Tauch of the town

[Cowtipper]

Mets have inked Mike Tauchman to a minor league contract.

This is a good signing. He's coming off a year in which he hit .263/.356/.400 with 9 homers and 40 RBI in 335 at-bats for Chicago. Since 2023, he's hit .255/.359/.381 with 24 homers, 117 RBI and a 108 OPS+ in 310 games. Surprised the best he could muster was a minor league deal.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026/02/mets-mike-tauchman-agree-to-minor-league-deal.html

[Benjamin Grimm]

A 35 year old outfielder. 190 big league games in right field.

[Gwreck]

A 35 year old outfielder. 190 big league games in right field.

 

He used to play center. Full season in 2022 in the KBL

in center, and the majority of his 2023 playing time there as well.

This is to me a very intriguing pickup. Lefty bat. 2023: 2.7 WAR in 400 plate appearances; 2024: 0.6 WAR in 350 PAs; 2025, 1.9 WAR in 385 PAs.

[Edgy MD]

Tauchman strikes me as mostly having no mobility left and so, any points he puts on the scoreboard will likely be as a DH.

He sits just behind MJ Melendez at the top of the Syracuse "outfield" depth chart, and joins Melendez and Jared Young as interesting potential late-game matchup specialists, should one of them be needed.

Apart from that, he provides one more hurdle for Carson Benge to clear, and he instantly becomes a candidate for Citi Field's Josh Satin Eyebrow Hall of Fame, opening this summer.

[Centerfield]

I guess this is our left handed pinch hitter.

[Gwreck]

I wish he had more power but those OBPs in 2023-25 are good: .363, .357, .356

[smg58]

He's a good pickup, but we have all these lefties lined up when we could really use a righthanded bat. The confidence being shown in Tyrone Taylor to handle the short side of a platoon as a corner outfielder is baffling.

[Centerfield]

I think a LH bat off the bench was needed.

Assuming Benge starts in the minors, we have one LH bat for spots 5-9 in the lineup (Baty).

The bottom will three will likely be Vientos, Semien and Robert.

The bench will have Torrens and Taylor, both righties. We needed a LH pinch hitter. Hope this is our guy.

[Edgy MD]

Well, he's really currently one of three options for a lefthanded reserve outfielder.

The two righthanded reserve outfielders — Tyrone Taylor and Vidal Brujan (who is also an infielder) are all on MLB contracts and have no options. The lefthanded guys — Tauchman (minor-league contract), MJ Melendez (one option), and Jared Young (one option) — are somewhat more fungible.

Which one they like the most, I think, is an open question. Mets Roster Central has Young at the top currently, but I think things are swinging in a Melendezian direction.

[ashie62]

Melendez can catch

Tauchman was useful for the White Sox. If he is truly limited to DH and pinch hitting I don't see how he makes the team

Reminds of of Vogelbach for some stupid reason

[Gwreck]

I think a LH bat off the bench was needed.

Assuming Benge starts in the minors, we have one LH bat for spots 5-9 in the lineup (Baty).

The bottom will three will likely be Vientos, Semien and Robert.

The bench will have Torrens and Taylor, both righties. We needed a LH pinch hitter. Hope this is our guy.

 

If Benge is starting in the minors, there are two bench spots open, and could be filled by Tauchman *and* another lefty.