{"id":637382,"date":"2026-03-22T16:11:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T16:11:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/637382\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T16:11:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T16:11:16","slug":"mike-tauchman-needs-surgery-craig-kimbrels-fate-revealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/637382\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Tauchman needs surgery, Craig Kimbrel&#8217;s fate revealed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>JUPITER, Fla. \u2014 The Mets\u2019 Opening Day roster likely won\u2019t be settled until the team arrives in New York, but two veterans have been eliminated from the mix.<\/p>\n<p>Mike Tauchman, who was competing for an outfield job, will undergo surgery for a torn meniscus in his left knee, according to manager Carlos Mendoza. In addition, reliever Craig Kimbrel has been told he won\u2019t be on the Opening Day roster.<\/p>\n<p>Tauchman <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/03\/21\/sports\/mets-mike-tauchman-to-undergo-mri-for-knee-issue\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">departed Sunday\u2019s exhibition game with left knee discomfort<\/a>, and an MRI exam revealed the meniscus tear. Mendoza did not have a timeline for Tauchman\u2019s potential return. Tauchman, 35, arrived to the team on a minor league deal and was a candidate to stick in either a starting or backup role.<\/p>\n<p>But even with Tauchman removed from consideration, Mendoza declined to say if top position prospect Carson Benge has won a spot. Benge, 23, has thrived this spring and appears to have a foothold on the right field job.<\/p>\n<p>Kimbrel, 37, will remain with the organization after deciding against exercising the opt out from his minor league deal. Mendoza said lefties Bryan Hudson and Richard Lovelady are the remaining players in camp competing for the final bullpen spot.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38859383\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/new-york-mets-right-fielder-124148459.jpg\" alt=\"Mike Tauchman (r.) fails to make a catch during the Mets' exhibition game on March 21, 2026.\" class=\"wp-image-38859383\"  \/>Mike Tauchman (r.) fails to make a catch during the Mets\u2019 exhibition game on March 21, 2026. AP<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38859386\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/throws-fourth-inning-washington-nationals-122451261.jpg\" alt=\"Craig Kimbrel\" class=\"wp-image-38859386\"  \/>Craig Kimbrel pitching for the Mets earlier in spring training. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST<\/p>\n<p>Mendoza indicated that three players \u2014 Benge, Jared Young and Vidal Brujan \u2014 are essentially competing for two roster spots. Brujan would provide additional infield depth, but the Mets also have Brett Baty as a reserve.<\/p>\n<p>Brujan offers coverage at shortstop, but team officials could also decide Bo Bichette offers enough insurance at the position. Bichette, the starting third baseman, <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/03\/20\/sports\/bo-bichette-gets-uneventful-return-to-shortstop-as-mets-plan\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">played a game at shortstop<\/a> in recent days just to reacquaint with his old position.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JUPITER, Fla. \u2014 The Mets\u2019 Opening Day roster likely won\u2019t be settled until the team arrives in New&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":637383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2396],"tags":[5,847,101,6647,4,1690,61,2548,4203,185],"class_list":["post-637382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-mets","tag-baseball","tag-craig-kimbrel","tag-mets","tag-mike-tauchman","tag-mlb","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-mets","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkmets","tag-sports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116273708728978326","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=637382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637382\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/637383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=637382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=637382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=637382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}