Mets designate Stephen Gonsalves for assignment

The Mets, in a rather surprising move, designated Stephen Gonsalves for assignment today. Gonsalves was claimed off of waivers by the Mets in November of last year, and it looked like an interesting pickup at the time. Gonsalves had a lengthy track record of success in the minor leagues before 2017, where he was one of the higher profile prospects in the sport (and was even a top 100 prospect by Baseball America). Unfortunately, injuries robbed him of a lot of time between 2017 and today.

The move comes as a bit of a surprise, not only because Gonsalves can be classified as “semi-interesting” due to his lower minors success and his formerly higher-profile status, but also because of the paper thin starting pitching depth the Mets currently have. After Noah Syndergaard was lost to Tommy John surgery in March, and Marcus Stroman suffered a tear in his calf during summer camp that likely robs him of most of the season, the Mets starting pitcher depth is, frankly, nonexistent.

It seemed as though Gonsalves was going to stick around simply for that reason. David Peterson, Corey Oswalt and Erasmo Ramirez were battling out for the fifth spot, but 1) that is hardly a murder’s row of pitchers and 2) yet another injury would make the starting pitching that much weaker. Gonsalves seemed like a safe bet to survive the necessary DFAs due to the Mets recent activity in signing players, but alas he did not, and the Mets may have to look elsewhere for their rapidly depleting pitching depth.