The New York Mets announced tha they’ve released multi-positional player Andy Ibanez, who’d been playing for their Triple-A affiliate at Syracuse, according to a report from Steve Adams from MLBTradeRumors.com that referenced reporting from Francys Romero of BeisbolRF com. The Mets picked up Ibanez off waivers from the A’s in late April, then passed him through waivers a few weeks later, and he’s been at Syracuse ever since.
Ibanez has had just 26 plate appearances between the A’s and the Mets this year, and he hasn’t done much. He’s gone 2-for-23 with a pair of singles, a walk, two sacrifice flies and three strikeouts.
It’s been a tough stretch for Ibanez, who was once a favorite of Detriot Tigers manager A.J. Hinch when the manager wanted to match up against left-handers. Ibáñez batted a career-best .264/.312/.433 with 11 homers in 383 plate appearances during the 2023 season, including a .261/.297/.523 line versus lefties.
Since then, though, his slash line has fallen to .232/.287/.340 over 463 plate appearances at the big-league level, although he does still have a .272/.316/.437 slash against southpaws, according to Adams.
He can play multiple positions, however. Ibanez has played all four infield positions, albeit only nine innings at short, and he also has experience as a corner outfielder. His glove work has consistently graded out above average in the infield aside from shortstop, and he’s an average defensive outfielder at the corner positions.
This is the time of year when depth is at a priority for many teams, contenders especially, and sometimes that means bringing in talent from other organizations after the trade deadline. Ibanez is unlikely to get a major league offer, according to Adams, but he could get another minor league deal given the number of moves that were made around the league at the deadline.
The Mets have been doing these sorts of maneuvers for some time now, and it’s been a hit-and-miss affair. Their latest effort has them signing Gabriel Arias from the Cleveland Guardians as they try to strike the kind of gold they landed with first baseman Jared Young. Arias got his first look this week at first base as he subbed in for Young.
The Mets are in the process of building back depth at Syracuse after making multiple moves at the deadline, so it wouldn’t be surprising at all to see them pick up a similar replacement soon enough.
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