Carlos Martinez will wear No. 18 to honor Oscar Taveras

By Drew SilvaDec 8, 2014, 10:17 PM EST
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This had been rumored for a while, but now it’s apparently official …

Martinez was longtime friends with the deceased Cardinals outfielder and pleaded with Taveras to come stay with him at a VIP resort the night before Oscar and his girlfriend died in a car crash. Martinez had been wearing No. 44, which manager Mike Matheny could now take. He gave his No. 22 to Jason Heyward.

Astros trade Jake Marisnick to the Mets

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By Craig CalcaterraDec 5, 2019, 11:58 AM EST
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The Mets and Astros have announced that they’ve completed a trade. The Mets will get outfielder Jake Marisnick from the Astros in exchange for outfielder Kenedy Corona and lefty Blake Taylor.

Marisnick, a seven-year big league veteran, has never hit all that much — his career line is .227/.280/.380 — but he’s a very strong defender at all three outfield positions and can run a good bit. That makes him a decent bench option at least. To the extent the Mets rely on him to be more than a bench guy they’ll get diminishing returns, but the Astros used him a good deal more than your standard 4-5th outfielder and that worked out fine. Really, having a no-hit, plus-defending center fielder is something that even contenders can deal with, even if you’d like some more offense.

Taylor is organizational depth. He turns 25 next season and has only pitched 50 innings above A-ball. Corona was an international signee last year so he’s not near contributing to a contender like Houston.