the roster and become a) the 1,233rd Met overall; b) the 427th player to make his major league debut as a Met; and c) the eighth Met in this century to feature a last name that ends in “ay”, joining Ruben Gotay (whose pronunciation of choice didn’t prepare him for this little club), Darren O’Day, Lance Broadway, Jason Bay, Trevor May, Sam Clay and Anthony Kay. Also, Jay, the latest temp to punch the clock in our gig economy bullpen, gave up a run while recording six outs, which stands as his most vital statistic, but you can track down that information anywhere.
—April 11, 2024
(Traded to Brewers, 7/21/2024)

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ERIC PAUL ORZE
Relief Pitcher
July 8, 2024 – July 26, 2024

Back in the present, Orze walked Matt Olson, marking the fifth big-league hitter he’d faced without retiring anybody. But the worm was turning: Travis d’Arnaud flied out to right, and having experienced the joys of getting outs Orze indulged himself, recording four more of them in completing his two innings of work. His career ERA now stands at 21.60, not ideal but at least finite.
—July 27, 2024
(Traded to Rays, 11/19/2024)

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PABLO ISRAEL REYES
Pinch-Runner
September 1, 2024

[A]nd pinch-runner Pablo took off, leading me to discover “C’MON REYES!” is one of those things you never forget how to yell at your television. This Reyes scored his first Met run, leaving him only 884 behind Jose for Reyes franchise leadership (Argenis Reyes totaled 13 runs during his 2008-2009 stay; 2023 pitcher Denyi Reyes ran smack into the adoption of the universal DH and was never invited to test his speed on the basepaths).
—September 2, 2024
(Free agent, 10/21/2024; signed with Yankees, 11/18/2024)
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ZACHARY RYAN “Zack” SHORT
Infielder
March 30, 2024 – April 21, 2024

I’m Joey Wendle

And I’m Zack Short
Some fantasy players
Can’t tell us apart

We’re utility guys
We know what we’re doing

We’ll try to be super
Like old Joe McEwing
—April 1, 2024
(Traded to Red Sox, 5/1/2024)

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JOSEPH PATRICK “Joey” WENDLE
Infielder
April 1, 2024 – May 14, 2024

Wendle had a rough defensive series, including on Thursday when he didn’t get what appeared to be a fairly routine forceout accomplished. It wasn’t as egregious as the double play attempt he made when a throw home was in order the other night, but it didn’t help. Wendle’s also had a rough offensive year. That doesn’t leave a whole lot of room for much else.
—May 2, 2024
(Released, 5/20/2024; signed with Braves, 5/24/2024)

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JOSHUA TODD “Josh” WALKER
Relief Pitcher
May 16, 2023 – June 1, 2024

Turning to rookie lefty Josh Walker to get outs with a three-run lead didn’t work out. At all. A walk. A single. A walk. An exit.
—June 26, 2023
(Traded to Pirates, 7/30/2024)

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ADRIAN DAVID HOUSER
Pitcher
April 4, 2024 – July 24, 2024

The game in a nutshell: it’s nothing-nothing at the outset of the bottom of the eighth. I wander into the kitchen, half-listening to the TV audio from the living room. I hear Gary Cohen identify a Nationals batter as someone who has hit five career home runs off Adrian Houser. I do a quick calculation and assume he’s talking about ex-Red Jesse Winker, since who else on the Nats would have faced ex-Brewer Houser often enough to hit five home runs off him? A moment later, I’m watching Winker Dinger No. 6 fly over a fence. I not only saw it, but I saw it coming…as, I imagine, did every Mets fan who processed the foreshadowing.
—July 4, 2024
(Released, 7/31/2024; signed with Cubs, 8/6/2024)

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BROOKS LEE RALEY
Relief Pitcher
March 30, 2023 – April 19, 2024

But danged, as Pete likely wouldn’t say, if three singles stitched together by McNeil, Baty and Pham — none of them calling for the kind of Statcast tape-measuring Alonso’s hits require — don’t also sometime get the job done. Same for three innings of unglamorous but mostly effective relief pitching, this time around from Brooks Raley, Jeff Brigham and David Robertson. Tampa Bay put a runner on first in the eighth and another runner on second in the ninth. I was prepared for the dang dam to burst at any given moment, with Rays runs swimming everywhere, but I was just as prepared to stay dry. Each arm did what it was asked to do. No Ray scored after the sixth. The Mets had just won two in a row.
—May 19, 2024
(Free agent, 10/31/2024; currently unsigned)

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JACOB TANNER “Jake” DIEKMAN
Relief Pitcher
March 30, 2024 – July 28, 2024

I was under the impression Jake Diekman was one of those veteran lefties who would be über-dependable à la Brooks Raley. Alas, not all southpaws who’ve been in circulation forever are created equal. We miss the contributions of Raley. We’re still waiting for some on a consistent basis from Diekman, who was characteristically wild before giving way to Reid Garrett.
—June 30, 2024
(Released 8/3/2024; signed with Braves, 2/11/2024)

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EDUARDO CORTES “Eddy” ALVAREZ
Infielder
September 9, 2024 – September 30, 2024

“Carlos Mendoza shook up the batting order a little bit, but it didn’t really work. Can you remember the last time the Mets got a big hit?”
“Certainly before they had two guys named Alvarez in the lineup. Thanks for the question. Next caller, you’re on.”
—September 11, 2024
(Free agent, 10/21/2024; signed with Braves, 1/7/25)

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ALEXANDER EDWARD “Alex” YOUNG
Relief Pitcher
July 23, 2024 – September 27, 2024

Megill departed in the fifth. The relievers of most relevance were any Mets who could throw double play ground balls. As it happened, we had three of them. Alex Young in the fifth, Huascar Brazoban in the sixth, and Danny Young in the seventh each escaped a jam by coordinating with his infielders on lead-preserving GIDPs. Three different pitchers. Three different innings. Three double play grounders. Somebody disseminated the info that that had happened once before in Mets history. At Shea, of course. I say “of course” out of affection for Shea as the kind of place where all the fun things happened. Like 1986. Like 1969. Like the trio of happy ground balls that were elicited on August 7, 1966, in the first game of a Banner Day (fun!) doubleheader versus the St. Louis Cardinals.
—September 5, 2024
(Free agent, 11/22/2024; signed with Reds, 1/20/2025)

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OMAR DAVID NARVÁEZ
Catcher
March 30, 2023 – May 30, 2024

The only thing I told any kid, a girl sitting directly behind me, was “Alvarez is DH’ing” when she absorbed the home team defense and asked, with Mets fan awareness that made my heart soar, “Where’s Alvarez?” (Don’t think it didn’t pain me to casually use “DH” in a sentence in a National League ballpark.) The girl didn’t respond and I decided to let her figure the rest out for herself. Thus, when Omar Narváez stepped into the box, and she greeted his appearance with, “Who’s that?” and Omar the Infrequent announced his presence with authority via his first Met home run, it made for a delightful surprise.
—July 21, 2023
(Released, 6/5/2024; signed with Astros, 6/26/2024)

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DEMETRIUS JEROME “DJ” STEWART
Outfielder
July 4, 2023 – September 10, 2024

Last season, amid his home run tear, DJ identified his daughter as a motivation for keeping him swinging through callups and send-downs: “I have a little girl, and diapers aren’t cheap.” He laughed when he said it, but it was a reminder, just as what he said Tuesday night was, that ballplayers are people, too, especially ballplayers who live their lives on the edge of the transactions column. If DJ Stewart isn’t hitting home runs for the New York Mets, I’m not as invested in his everyday problems and his internal struggles. But here he is, going deep now and then, and sounding like somebody I’m glad to know is getting something out of hanging in there.
—May 1, 2024
(Free agent, 11/4/2024; signed with Pirates, 1/16/2025)

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PHILLIP LOUIS “Phil” MATON
Relief Pitcher
July 11, 2024 – October 20, 2024

This one still needed a little shepherding to the final outs. In the bottom of the eighth, Mendoza called on Phil Maton, and Maton rather than the imposter wearing No. 88 in Milwaukee materialized. Phil struck out Schwarber, struck out Trea Turner, allowed a double to Bryce Harper (into each life a little Bryce must fall), but then grounded out Alec Bohm.
—October 6, 2024
(Free agent, 11/4/2024; signed with Cardinals, 3/13/2025)

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JOSEPH GEORGE “Joey” LUCCHESI
Starting Pitcher
April 7, 2021 – May 15, 2024

“The bulk guy” Joey Lucchesi, however, wasn’t able to ride his signature churve to a successful outing. On one hand, that’s bad, because we needed quality or at least bulk from Lucchesi. On the other hand, I don’t ever want to hear the word “churve” again, so the sooner Lucchesi is chased from the mound, the sooner “churve” hits the showers. Nothing against the pitcher. Nothing against the pitch, even. Everything against a word that sets my nerves on edge every instant it’s spoken. “Churve” sounds like a preppie pronunciation for what is commonly mixed with sour cream atop a baked potato. Muffy, whatever have you done with Joey’s churve?
—May 15, 2021
(Free agent, 11/4/2024; signed with Giants, 1/20/2025)

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HARRISON JOSEPH BADER
Outfielder
March 29, 2024 – October 18, 2024

Then we’re back to Bader, the pinch-runner for the left fielder who wouldn’t have played if not for the left fielder with the stomach bug. Bader doubles. It’s at least as big as Martinez’s single, even though it doesn’t knock in a run. It might have had there been a pinch-runner available, but the Mets were playing with a three-man bench, and all Mendoza had left to run for Martinez was his backup catcher, so no dice. Yet it was critical that J.D. got to third, which Harrison made happen, because after two more Met strikeouts, Phillies reliever Jose Alvarado uncorked a wild pitch, which was enough to bring Martinez home with a second eleventh-inning run. Connoisseurs of contemporary extras comprehend two runs in the top of an inning after the ninth is exponentially better than just one run. In the bottom of the eleventh, Jake Diekman gave up one run — but not two. One we could handle, thanks to what the pinch-runner did with the bat twice. Sometimes a player comes off the bench and does something outstanding. Bader came off the bench to do one thing and wound up doing two things that had nothing to do with that one thing, and it made all the difference. The previous pinch-runner to make an offensive impact with his lumber rather than his fee, if you can think back this far, was Nimmo, on Sunday, What Bader did, while not as definitive as Brandon’s Esix Snead-style walkoff homer, was pretty rare in Met annals. Only seven Mets have entered a game as a pinch-runner and proceeded to connect for two hits and drive in a run or more.
— May 17, 2024
(Free agent, 10/31/2024; signed with Twins, 2/5/2025)

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JULIO DANIEL “J.D.” MARTINEZ
Designated Hitter
April 26, 2024 – October 17, 2024

J.D. the DH was the HR hero the night before, and it was his 2B that provided the pair of Rs the Mets posted on the scoreboard Friday en route to their 2-1 W. A cynic might observe Martinez is the only Met driving anybody in these days. A cynic should go outside and check to see if it’s raining.
—June 15, 2024
(Free agent, 10/31/2024; currently unsigned)

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LUIS SEVERINO
Starting Pitcher
March 30, 2024 – October 16, 2024

Luis Severino gave Carlos Mendoza five gutty innings, which is to say one of them, the second, was a mess that did not quite spiral into something worse. The admirable work Luis — I’m not yet at the “Sevy” stage — put into extricating himself from the bases being loaded after two runs were home paid off in the short term, but almost guaranteed the long term wouldn’t be long enough. After 99 pitches through five, Severino was done.
—April 7, 2024
(Free agent, 10/31/2024; signed with Athletics, 12/5/2024)

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ADAM ROBERT OTTAVINO
Relief Pitcher
April 7, 2022 – September 30, 2024

Now that Trevor Williams has been removed from the NLWC roster for tactical reasons and Joely Rodriguez has been shifted to the IL for shoulder reasons (the Mets wishing Taijuan Walker be available to shoulder a little additional load), Adam Ottavino stands as the lone Met pitcher to be active for every single game of the 2022 season and postseason. Ottavino has been as close to an unsung hero as the Mets have had this year. We’re free to sing the praises of Ottavino at any time, but usually his contribution boils down to “after Adam Ottavino pitched a scoreless eighth, it was Edwin Diaz time” or words to that effect. This would be a wonderful time to sing Ottavino’s praises exclusively and fulsomely. That would be if his Game Two performance were praiseworthy. After he struck out Old Friend Brandon Drury to end the eighth, the ninth, with the Mets still ahead by five, represented a ploddingly developing minefield for Adam. He struck out He-Seong Kim, but then hit Grisham; walked Nola; flied out Profar deep enough to advance Grisham; walked Soto; and walked Machado (who prefers not to run). Now it was 7-3, the bases were loaded and the song to sing was whatever Seth Lugo would respond to.
—October 9, 2022
(Free agent, 10/31/2024; signed with Red Sox, 2/18/2025)

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TOMÁS ENRIQUE NIDO
Catcher
September 13, 2017 – June 4, 2024

Narváez the veteran, Alvarez the phenom; no room at the two-catcher inn any longer for the second-longest tenured Met who never grew into a consistent hitter at the major league level, but, as Gary Cohen reminded us, that doesn’t mean he wasn’t any good. He had a few big hits across his seven mostly partial season in the bigs, and his catching was big league-caliber. Tomás was kind of a throwback — the career backup receiver who could be depended on in a pinch by one organization for a very long time. It’s not what a kid dreams of growing up to be, but sometimes you get that far, you get a little farther. By the end of 2022, Nido was the starting catcher for a playoff team in a pinch. Should we cross paths with him in another uniform, I will be sincere in referring to him as an Old Friend™.
—June 5, 2023
(Released, 6/17/2024; signed with Cubs, 6/19/2024)

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JOSE GUILLERMO QUINTANA
Starting Pitcher
July 20, 2024 – October 17, 2024

[A]nybody watching was absolutely certain Mendoza was about to take out a starting pitcher who had retired his previous ten batters and looked capable of getting his eleventh. Quintana conveyed to his manager that he was good to keep going. Mendoza said OK, it’s yours. I have to admit I was a little sleepy around this point of the afternoon and wouldn’t have minded drifting off, but this woke me up. A manager leaving in a starter because the starter was rolling and the starter — a mature pitcher not obviously swept up in the moment (it’s not like this was Game Five of the World Series), but someone whose self-assessment you sensed you could trust, if you didn’t already trust your very own eyes — not wanting to leave. OK, it was Quintana’s. And Quintana struck out Contreras to end the eighth, a performance that transcended mere satisfaction that a Met starter went deep. A Met starter was permitted to go deep. A Met manager acted situationally rather than automatically. One fewer third of an inning from a relief corps that, no matter how solid it’s been, pitches far too much felt WAY bigger than 0.1 IP in the box score.
—April 29, 2024
(Free agent, 10/31/2024; signed with Brewers, 3/3/2025)

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JOSE ANTONIO IGLESIAS
Infielder
May 31, 2024 – October 18, 2024

I wanted to go home from Friday night’s game sick of “OMG”. I wanted it to be forced down my throat and stuck in my ear. I wanted it to be played to within an inch of my life. I want the Mets’ home run song to be blared incessantly because I want the Mets to homer incessantly. There was indeed a ton of “OMG” at Citi Field, but we never reached the saturation point. Close enough, however, will do for now. The Mets bashed five home runs Friday. Jose Iglesias therefore belted out his chorus in a veritable loop, including within two self-serenades. There was also the matter of his walk-up accompaniment, which happens to be the very same smash hit. Bring it, Candelita.
—July 13, 2024
(Free agent, 10/31/2024; signed with Padres, 3/5/2025)