Monell signed a minor-league contract with the Mets on Friday, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com reports.
Monell would be an unlikely candidate to receive much playing time, even with Travis d'Arnaud (elbow) and Kevin Plawecki (hand) set to miss significant amounts of time. The 32-year-old has a career .161/.230/.196 line through 35 career major-league games and was last seen hitting .165 in the Korean Baseball Organization. His likely role will be to fill in as a minor-league depth piece while Tomas Nido and Jose Lobaton are needed in the majors.
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Johnny Monell: Released by Rays
Rotowire
Monell was released by the Rays on Wednesday, Chris Cotillo of SB Nation reports.
Monell returned from overseas and inked a minor-league deal with the Rays in January, but an unremarkable showing in spring training (.190/.227/.286 in 22 plate appearances) prompted Tampa Bay to cut him loose. He'll look to latch on elsewhere as organizational catching depth.
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Rays' Johnny Monell: Returns from overseas, signs with Rays
Rotowire
Monell signed a minor-league contract with the Rays on Wednesday, Chris Cotillo of SB Nation reports.
Monell is looking to make it back to the majors after spending 2017 with the KT Wiz of the Korean Baseball Organization. The 31-year-old backstop hit just .165/.395/.282 in 28 games for the Wiz, so he likely won't be viewed as anything more than an organizational depth piece in 2018.
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Johnny Monell: Heading to KBO
Rotowire
Monell signed a contract with the NC Dinos of the Korean Baseball Organization, Chris Cotillo of SB Nation reports.
The 30-year-old backstop has bounced around the minor leagues in his career, although he's never been able to stick at the major league level. Monell will look to boost his stock with some time in the hitter-friendly KBO for the next season, likely with the hopes of creating some intrigue for next year's offseason.
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Mets' Johnny Monell: Reassiged to Triple-A on Friday
Rotowire
Monell was reassigned to Triple-A Las Vegas on Friday.
Monell didn't stand much of a chance to make the 25-man roster, as he sat behind Kevin Plawecki and Nevin Ashley to be the backup to Travis d'Arnaud. He'll head back to the minors to act as organizational depth.
Mets' Johnny Monell: Resigns with Mets on minor league contract on Friday
Rotowire
Monell resigned with the Mets on a minor league contract on Friday, Matt Eddy of Baseball America reports.
Monell had a solid year with Triple-A Las Vegas last year, batting .324 with seven home runs and 51 RBI. He also got a taste of the majors, but only managed to hit .167 in 52 plate appearances. With Travis d'Arnaud and Kevin Plawecki pretty well entrenched as the backstops at the major league level, Monell will likely serve as organizational depth once again. However, if he continues to destroy Triple-A pitching, the Mets may need to reevaluate him a bit.
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Mets' Johnny Monell: Designated for assignment
Rotowire
Monell was designated for assignment by the Mets on Friday.
He was a distant third on the depth chart behind Travis d'Arnaud and Kevin Plawecki. The Mets, having re-signed Bartolo Colon to a one-year deal, decided to bump Monell and will now risk losing him to waivers. Monell has done little with his major-league opportunities thus far, but he has hit .279/.356/.455 in parts of four seasons at Triple-A, making him a serviceable depth piece for an organization.
