Mets sign 11 minor-league free agents, including Bruce Maxwell
Athletics catcher Bruce Maxwell takes a knee next to teammate Mark Canha, right, during the national anthem before a game against the Rangers in Arlington, Texas, on Oct. 1, 2017. Credit: AP/LM Otero
Mets spring training, still more than three months away, already is starting to look full.
The team announced Wednesday the signings of 11 minor-league free agents, nine of whom are invited to major-league camp, including catcher Bruce Maxwell and a trio of players with significant time in the big leagues: righthander Arodys Vizcaino, outfielder Mallex Smith and infielder Jose Peraza.
These are the sorts of depth additions made by every team every year. For the Mets, the Wilpons, general manager Brodie Van Wagenen and his staff remain in charge, since incoming owner Steve Cohen and team president Sandy Alderson won’t officially make decisions until the sale closes, expected to be within the next few days. Cohen can consult on decisions, though none of these transactions really are needle-movers.
Maxwell, who in 2017 became the first major-leaguer to kneel during the national anthem, might have the greatest name recognition of this bunch, but he has not played in the majors since 2018. When the Mets signed him to a minor-league deal in July, it was his first job in affiliated baseball in almost two years.
This offseason, Maxwell is playing in the Dominican Winter League. He had a .240/.314/.347 slash line in parts of three seasons with the Athletics.
Vizcaino, 29, has spent most of his seven seasons with Atlanta, for whom he had 49 saves from 2015-18, but had been a free agent for the past year. His 2019 ended with April shoulder surgery — performed by Dr. David Altchek, the Mets’ medical director. He has a career 3.01 ERA and 1.29 WHIP.
Smith, 27, plays all three outfield spots and is very fast. He led the majors with 46 steals in 2019 with the Mariners.
Peraza, 26, struggled offensively with the Red Sox in 2020 but is a veteran of six major-league seasons (mostly with the Reds) and plays the middle infield.
The Wednesday batch of signings also included four others who spent 2020 with the Mets: outfielder Johneshwy Fargas — who hit for the cycle in a spring training game, pre-pandemic shutdown — infielder Jake Hager, righthander Harol Gonzalez and catcher David Rodriguez. All are invited to major-league spring training.
Joining them will be righthander Oscar De La Cruz, who spent his first seven professional seasons with the Cubs. He topped out at Double-A in 2019 and has struck out about a batter per inning.
Infielder Luis Carpio, who has spent the last seven seasons in the Mets’ system, and infielder Mitchell Tolman, who had been with the Pirates for five years, also signed minors deals but were not invited to big-league spring training.
