The Mets are looking for an infielder/outfielder Andy Ibanez was waived by the Athletics, according to an announcement from the A’s. Franchys Romero of BeisbolFR reported the move ahead of the official announcement. OA chose a job for him a few days ago. The Mets have a 40-man roster spot after the draft Carl Edwards Jr. for the assignment earlier today. Ibáñez is out of options and will need to jump to the active roster, so they will need to make a similar move in that regard when he reports to the team.
Ibáñez, 33, is a self-help person who provides various forms of self-defense. His offense has been mercurial and is currently on the low side. He had strong seasons in 2021 and 2023, then collapsed in 2022. During the 2024 and 2025 campaigns, he slashed .240/.297/.355 for the Tigers. That production resulted in an 85 wRC+, which shows he was 15% worse than league average. Detroit could have kept him in arbitration but didn’t trade him instead, sending him to free agency.
Teams around the league still believe in his ability. The Dodgers signed him to a one-year, $1.2MM deal in January. He singled him out for assignment a few weeks later, which may seem odd, but it was by design.
Ibáñez has just over three years of service time. Players with at least three years of service are eligible to decline direct assignments after clearing waivers. However, if they have less than five income, they must part with their salary obligations. The Dodgers were hoping the contract would be enough for other teams to pass on him. Once he got past the draw, he wouldn’t want to go from $1.2MM, so he’d be stuck as an undrafted depth.
OA interrupted this program, saying that he will return in February. He stuck around for a few weeks but hit .118/.167/.118 in 18 plate appearances. Despite this poor play in recent weeks, the Mets are going to shoot him.
Ibáñez will at least provide some flexibility off the bench. He has experience in all four areas of the field and in the outfield corners. His shortstop career consists of only nine innings but he has more than 1,000 innings at second base and nearly 800 at third base, good numbers for starters. Combining that with an improved case would be great but it’s been a few years. His most recent offensive season was 2023, when he hit .264/.312/.433 with a 103 wRC+.
The Mets have operated with little infield flexibility for most of this year. They opened the campaign with Francisco Lindor in a short space, Marcus Semien for the second time as well Bo Bichette the third time. The first base is divided by the rotation of Jorge Polanco, Mark Vientos, Jared Young again Brett Baty. with Young and Baty also playing the outfield. The Mets were playing mostly without a bench player. Bichette became Lindor’s backup, while guys like Baty or Vientos couldn’t cover Bichette at third. Baty can also close second if Semien misses time.
The picture has been changed in recent weeks. Lindor, Polanco and Young all recently hit IL, as did the outfielder Luis Robert Jr. That leaves the Mets Ronny Mauricio in short, while Bichette and Semien still hold their positions. Mauricio has scored in nine of the 22 games he has played so far this year. The Mets called up an infielder/outfielder Eric Wagaman today when Robert hits IL but Wagaman is the man in the corner. Ibáñez gives them another cover in midfield. Wagaman has options and could be released if Ibáñez joins the team.
Photo courtesy of Scott Marshall, Imagn Images
