Feb. 25 (UPI) — The New York Mets added some depth to their injury-riddled roster by trading for Chicago Cubs outfielder Alexander Canario.
Canario hit .280 with a home run and two RBIs over 15 appearances last season for the Cubs. He hit .243 with 18 homers and 47 RBIs over 64 appearances last season for the Triple-A Iowa Cubs.
He was designated for assignment Thursday when the Cubs signed veteran infielder Justin Turner. The Cubs initially acquired Canario and pitcher Caleb Kilian when they traded Kris Bryant to the San Francisco Giants in 2021.
The Mets placed infielder Nick Madrigal on the 60-day injured list in a corresponding transaction. Madrigal sustained a broken left shoulder during a split-squad spring training game against the Washington Nationals on Sunday in West Palm Beach, Fla.
He had been expected to serve as a backup for star shortstop Francisco Lindor.
The Mets will continue their spring training slate with a game against the Houston Astros at 1:05 p.m. EST Tuesday in West Palm Beach.
Mets urged to make blockbuster Padres trade after losing Sean Manaea to injury
Coming into the season, the Mets’ starting rotation may have been the team’s biggest question mark, but it looked solid enough. Barely two weeks after the pitchers reported to camp, it looks in danger of coming apart at the seams.
Last week, the Mets lost free-agent acquisition Frankie Montas indefinitely with a lat strain. Monday, they found out that Sean Manaea would also likely start the season on the injured list with an oblique strain.
Two starters down in less than a week is a spring nightmare, and even if they express confidence publicly, the Mets have to be mulling external replacements. While a trade might seem like a drastic solution, sometimes the best method to eliminate a problem is going the extra mile.
Later on Monday afternoon, FanSided’s James Nolan urged the Mets to replace the injured starters by redoubling their efforts to trade for the San Diego Padres’ Dylan Cease, who New York has checked in on throughout the offseason.
“If Cease were to get traded to the Mets, they’d have an elite rotation once Manaea returns. Even without Manaea, they’d have a top rotation,” Nolan wrote.
“The only drawback with Cease is they’d have to give up prospects. Jett Williams, Drew Gilbert, Luisangel Acuña, or Brett Baty could intrigue the Padres. However, Stearns isn’t one to bank on giving up a haul for one year of control.”
Cease, 29, would likely slot in as the number-one or two starter in New York’s rotation even with Manaea and Montas healthy. He finished fourth in National League Cy Young voting last season, with a 3.47 ERA and 224 strikeouts in 189 2/3 innings pitched.
Trading for Cease could solve all the Mets’ problems in the short term, but if they don’t want to mortgage their future for a player that isn’t guaranteed to be around past this season, they’ll have to get much more creative to keep their rotation afloat.
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