The Mets signed right-handed reliever Nick Rumbelow out of the independent Atlantic League this week, per an announcement from his now-former team: the Sugar Land Skeeters. He’ll head to New York’s Triple-A affiliate in Syracuse and give the club some additional depth in the ’pen.
Rumbelow, 28 early next month, was released by the Mariners earlier this season on the heels of a disastrous performance at the Triple-A level. The former Yankees prospect pitched to an 8.17 ERA with a 22-to-15 K/BB ratio and two hit batters in 25 2/3 innings of work before being cut loose. However, whatever difficulties he had locating the ball in Tacoma have been largely remedied in his brief stop on the indie circuit. In 22 1/3 Atlantic League innings, Rumbelow posted a tiny 0.81 ERA with a brilliant 31-to-3 K/BB ratio.
Rumbelow also struggled in 17 2/3 MLB innings with the Mariners in 2018, but his numbers in Sugar Land are more in line with the sharp results he posted in Triple-A last year (17 2/3 innings, 2.04 ERA, 25 strikeouts, eight walks) and with the Yankees in 2017 (29 innings, 0.62 ERA, 30 strikeouts, eight walks). The righty’s career has been slowed by injuries, most notably including Tommy John surgery that effectively wiped out his entire 2016 season.
The Mets have been turning over the bullpen a bit with their recent signing of Brad Brach and the return of Paul Sewald (as Tim Peterson was designated for assignment for a second time this season). Right-hander Robert Gsellman, meanwhile, appears unlikely to return to the Mets in 2019 after reportedly being diagnosed with a partial lat tear. There’s no guarantee Rumbelow will get a look at the big league level, but rosters are set to expand next weekend.
Look out Below!
No risk here. Nothing wrong with adding depth. Maybe he actually discovered a flaw he had in the independent league. Either way, I’m sure he’ll never see high leverage work for a playoff contending team.
His flaw is having to face MLB caliber hitters genius.
Hey Danny-here are the fun facts:
-He’s probably better than Diaz.
-They will not be a playoff contending team. By Labor Day they will be history.
MLB.com beat you to it!
“Let’s get ready to Rumbel”
“ow”
At least that’s what baseballs generally say seconds after he throws them
Given the state of the Mets pen they need to sign as many minor league contracts as possible. While there’s been moderate improvement as of late the possibility of another pen implosion is going to hover over them the rest of the year. “Even a blind squirrel finds a nut sometimes” should be their mission statement in looking for as much pen help the remainder of the year.
Mets are not alone with bullpen issues. Just look around baseball. They should be signing as many of these guys as possible and see if they have anything at AAA. The Yankees who have a very good bullpen signed Trevor Rosenthal the other day. He’s been a hot mess but you just never know if you catch lightning in a bottle.
Hey Af-
How did the squirrel in you do today with the Cracker Jack bullpen. Those are the only kind of nuts that you will find buddy.
As a mets fan be prepared to stock up on them at the supermarket as you won’t be able to go to Chitifield in October.
Just saying….
I think the reds came up with the better option with signing Gausman and putting him in the pen. Rather than going after AAA relievers who are washing out with other clubs, I think converting failing starters into pen arms could net better results. They have the stuff, that’s why they were major league starters to begin with. Put them in the pen where they get an uptick in velocity over 1-2 innings and they can be a quality pen arm rather than just a depth piece.
They claimed Gausman
yes they did. the Mets should’ve claimed him and put him in the bullpen. back when Gausman was on waivers, mets could’ve claimed him before the Reds. But… we have Wilpon…who probably wont’ spend the 4-5 mil on him possibly becoming a useful pen arm for a couple of months.
You are right att- Brody’s chitibank atm card is overdrawn.
Thank goodness the Mets have a good group of decision makers in the front office. The plan that Brodie set when he took over is leading the way. He has hired good people and allowed them to function.
With all the criticism for acquiring Robbie Cano, I would like to point out a few things not talked about.
Cano had a great spring training with the bat. He was hit twice on the wrist early in the season. He missed a day or two. Could this have had apart in his problems at the plate. He then missed time with his leg injury which again could cause a problem with the overall hitting production. It seemed that in two or three occasions he seemed to be finding his swing when an injury occurred.
Do people observe how close he is to Rosario, could the tremendous increase in Rosario’s production be in part Robbie’s mentorship?
Lastly has any one noticed who is alongside Dom Smith cheering the Met’s on. Cano is there which is not the normal thing for injured players. ( Cespedes )
His leadership is not something that is normally mentioned when people complain about his contract.
Nice to see someone looking on the bright side with the Mets. All the fans who were throwing up their hands in disgust at the all star break are quiet now. The Mets have quite a good team now with lots of good young players entering their prime.
Lol, the Mets are one of the worst constructed organizarions in MLB.
The minors are ruined, which means any holes must be filled via free agency. And since they are so cheap they’ll always sign “bargain” free agents and get the predictable results.
One good month, against mainly horrible competition and Mets fans are right back at it ignoring the horrible state of the organization.
Todd Frazier, Joe Panik, Ruben Tejada, Juan Lagares, Aaron Altherr, Tomas Nido and Luis Guillorme make up about a 3rd of the roster.
That’s how bad the depth in the organization is.
The slide will start soon enough, you can’t keep winning with all that dead weight on the roster and one reliable reliever.
Things only get worse going foward as degrom starts making huge money and alot of the other guys are deep into arbitration or just hitting it.
This is a horrible way to run a team, it’s not set up for long term success.
But leave it to Mets fans to be fooled, yet again, by a spurt of good play.
I think the Mariners win 16 of 18 at one point, we’re they a good team?
Every year is like the first year Mets fans have watched baseball.
I agree. I will never be satisfied with anything the Mets do as long as “The Bargain hunters” continue to own this team. Im happy with our young stars and the only good acquisition BVW made was JD Davis.
None of them should have nothing to do with baseball operations
Great point on Cano. Leadership goes a lot deeper than just HRs and AVG.
Hey Rod-the Mets lucked out with young players performing great even though management did everything possible to keep them down in the minors by blocking them with bloat.
And Parker’s, the Cano you watched this year is the best that you will ever watch. Stop making excuses for a steroid user.
What was apparent to all before the injuries sidelined Robby is that he is still a lazy fielder who offers ZERO leadership when balls elude him and he jakes running out ground balls.
Next time don’t drink so many beers before offering your observations as they are skewed.
Great point Af-EXCEPT you missed the whole point of leadership. It STARTS with leadership BY EXAMPLE and Cano is one of the LAZIEST players in the MLB.
Hopefully he actually does have rum there
Good point reflect. Robby does have a large supply of RUM in his locker. This allows him to avoid RUNNING during the game while still SMILING.