Two Mets Choose Free Agency After Getting Brief Tryouts

The New York Mets cycled through plenty of retread veterans this year, and while they did hit on a couple of them, there were several who didn’t get much of a chance. That made it unsurprising that two selected free agency, according to a report from Anthony Franco of MLBTradeRumors.com that named infielder Vidal Brujan and outfielder MJ Melendez as the players who chose that route. 

Their situations were somewhat analogous. Brujan came in as a defensive replacement in early May when shortstop Francisco Lindor was injured, but he started only three games, per Franco, and went 1-for-11 in 13 plate appearances. 

Brujan did hit well at Triple-A Syracuse, though, posting a slash line of .278/.385/.421 over 258 plate appearances. The infielder’s prospects seemed to go south when he committed a throwing error at third on an ordinary play that drew the ire of former manager Carlos Mendoza, so the Mets moved on to the next candidate. 

The Mets acquired Brujan from the Minnesota Twins in a cash trade during the offseason, and given the vagaries of the upcoming lockout he becomes an almost automatic candidate to go overseas and play in either Korea or Japan while the labor mess gets sorted out. 

Melendez got a slightly better and longer chance, and he actually produced a little. He came up in mid-April, per Franco, and he had a couple big hits, including a walk-off homer to beat the Miami Marlins on May 29. 

But Melendez doesn’t have much plate discipline, and that issue surfaced quickly after his initial success. His longstanding strikeout woes persisted, and he his slash line wound up being .192/.315/.350 over 144 plate appearances. The Mets designated him for assignment around the trade deadline.

The outfielder wound up at Syracuse, and he had a good year there.  He hit 22 homers in a half-season while batting .264/.361/.604 in 75 games. Franco actively speculated that he, too, could go overseas rather than settling for another minor league deal, although it felt like just a matter of time before his strikeout problems emerged again when he was with the Mets. 

The question for the Mets next season is whether they’ll be relying on this sort of system to fill in multiple lineup spots. It happens all the time across the league due to injuries, but the Mets kept relying on it after their injured players to return, and it never did produce much offense. It didn’t work defensively, either, and a more stable lineup with reliable players is one of the Mets’ basic goals for 2027.