By Steven Inman
With the Mets 40-man roster being as cluttered as it is, the Mets made their first round of roster cuts today. The team designated four players for assignment Thursday afternoon. OF Mike Baxter, LHP Robert Carson, RHP Greg Burke and LHP Sean Henn were let go by New York Thursday. The Mets 40-man roster now sits at 36 however the Mets have 8 players on the 60-Day Disabled List and those players must be added back to the 40-man within five days after the World Series ends.
Mike Baxter was a very strong presence on the 2012 Mets bench. He led baseball in pinch hits and had arguably the best regular season catch in New York Mets history. He struggled mightily in 2013 however hitting just .189. Mets front office people still secretly believe that Baxter never recovered from that catch he made in left field to preserve the only Met no-hitter to date. Baxter will tell you that is not the case and he was healthy this year. I still believe Baxter will be a successful part of some contending teams bench somewhere down the road. He was put on waivers by the Mets and was claimed by the Dodgers. No that doesn’t mean he will be in the lineup during the NLCS…
Robert Carson was thought of by the Mets as a possible left handed relief option for 2013. That didn’t happen as he gave up a whopping nine homers in just 19 innings for the Mets this season. He went through waivers as well and was claimed by the Angels.
Greg Burke actually made the Mets out of Spring Training. He struggled mostly despite converting to a new side-arm delivery this year going 0-3 with a 5.68 ERA. Although other stats say he actually pitched better than that. He wasn’t DFA’d he was simply out-righted meaning he won’t become a free agent until after the World Series.
Lastly Sean Henn pitched in just a few games with the Mets and struggled. He went unclaimed by the other 29 teams.
Baxter looks like the only one of the four with a potential major league career still in front of him. There may be plenty more where these cuts came from as the Mets need to open up several more roster spots.