Mets right-hander Matt Harvey continued to allay concerns regarding his early spring velocity dip on Sunday. For the second straight outing, Harvey’s fastball sat in the 92 to 94 mph range and topped out at 97 mph, per Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News. Harvey said after throwing six innings against the Braves and allowing two runs on five hits (via MetsBlog). Harvey’s progress is obviously a positive development for the Mets, who found out Sunday that they could begin the season without the injured Steven Matz. If they do, either Seth Lugo or Zack Wheeler will open the year as their fifth starter. The club has already decided that Robert Gsellman will get a rotation spot, reports FanRag’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link).
More from the National League:
- Reds catcher Devin Mesoraco will likely begin the season on the disabled list as he works his way back from the left shoulder and right hip surgeries he underwent last year, writes Mark Sheldon of MLB.com. Consequently, the team is “leaning toward” retaining fellow backstop Stuart Turner, whom it took from the Twins in the Rule 5 draft, per Zach Buchanan of the Cincinnati Enquirer (Twitter link). Turner would join Tucker Barnhart to comprise the Reds’ top two catchers, and they’d try to pass the out-of-options Rob Brantly through waivers.
- Despite his $20MM salary, Giants righty Matt Cain isn’t a shoo-in to win the last spot in their rotation, according to Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle (Twitter link). The 30-year-old combined for a 5.70 ERA over 150 innings in the previous two seasons, and he has pitched to an even uglier 8.10 ERA in 20 spring frames. Southpaw Ty Blach will take the role if Cain doesn’t. Blach, 26, debuted in the majors last season and gave up a mere two earned runs on eight hits in 17 innings.
- Dodgers reliever Pedro Baez, who has been dealing with a right hand contusion this spring, will probably start the season on the disabled list, tweets Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times. Baez is the Dodgers’ top righty setup man, having tossed a career-high 74 innings and logged a 3.04 ERA and 10.09 K/9 against 2.68 BB/9 last season. Sergio Romo figures to serve as the main right-handed bridge to closer Kenley Jansen until Baez returns.
Rob Brantly is not on the Reds 40 man roster: he’s an NRI…as such he doesn’t need to be placed on waivers to be sent to the minors.
Tho Lugo wasn’t around much because of the WBC I feel like he was the logical choice for the 5th spot in the rotation, I would’ve thought Gsellmen needed more Time to adjust to the bigs before jumping in right away, but I got my fingers crossed everything works out in the end
Gsellman has terrific stuff. Of-course he should be the fifth starter. By the end of the year, unfortunately they will all be used.
Imagine if the Mets had kept fulmer. Their pitching depth would be insane
But, with no bats!
But their offense wouldn’t had carried them to the World Series.
Make that trade everyday of the week for the cornerstone of the offense. But the Tigers definitely aren’t complaining either.
Agreed…but this is an example where both teams won the trade. Great for DET and the Mets have a franchise player for the long-term locked up.
The only real knock on Gsellman’s performance last year is that 19 of his 44.2 innings (over 40%) were against the Phillies.
I mean most Mets fans don’t think he is gonna repeat his performance from last year, but don’t be shocked if his ERA is closer to 3.5o than 3.00.
This is true, but he does have very good stuff and being surrounded by guys who have a similar pitch list to him helps.
If Gsellman can be 3.50…that has to be considered a win for them. He pitched very very well last year, but if he can keep it mid to low-3’s for an entire season, then he’d be yet another young and controllable pitcher the Mets have in their stable. They most likely will only pay 1-2 guys long-term money (hopefully Syn, maybe deGrom). Harvey is likely gone (trade or walking), so they’ll need some young guys to step in. Wheeler and Matz are rightfully not seen as durable, so unless they are bulletproof for the next couple of years, I doubt they get offered an extension.
The Reds’ nonchalant addressing of Mesoraco’s injuries over the past few years, plus their “What, Me Worry?” approach to the catching situation in general, makes me think that Alfred E. Neuman is running their FO.
Plus mesoraco still has one shoulder to fix. You know it’s coming. I’ll be surprised if he’s even half the player he was if not for the contract they may have already cut bait with him
Barnhart is a good Catcher so I do not understand your negative comment? Mes injuries were taken care of by Doctors as they happened. What could you do differently? They have/had a replacement Catcher and I would take Barnhart over half the catchers in MLB..
Barnhart is not very good.
Barnhart is one of the worse starting catchers in MLB, but one of the better backups. So, yeah, he’s better than half of the 60+ catchers in MLB at all times. But all that really matters to most people is if you’re one of the best of the best at your position. The Reds have one catcher who could have been that, and that’s Mesoraco.
Barnhart is often pretty under-appreciated for the larger role he’s adequately filled for so long, almost as though he’s the cause rather than the solution.
If they add Brantley, they would have to pass him thru waivers once Devin comes back.
I’m sorry….. But Cain is finished……. Go with the young arms……
The sooner the Giants accept this and move on to more capable young arms in the rotation, the better. Not sure how well a bullpen role will suit Cain either.