Mike Tauchman released by Mets

Tauchman is in the final stages of his recovery from surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee. The 35-year-old suffered the injury during the late stages of spring training which extinguished any shot he had of making New York’s season-opening bench as a non-roster invitee. He’s merely organizational depth at this stage of his career.

It’s a tough break for Tauchman who was having an outstanding spring and was well on his way to making the Mets’ Opening Day roster. The 35-year-old outfielder is going to be sidelined for at least 4-6 weeks. That paves the way for Carson Benge to open the season as the team’s starting right fielder.

Tauchman, 35, will undergo an MRI on the knee according to Mets manager Carlos Mendoza. The outfielder is in camp on a non-roster invite, and is attempting to win a spot on the bench for New York. His status should be updated after the results of the imaging are announced.

Tauchman seemed like he was going to have a spot on New York’s season-opening roster as a bench outfielder. Any sort of absence makes it a near-lock that rookie Carson Benge opens the season in the big leagues. There should be an update on his status after he undergoes further evaluation to determine the severity of the issue.

The Mets probably aren’t going to have room for Tauchman if Carson Benge makes the team, but someone is going to want him, right? The 35-year-old has finished with OBPs in the .350-.360 range each of the last three seasons, and he’s hitting .333/.481/.619 this spring.

Those are his only two plate appearances of the spring to date, so he has a perfect 5.000 OPS. The Mets pretty much know what they would get from Tauchman, so his chances of making the team would seem to hinge on how Carson Benge plays these next five weeks. If Benge thrives and becomes the Mets’ starting right fielder, it wouldn’t make much sense to carry both. If it’s determined Benge needs some Triple-A time, then presumably one of Brett Baty or Tauchman would play right field against lefties, with the other serving as a DH.

Tauchman hit .263/.356/.400 for the White Sox last year and has averaged a .359 OBP and 1.4 fWAR per year as a platoon guy the last three seasons, but no major league offers were forthcoming, it seems. He seems like a nice get for the Mets as a DH and fallback right field option against right-handers, though there might not be room for him if Carson Benge makes the team. If they do somehow carry both Benge and Tauchman, that’d be more bad news for Mark Vientos.

All three players are now free agents. Tauchman has the most MLB success of the trio, but all three have had enough success to suggest they’ll be with new clubs next year. That’s the nicest thing we can say. It is worth noting that Elko underwent surgery to repair a torn ACL, however, and likely won’t be ready until the middle of 2026.

Tauchman will undergo offseason surgery early next week to address the torn meniscus in his right knee. The 34-year-old veteran produced a respectable .263/.356/.400 triple-slash line with nine homers and 40 RBI over 93 games this season in his White Sox debut.

Tauchman has been a mainstay against right-handers all year long and Taylor was playing most of the time with Luis Robert Jr. on the shelf, but it seems the White Sox have decided to take a look at younger players this last week of the season. They have Brooks Baldwin in center and Dominic Fletcher in right tonight. Notably, the prioritizing of younger players isn’t doing Curtis Mead any good; he’s started just one of the last six games.