Mike Tauchman is a Met no more. Jon Heyman broke the news that the veteran outfielder exercised the opt-out in his contract, and the release makes him a free agent for the second time this year.
Mike Tauchman exercised the out in his Mets contract and is now an ex-Met
This whole saga has been a grind for Tauchman. He signed a minor league deal with the Mets after getting non-tendered, hoping to lock down a bench spot with a strong spring. Instead, he tore the meniscus in his left knee during the final week of camp. A recovery that was supposedly going to take 6 weeks ballooned into over 3 months, and he didn't get back on the field until early July.
The results once he did return weren't pretty. He'd hit.241/.371/.448 in 13 spring training games before the injury, but his Triple-A numbers since coming back were rough, batting.213/.342/.262 across 73 plate appearances. Not exactly a resume that forces a big-league call-up.
Still, teams shouldn't be sleeping on him entirely. From 2023-25 with the Cubs and White Sox, Tauchman was a genuinely useful lefty bat off the bench, running a.255/.359/.381 line with a 13% walk rate. That kind of on-base skill and left-handed corner outfield versatility is exactly what stretch-run contenders go hunting for in August.
Now it's a matter of who bites. At 35 and coming off a lost half-season to injury, Tauchman isn't walking into a starting job anywhere. But as a low-cost, low-risk depth add for a club that needs a warm body who can take a walk and play the outfield, he's the kind of name that tends to get scooped up quietly in the days after the trade deadline dust settles.