Mets reportedly place Ruben Tejada on waivers

The Mets have reportedly placed shortstop Ruben Tejada on waivers. ESPN.com's Adam Rubin reports that Tejada was due to travel with the team today for a game against the Cardinals, but did not leave with the bus.

Tejada was in line to be a backup middle infielder for the Mets this year, and was tendered a $3 million dollar contract on December 2. However, at the Winter Meetings a few weeks later, the Mets acquired two middle infielders, trading for the Pirates' Neil Walker and signing free agent Asdrubal Cabrera. With Walker, Cabrera, and Wilmer Flores all expected to make the Opening Day roster, Tejada's playing time was likely to be limited.

In addition, the Mets have Matt Reynolds, their Triple-A Las Vegas shortstop, who was added to their playoff roster after Tejada's injury at the hands—or, more specifically, legs—of Chase Utley.

This would be an unfortunate ending to Tejada's time with the Mets. Once heralded as a potential everyday shortstop with a knack for getting on base and spraying the ball around the field, Tejada had become an afterthought by early 2015, when he lost the starting shortstop job to Wilmer Flores. Tejada wound up appearing in 116 games, including 81 at shortstop, thanks to injuries and ineffectiveness around the Mets' infield.

While Tejada's role on the team was to be a minor one, the Mets' infield situation is still relatively unstable, with David Wright's health still very much in question and Cabrera's recent knee injury. Tejada would have been a steady-handed option to plug in around the infield, and would likely have been the most defensively gifted of any of the shortstops on the roster.

It is difficult, even after an offseason where ownership spent a good deal of money, to not view this as a cost-saving measure. Assuming Tejada would be released at least 15 days before Opening Day, the Mets would only have to pay one-fifth of his salary.