6:37pm: Pittsburgh announced the trade and transferred Jones to the 60-day IL. He’s early into a six-week shutdown after experiencing elbow soreness in Spring Training, so he won’t be ready for MLB game action until the latter half of June at the earliest.
5:42pm: The Mets are trading outfielder Alexander Canario to the Pirates for cash, reports Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. New York had designated him for assignment as part of their Opening Day roster shuffle. Pittsburgh will need to make a 40-man roster move once the trade is finalized; Jared Jones stands out as a speculative candidate for a transfer to the 60-day injured list.
Canario was arguably the most interesting of the various players sent into DFA limbo amidst teams’ season-opening roster maneuvering. The 24-year-old outfielder has plus raw power and a generally strong minor league track record. He has bounced from the Cubs to the Mets and now to Pittsburgh because of concerns about his strikeout rates and his lack of roster flexibility.
Since Canario is out of options, teams need to keep him on the major league roster or expose him to waivers. That facilitated his move to the Mets in the first place, as the Cubs designated him for assignment and traded him to New York for cash in February. It wasn’t a great landing spot. The Mets already had Juan Soto, Brandon Nimmo, Jose Siri, Tyrone Taylor and Starling Marte essentially locked onto the MLB roster. Canario provided injury insurance during camp, and a potential fifth outfielder if the Mets lined up a late-offseason Marte trade.
Neither happened, and the Mets DFA Canario and another out-of-options outfielder, José Azocar, on Thursday. (Azocar cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A over the weekend.) The righty-hitting Canario had an impressive spring. He hit .306 and connected on three homers in 17 games, but he also punched out in 15 of his 43 plate appearances. It’s the same three true outcomes profile that he has displayed throughout his minor league career. Canario drilled 18 homers with a robust 11.3% walk rate in only 64 Triple-A games in the Cubs’ system last offseason, but his 30.4% strikeout rate meant the Cubs weren’t willing to carry him on the MLB roster.
Canario owns a .252/.345/.521 line in parts of three Triple-A campaigns. He’s best suited in right field but can handle center in a pinch. Oneil Cruz is locked into everyday center field work. Bryan Reynolds moved to right field this year, while free agent signee Tommy Pham is playing left. Canario could take a few at-bats from Pham but profiles mostly as a bench bat for the time being.
