According to Phil Hoops at Always Amazin’ , the Mets have signed minor league first baseman/outfielder Val Pascucci to a minor league deal to play for their Triple-A Buffalo affiliate.
Pascucci, 31, is a career minor leaguer who got a cup of coffee with the Montreal Expos back in 2004, and hasn’t been back to the majors since. Between then and now, he played for Team Italy in two World Baseball Classics, spent time in the Mets organization in 2008, and played a season in Japan.
He was playing for the Camden Riversharks of the Atlantic League when the Mets signed him, hitting .275 with three homers and nine RBI’s over 14 games.
I wouldn’t expect him to make an appearance in Flushing anytime soon, but you never know. Realistically he is taking over Chris Carter’s spot in the outfield that has since been vacated.
Gary Matthews Jr. deserves to get released, but that isn’t likely to happen because they signed Pascucci. Realistically, Matthews will stick with the team until Daniel Murphy is ready to come back and Pascucci will play for Buffalo all season long.
I’m not sure why he never got a chance to play in the majors.
He’s 31 now and nothing more than organizational filler. He has a career .886 OPS in the minors and when he did make it to the majors back in 2004, there doesn’t seem to be a very good reason for why he was cut.
Who knows, these types of players tend to get a chance because of injuries and make short, but decent, impacts before the league adjusts to them and they go back to being pumpkins. Maybe that will happen this season with him.
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