Ben Badler of Baseball America had good things to say about the Mets' free agent signee.
It's not a game-changing addition but perhaps a step in the right direction. The Mets signed reliever Joel Carreno to a minor league deal with little fanfare, but Baseball America writer Ben Badler liked the pickup, referring to him as a "steal," citing his impressive strikeout rates. Badler's full write-up is here. Here's some of what he had to say:
The Mets quickly snapped up righthander Joel Carreno, who could be one of the steals (a relative term, of course) of the minor league free agent class.... After striking out 25 percent of batters in his minor league career, Carreno’s strikeout rate jumped to 34 percent last year between Double-A New Hampshire and Triple-A Buffalo with a 2.43 composite ERA
He last pitched in the majors for Toronto in 2012 and didn't pitch well, though he made just eleven appearances there. He posted a 6.14 ERA and walked 5.7 batters per nine innings. The 26-year-old was considerably more effective in 2013, posting a 2.43 ERA along with an eye-popping 90 strikeouts in 66.2 innings split between Double and Triple-A.