Mets Roster Central: The Future Will Punch You in the Face

[Edgy MD]

Met Roster Central apologizes for not being available for roster updates the last week or so.  Our massive array of computers were in the shop, and maybe our pants were at the cleaners, but our hearts were right there in our chests, beating a Metly beat.  As the roster starts getting populated with fewer journeymen and more homegrown rookies, that beat only gets louder.

Transactions, 5/15/2026

COMING
Signed away from Jalisco (Mexican League) to Minor-League Contract, Assigned to Binghamton	Cleared Waivers, Assigned to Syracuse	Sent to St. Lucie on Rehab Assignment
Relief Pitchers	Infielders	Outfielders
Max Green	Andy Ibáñez	Jared Young
L/L DoB: 1996-05-28 High Level: AA (2021)	R/R DoB: 1993-04-03 High Level: MLB (2026)	L/R DoB: 1995-07-09 High Level: MLB (2026)

Former Tigers prospect Max Green comes the Mets after a few years in indy ball, capped by an impressive start to his Mexican League campaign.  He is not the son of Mets farm director Andy Green, but while checking that possibility out, we did learn that he is a fan of surfing, snowboarding, and fellow lefthander Jimi Hendrix. 

Hang ten, Dude!

Jared Young got the lefthanded bat off the bench/fifth outfielder role after an injury to Mike Tauchman coming out of camp.  While Young got off to an impressive start (.350 / .391 / .450 // .841 through 23 plate appearances), he was succeeded in his roster spot by MJ Melendez and MJ was the Mets best hitter while things were at their bleakest.  So we may have a roster showdown between two guys, each believed to have a single option year.

Andy Ibáñez didn't really have a role — he was an infielder used as an outfielder against lefties in lean times that we shall not speak of again — in his short time with the Mets.  We're happy to see him stay in the organization following his DFA, as the team always needs Cubano journeymen infielders.

Transactions, 5/16/2026

GOING		COMING
Placed on 15-Day Injured List with Fractured Right Fibula	Released	Promoted from Syracuse
Starting Pitchers	Catchers	Relief Pitchers
Clay Holmes	Daniel Silva	Joey Gerber
R/R DoB: 1993-03-27 High Level: MLB (2026)	S/R DoB: 2025-01-21 High Level: Rk (2025)	R/R DoB: 1997-05-03 High Level: MLB (2026)

Nobody wanted to see Clay Holmes hurt.  He had emerged as the ace of a staff that had several qualifiers vying for that title, including big-name import/Opening Day starter Freddy Peralta and Rookie of the Year candidate Nolan McLean.  Beyond that, his unlikely level of success after transitioning from relief was one of the dwindling hooks on which to hang the idea that Mets management knows what they are doing.

But what is a greater test of management than how good the next soldier (and the next soldier and next) is when the first goes down?  It's a game of attrition, more than ever, and if there's anything good to say about a fractured fibula incurred after absorbing a comeback liner, well, it sure beats an exploded UCL or a case of thoracic outlet syndrome or the like.

Until the Mets add a replacement starter, the bullpen is expanded (as teams will always seek to do) by one, with Joey Gerber and his awesome set of dimples returning from history's longest assignment for the purpose of rehabbing from blisters.

It's a mad world.  We at Mets Roster Central cannot control it.  We can only describe it in madness.

Venezuelan catcher Daniel Silva signed back in 2021 and Mets Roster Central never got a photo of him, as even his signing photo was with several players all masking up, leaving him indistinguishable from his fellow signees.  The switch-hitter put up terrific walk rates but could not climb the latter due to trouble staying healthy and, in 2025, a plummeting batting average (.188, but still with a strong OBP).  He never got on the field in 2026.

Transactions, 5/17/2026

GOING

Released

Relief Pitchers

Luke Jackson

R/R DoB: 1991-08-24 High Level: MLB (2026)

Cool-Hand Luke Jackson (his actual nicknames are the equally obvious "Fireman" and "Skywalker") was almost impressively wild (seven walks in 4 2/3 innings) in his short stint with Syracuse.  This is a problem that has come and gone over his long career.  The former Braves closer (for half of 2018 anyhow) may or may not get another call from a seventh organization before the year is out, but cut loose by the Mets six weeks after signing his career does seem to be close to sunsetting.

If so, and mind-numbingly gaudy championship ring won with the 2021 Braves, along with this video of Skywalker cuddling his newborn son on the field after pitching in Game Three of that year's World series, has to make for the most impossibly garish and incredibly sweet pair of career keepsakes.

Transactions, 5/18/2026

GOING		COMING
Demoted to Syracuse	Transferred from 15- to 60-Day Injured List	Added to 40-Player Roster and Promoted from Syracuse	Added to 40-Player Roster and Demoted to Syracuse
Relief Pitchers
Joey Gerber	A.J. Minter	Daniel Duarte	Anderson Severino
R/R DoB: 1997-05-03 High Level: MLB (2026)	L/L DoB: 1993-09-02 High Level: MLB (2025)	R/R DoB: 1996-12-04 High Level: MLB (2024)	L/L DoB: 1994-09-17 High Level: MLB (2026)

It isn't clear why the Mets would add Anderson Severino to the 40-Player Roster without promoting him to the big leagues, but there is clearly some reason he is part of this flurry of activity.  Experience suggests to Mets Roster Central that Anderson had an opt-out if he was not added to the roster by this date, and his terrific 0.98 ERA through 18 1/3 International League innings so far suggests he is not somebody they want to let walk.

(A fun Anderson Severino fact is that that 0.98 ERA through 18 1/3 innings in Syracuse is the exact same line he put up in the Mexican Pacific Winter League, leading the Mets to sign him)

Nonetheless, given the choice of keeping Joey Gerber (who had not appeared since his return to the team) two days earlier and promoting Sevvy (a man without an ERA), they went a third route and added Mexican-born Daniel Duarte.  Daniel is a journeyman at first glance, but he has a lot of non-affiliated big-time, high-pressure experience, appearing for his country in the Olympics, The World Baseball Classic and El Serie del Caribe.

So, the Mets bide their time before the launch of The Severino Missile.  They also anticipate the return of A.J. Minter in a week or two.  His assignment here to the 60-Day Injured List seems to push his return date further back, but in actuality, he had already cleared 60 days and can be activated at any time.  The Mets just needed the big fat roster spot that becomes available when a player is added to the 60.

Transactions, 5/19/2026

GOING		COMING
Transferred from 15- to 60-Day Injured List	Designated for Assignment	Added to 40-Player Roster and Promoted from Syracuse	Transferred from St. Lucie to Syracuse on Rehab Assignment
Starting Pitchers	Outfielders
Clay Holmes	Austin Slater	Nick Morabito	Jared Young
R/R DoB: 1993-03-27 High Level: MLB (2026)	R/R DoB: 33951 High Level: MLB (2026)	R/R DoB: 2003-05-07 High Level: MLB (2024)	L/R DoB: 1995-07-09 High Level: MLB (2026)

While the Clay Holmes and Jared Young transactions to the left represent the expected progressions of two players going in two different directions, the real story is the addition of young Nick Morabito.  In a year when the Mets are inducting Lee Mazzilli into The Mets Hall of Fame, what could be a more appropriate addition than another exciting athletic Italian-American prospect tearing through the minors with blazing speed and a terrific batting eye.

The pride of Gonzaga College High School even got to debut before the denizens of his hometown.  Sadly, the Mets screwed up the Morabito launch badly by first assigning him (yay!) and then withdrawing (booooo!) #8, a number that a populist, ill-thought-out and utterly a-historical argument says must be perpetually reserved in honor of Gary Carter.  Mets Roster Central has a lot of thoughts on this (as usual, Mets by the Numbers says it better), but let's just say that there are ton of lovely ways for a team to honor the legacy of past figures, and defaulting to number retirement is cliched, uncreative, and terribly shortsighted.

Welcome, though, to Nick Morabito.  We are so excited to see you kid, that we've outfitted you in ... er, um ... #55.

Ugh.

Transactions, 5/20/2026

GOING	COMING
Demoted to Syracuse	Added to 40-Player Roster and Promoted from Syracuse
Relief Pitchers	Starting Pitchers
Daniel Duarte	Zach Thornton
R/R DoB: 1996-12-04 High Level: MLB (2026)	L/L DoB: 2002-01-17 High Level: MLB (2026)

It is clearly no secret that guys in the front office stay awake at night thinking of ways to get one more relief pitcher, one more relief pitcher ONE MORE relief pitcher onto the roster.  It consumes them. It obsesses them. It eats at their health damages their relationships.  They are at their kids' dance recitals or staring into a golden sunset, while their minds are a thousand miles away thinking about cycling players with options back and forth to AAA, using an infielder as a backup catcher, using a second-baseman in the outfield, all for that one more guy to pitch two innings of mopup as a human sacrifice in the game you aren't trying to win so you can save your pitchers for the game you aren't.

It's all gross, but don't think for a minute that, as hands twisted and hearts stopped over news of Clay Holmes' fractured fibula, more than one person in the front office was at least partially excited that they got to add ONE MORE RELIEVER for several days while Holmes hit the IL but they didn't yet need his replacement.

Well, those days are done, and the Mets have come to call on young Zach Thornton.  Not to be confused with the Zach Thornton who came to the Mets in the Ike Davis trade, this ZT started the season in Binghamton, but climbed up to Syracuse and beyond and manage to pass and debut in Queens before the more celebrated Jonah Tong and Jack Wenninger.  Somewhere this will be sold as an indictment of Tong and Wenninger, but progress comes in fits and starts, and Thornton is simply having a moment.  The lefty breaking pitch specialist is only just coming into big-league velocity, but his aversion to homers and walks has been approaching a clinical level, and while that package may lead to good days and bad for the time being, he has been lauded for a bulldog mentality and can be expected to pitch deep into games even when his best stuff is lacking.

CAN THE SAME BE SAID OF YOU?!

Here's to seeing a lot of Zach in the future and maybe a rotation of him along with McLean, Scott, Tong, and Wenninger is a bright future not far off.

Your 2026 New York Mets

	Starting Pitchers
	Nolan McLean	Freddy Peralta	David Peterson	Christian Scott	Zach Thornton
	R/R DoB: 2001-07-24	R/R DoB: 2996-06-04	L/L DoB: 1995-09-03	R/R DoB: 1999-06-15	L/L DoB: 2002-01-17
Relief Pitchers
Huascar Brazobán	Craig Kimbrel	Sean Manaea	Tobias Myers	Brooks Raley	Austin Warren	Luke Weaver
R/R DoB: 1989-10-15	R/R DoB: 1988-05-28	R/L DoB: 1992-02-01	R/R DoB: 1998-08-05	L/L DoB: 1988-06-29	R/R DoB: 1996-02-05	R/R DoB: 1993-08-21
Relief Pitchers	Catchers		Infielders
Devin Williams	Hayden Senger	Luís Torrens	Bo Bichette	Brett Baty	Vidal Brujan	MJ Melendez
R/R DoB: 1994-09-21	R/R DoB: 1997-04-03	R/R DoB: 1996-05-02	R/R DoB: 1998-03-05	L/R DoB: 1999-11-13	S/R DoB: 1998-02-09	L/R DoB: 1993-11-29
Infielders		Outfielders
Marcus Semien	Mark Vientos	Carson Benge	A.J. Ewing	Nick Morabito	Juan Soto	Tyrone Taylor
R/R DoB: 1990-09-17	R/R DoB: 1993-12-11	L/R DoB: 2003-01-20	L/R DoB: 2004-08-10	R/R DoB: 2003-05-07	L/L DoB: 1998-10-25	R/R DoB: 1994-01-22

Also on 40-Player Roster

Starting Pitchers				Relief Pitchers
Clay Holmes	Tylor Megill	Kodai Senga	Jonah Tong	Alex Carrillo	Daniel Duarte	Reed Garrett
R/R DoB: 1993-03-27	R/R DoB: 1995-07-28	L/R DoB: 1993-01-30	R/R DoB: 2003-06-19	R/R DoB: 1997-06-06	R/R DoB: 1996-12-04	R/R DoB: 1993-01-02
Relief Pitchers					Catchers	Infielders
Justin Hagenman	A.J. Minter	Dedniel Núñez	Jonathan Pintaro	Dylan Ross	Francisco Alvarez	Francisco Lindor
R/R DoB: 1996-10-07	L/L DoB: 1993-09-02	R/R DoB: 1996-06-05	R/R DoB: 1997-11-07	R/R DoB: 2000-09-01	R/R DoB: 2001-11-01	S/R DoB: 1993-11-14
Infielders		Outfielders
Ronny Mauricio	Jorge Polanco	Luis Robert, Jr.	Jared Young
S/R DoB: 2001-04-04	S/R DoB: 1999-11-13	R/R DoB: 1997-08-03	L/R DoB: 1995-07-09

Designagted for Assignment

Outfielders

Austin Slater

R/R DoB: 1992-12-13

View full article