Free agent first baseman Mike Jacobs, who earlier this winter was cut by the Royals, has signed on with the Mets, who evidently don't consider being cut by the Royals a red flag.
Mike Jacobs Re-Joins The Mets To Compete For Job
Mike Jacobs will return to the Mets on a minor-league deal, just as Carlos Delgado exits, ESPN.com reported.
Jacobs doesn't walk, he doesn't make contact, he doesn't hit for average, he can't hit lefties, and he doesn't field his position well. His strength is his ability to hit right-handed pitchers - he has a career .505 SLG, versus .374 against southpaws - but while the power is impressive, the Mets were already set to go with a Fernando Tatis/Daniel Murphy platoon at first, and Jacobs doesn't appear to offer any significant advantage over the younger Murphy.
Nobody’s yet quite certain, then, exactly what this means. The Mets have had Murphy working with Keith Hernandez to get better around the bag, but it’s possible they’re not very confident. They may not like Murphy at first. They may want to move Murphy in a trade. Or they may like Murphy quite a bit and don’t see Jacobs as a real threat to steal much playing time. The roster implications are still up in the air. For the time being, Jacobs will simply go to spring training fighting for a job.
Jacobs will earn a base salary of $900k if he makes the team, with more than $1m in incentives. Follow the story at Mets blog Amazin’ Avenue.
See More:
