Yankees Welcome A Pair Of Former Mets To Camp

 

Yankee Stadium. Photo by Jason Schott.

While Citi Field is starting to look like Yankee Stadium East, the Yankees might balance it out with a couple of invitees to spring training who have played for the Mets in recent years.

The Yankees have signed to starting pitcher Carlos Carrasco and first baseman Dominic Smith to minor league contracts for the 2025 season.

Carrasco has spent the lion's share of his career with the Cleveland Indians/Guardians, as he pitched for them from 2009-11, 2013-20, and last season. His best season for Cleveland came in 2017, when he went 18-6 with a 3.29 ERA (earned run average), made 32 starts, threw 200 innings, while allowing 73 runs (all earned) on 173 hits and 46 walks, with a WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched of 1.095). He followed that up with a 17-win campaign in 2018, in which his ERA ticked up slightly to 3.38.

In 2019, Carrasco was hit with the bombshell that he was diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia that July. He still appeared in 23 games (12 starts), and had a 6-7 record with a 5.29 ERA. He was awarded the Robert Clemente Award for his heroism battling leukemia, and visiting kids also suffering from it.

In the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, Carrasco went just 3-4, but he lowered his ERA significantly to 2.91, second-best to the 2.55 he notched in 2014 when he was primarily reliever.

Carlos Carrasco pitching for the Mets on May 31, 2023, against Trea Turner of the Phillies. Photo by Jason Schott.

In 2021, Carrasco joined the Mets in the trade that brought Francisco Lindor to Queens, and he went 1-5 with a 6.04 ERA in 12 starts before a bounce-back year in 2022 when he went 15-7 with a 3.97 ERA in 29 starts, as he threw 152 innings, and allowed 71 runs (67 earned) on 161 hits and 41 walks, with a WHIP of 1.329.

The following season, like a lot of Mets players, Carrasco took a step back, as he went 3.8 and saw his ERA skyrocket to 6.80, as he only made 20 starts, threw 90 innings, and allowed 71 runs (68 earned) on 115 hits and 38 walks, and saw his WHIP jump to 1.700, nearly two runners per inning.

Carrasco returned to Cleveland last season, and he made 21 starts, but went 3-10 with a 5.64 ERA, threw 103 2.3 innings, and allowed 68 runs (65 earned) on 112 hits and 33 walks, but his WHIP dipped to 1.399. He allowed three-runs-or-fewer in 14 of his starts, and it was the eighth time he made 20 starts in a season, so by that metric it was a massive step up from his 2023 campaign with the Mets.

With 1,662 strikeouts, Carrasco has the fourth-most K's in Major League history among Venezuelan-born players. 

Smith was one of the Mets' most highly-touted prospects when he debuted in 2017 The first baseman appeared in 49 games that season, and had nine home runs and 26 RBI, while hitting .198 with a .262 on-base percentage and .395 slugging percentage.

In his first-full season in 2018, Smith bumped that up a bit, as he hit .224, but his OBP dipped to .255, while his SLG tipped up a notch to .420, with five home runs and 11 RBI in 56 games.

Smith would fulfill his potential in 2019, as he was part of a torrid late-season push by a Mets team that won 86 games and just missed out on making the postseason. His slash line was .282/.355/.525, as he hit 11 home runs and had 25 RBI, with 50 hits and 19 walks, and just 44 strikeouts, in 89 games.

In the shortened 2020 season, Smith hit .316, with 10 home runs and 42 RBI in 50 games (they only played 60 that year), with 56 hits and 14 walks.

Smith then kind of hit a wall with the Mets in the 2021 season, as Pete Alonso more than ever solidified his place at first base. Out of 145 games, he played 114 of them in the outfield, with just 15 at first base. Because of that, his average dropped to .244, OBP dipped to .304, and slugging % .363 (down from .616 in 2020) and he hit 11 home runs with 58 RBI.

After a tough 2022, in which Smith played in just 58 games for the Mets, his slash line was .194/.276/.284, and he had 17 RBI, but for the first time in his career, no home runs.

Since he left the Mets after that season, he has had a peripatetic career, in which he played for the rebuilding Washington Nationals in 2023 before spending most of last season with the Boston Red Sox, and finishing in Cincinnati.

Smith had an opportunity at significant playing time in Boston last season after first baseman Tristan Casas suffered a shoulder injury. He played in 84 games, and hit .237, with a .317 on-base percentage, with six home runs and 34 RBI. After Casas returned, Boston released him, and he joined the Reds, where he played in just nine games.

WHO ELSE IS COMING TO TAMPA BAY: The Yankees invited 26 players to spring training to compete for a spot on the roster, with 65 players overall scheduled to report to camp.

In addition to Carrasco and Smith, there are 10 other non-roster invitees who were signed to minor league contracts are: RHP Colten Brewer, OF Brennen Davis, RHP Geoff Hartlieb, RHP Cristian Hernandez, RHP Erick Leal, LHP Brandon Leibrandt, OF Ismael Manguia, INF/OF Pablo Reyes, RHP Wilking Rodrigez, and INF/OF Andrew Velazquez.

Three non-roster invitees re-signed with the Yankees for this season after playing in the organization in 2024: RHP Sean Boyle, C Omar Martinez, and RHP Leonardo Pestana.

In addition, ten other players in the Yankees organization were also extended invitations to Major League spring training: INF Roderick Arias, OF Duke Ellis, C Rafael Flores, RHP Chase Hampton, OF Spencer Jones, INF George Lombard Jr., RHP Eric Reyzelman, INF T.J. Rumfield, RHP Cam Schlitter, and RHP Kevin Stevens.

Catcher Alex Jackson, who was acquired by the Yankees from the Cincinnati Reds on December 20, 2024, was also invited to big league camp as a non-roster invitee.