Mets to select Tim Locastro's contract, designate Darin Ruf for assignment
Ruf was 10-for-66 for the Mets after being acquired from the Giants in 2022, and went 5-for-30 with 9 strikeouts this spring
Darin Ruf’s rough tenure with the Mets has come to an end.
According to multiple reports, the Mets will select the contract of speedster Tim Locastro to the major league roster. To make room for Locastro, they will designate Ruf for assignment.
Ruf was acquired by the Mets from the Giants at the 2022 trade deadline in exchange for JD Davis and minor leaguers Thomas Szapucki, Nick Zwack and Carson Seymour.
Ruf got off to a promising start for the Mets despite what appeared at the time as a lopsided trade last August. He went 6-for-18 with three doubles and five RBI over his first six games with the club and appeared to demonstrate the value the Mets were seeking from the right side of the plate. However, he went just 5-for-51 with 17 strikeouts the rest of the way, finishing his Mets tenure going 10-for-66 in 28 games for the club.
This past spring, Ruf spoke with reporters about how difficult his transition was following the trade from the Giants to the Mets while dealing with a chronically arthritic wrist. He received a cortisone injection in his wrist earlier in camp which kept him sidelined for a period of time. But upon returning, Ruf went just 5-for-30 with nine strikeouts in 11 Grapefruit League games.
And now, the Mets have nothing to show for that trade and will continue to search for a quality solution for their designated hitter problem, which currently consists of Daniel Vogelbach, a one-dimensional asset from the left-side of the plate.
The Mets did option Mark Vientos to Triple-A Syracuse over the weekend, who produced a .792 OPS with two home runs and 11 RBI in 23 Grapefruit League games this spring. But Mets GM Billy Eppler has made it clear the organization wants their big prospects to graduate to the big leagues as well-rounded as possible, and do not intend to use them as stop gap solutions.
Having said that, the club has a need to fill and perhaps the Mets could reconsider the strategy with Vientos at a minimum, who could potentially check that box from the right side of the plate.
I would've put Ruf on the IL and sent him upstate to rehab his wrist and show if he's got anything left.
I'm not a Pham phan, but I hope he'll surprise me.
Might as well just let the pitchers hit right now. What's Bartolo up to?
The trade was a lopsided dud, but at least someone is smart enough to not get caught in the sunk costs fallacy. I bet the old regime would have pretended Ruf would be fine till July.