The New York Mets have acquired Ariel Jurado from the Texas Rangers for cash considerations and a player to be named later. Jurado will report to the Mets alternate training facility in Brooklyn. To make room on the 40-man roster, the Mets DFA’d Ryan Cordell, who they recently added last week for Jordan Humphreys.
Ariel Jurado
Jurado is 24-years-old and has spent the last two seasons with the Rangers. He was DFA’d earlier this week after not appearing in any games.
In his career, Jurado is 12-16 and has made 26 starts. He also came out of the bullpen 28 times in his time with Texas and has a career 5.85 ERA. In 2017, Jurado was the ninth best prospect on the Rangers according to MLB.com.
Jurado is mainly a sinker-ball pitcher that throws in the low 90’s. He also has a fastball, which he can throw a bit harder as well as a changeup, curveball, and slider. Jurado has given up 28 home runs in 177 innings. He pitches similar to someone like Bartolo Colon, who needs to locate to have success. However, he walks far more hitters than Colon did when he was in New York.
Role with Mets
With Marcus Stroman getting closer to returning, Jurado will likely find himself in the bullpen. The Mets already have David Peterson pitching well in the fifth spot and could benefit in the future with a long reliever. Corey Oswalt was sent down earlier in the season, and Jurado can potentially fill in there at some point.
The Mets bullpen has gotten off to a rough start but had Jared Hughes return and pitch two scoreless innings Monday night. They also may have both Brad Brach and Robert Gsellman back at some point to help a struggling bullpen. However, with rosters decreasing from 30-28 after two weeks this year, his opportunity may not come this season.
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