SATURDAY: Lannan has accepted the assignment, ESPN's Adam Rubin tweets.
WEDNESDAY: The Mets have outrighted left-hander John Lannan to Triple-A Las Vegas and purchased the contract of right-hander Daisuke Matsuzaka, tweets MLB.com's Anthony DiComo. Lannan will have the option to reject the outright assignment in favor of free agency. ESPN New York's Adam Rubin tweets that Matsuzaka will work out of the bullpen for now.
Lannan, 29, appeared in five games for the Mets this season, allowing seven earned runs on seven hits and a pair of walks in four innings of work. Of those seven hits, three cleared the fence for a home run. The veteran has never pitched outside of the NL East, but he's donned the uniform of three teams in that division: the Mets, the Phillies and the Nationals. After posting a 4.01 ERA in 783 2/3 innings with the Nationals from 2007-12, Lannan has struggled. With Philadelphia and New York, he's managed a combined 5.86 ERA with a 40-to-29 K:BB ratio in 78 1/3 frames.
Matsuzaka spent some time with the Mets in 2013 after signing a minor league deal midway through the season. He started slow but fared well down the stretch, yielding just four earned runs over his final 26 1/3 innings while striking out 21 and walking nine. Matsuzaka then signed another minor league deal with the Mets this winter. He's allowed two runs and punched out 12 hitters in 12 Triple-A innings this season. Matsuzaka's minor league deal calls for a $1.5MM base salary in the Major Leagues, and he also received a $100K retention bonus at the end of Spring Training after he did not make the Opening Day roster.
Last chance saloon for Mr Matsuzaka one suspects.
Such a comedown after the big move from Japan and the first two good years in Boston.
It just goes to show you never know when the bottom will fall out of any pitcher really.
Last chance to see the gyroball!
Should that have been “Last chance to see the gyroball disappear out of the ballpark again”…
Maybe Citifield’s dimensions will help him a bit unless he is facing Giancarlo Stanton that is.
From the Mets’ perspective, he’s a swing man with experience in big situations a year removed from nagging arm troubles, and with a fastball touching 95. He’s replacing a guy with a 15.75 ERA who gave up homers in 3 of his 5 appearances. It’s all good.
Moreover, it’s great from a depth side to have two guys capable of starting in case of emergency or going deep in extra-inning games in Torres and Matsuzaka.
Honestly, I was impressed watching Dice-K in ST. He was throwing harder and locating better than I’ve ever seen from him, and he was also working quickly.
I think lannan is better than matsuzaka IMO, he pitched ok against the angels this weekend.
That’s great, but the numbers don’t back that up. Matsuzaka was very sharp in ST and in his first couple of starts in Vegas. More importantly, Matsuzaka was clocked at 95 late in his last start. With the uncertainty around Colón’s back, this is a strong move.
I have absolutely nothing to base this off but Matsuzaka does not strike me as a guy who would make a good reliever. Although, even at his best, he was capped at 6 innings as a starter
You haven’t watched them at all then. That was Lannan’s only good outing. He gave up 7 of the 23 runs the Mets bullpen has allowed. And he’s only pitched 4 innings. Meanwhile Matsuzaka looked great in his last couple starts last year and in ST this year and in Vegas so far. It’s not really even close.
It’d be cool to see a Dice-K vs. Tanaka matchup this year
Lannan was a disaster in the Adam Eaton (the pitcher) sense last year for the Phillies. He also has a face you’d like to punch.