The Mets are bringing up top pitching prospect Christian Scott for his debut against the Rays on Saturday. At least temporarily, he steps into a rotation that includes Jose Quintana, Luis Severino, José Buttó and Sean Manaea.
If Scott sticks in the rotation, right-hander Adrian Houser could be the odd man out. Manager Carlos Mendoza told reporters that Houser will be available out of the bullpen for next week’s series against the Cardinals, which runs from Monday through Wednesday (video link via SNY). It’s not clear whether that’ll be a permanent move. The Mets are off next Thursday before playing on 13 straight days between May 10-22.
Mendoza suggested the Mets haven’t determined how they’ll proceed for that nearly two-week stretch. They could operate with a six-man rotation to give their starters an extra day of rest. If they want to go back to a five-man rotation, the decision would likely come down to optioning Scott back to Triple-A Syracuse or keeping Houser in relief. Joel Sherman of the New York Post wrote last night the Mets are committed to giving Scott at least two starts — tomorrow’s outing in Tampa Bay and a home start next weekend against the Braves — before determining whether he should stick in the rotation.
Scott has had an excellent five-start run to begin his time in Triple-A. Over 25 1/3 innings, he owns a 3.20 ERA behind a massive 38.3% strikeout rate. Houser, on the other hand, has had a tough first month in Queens. Acquired alongside Tyrone Taylor in an offseason deal with Milwaukee, Houser held a rotation spot through April. He has allowed 8.14 earned runs per nine across six starts as he’s struggled to find the strike zone.
The 31-year-old righty has walked nearly 15% of opposing hitters. He has issued multiple free passes in all six appearances, including four walks over five innings in yesterday’s outing against the Cubs. Houser’s strikeout rate has dropped to a career-low 11.7%, while his 44.4% ground-ball percentage is his lowest since 2018.
Houser was a decent back-end starter for Milwaukee a year ago. In 111 1/3 innings, he turned in a 4.12 ERA with a personal-best 7.1% walk percentage. He has never gotten huge strikeout tallies, but last season’s 20% mark was far better than he has managed thus far. While Houser’s velocity hasn’t significantly changed, he clearly has yet to find his command.
That could push him into low-leverage relief if Scott hits the ground running and the Mets want to stick with a five-man starting staff. New York doesn’t have the luxury of sending Houser to the minor leagues. He has over five years of service time, so he’d have to agree to an optional assignment and would have the right to test free agency if he were outrighted off the 40-man roster.
Mets to sign: Clayton Richard. (Return from retirement).
Barring injury, Christian Scott is here to stay.
I sure hope so!!
Sure! All Mets prospects are immediate. longterm stars the minute they take the field!
What would be the big loss if they DFA or outright Houser?
The sunk cost of his $5M salary and the off chance he can improve enough to be useful.
It would not be a big loss. But its not without some downside. He may have some usefulness in the pen. Mets’ starters are near the bottom of MLB in IP per start and at some point, that is going to wear out the pen. Adding a long man who can go more than two innings can help offset that.
Cutting him would also leave the Mets without SP depth, at least in the short term: Despite Lucchesi’s nice surface stats, his fastball velo is still sitting at 2-3 MPH slower than last year, and has only risen about 1 MPH in six weeks since spring training. That is the issue that kept him out of ST games for nearly three weeks and limited him to just one appearance in the first place. He is routinely needing 95 pitches to get through just 5 innings against AAA hitters. If a MLB lineup can get just one more hit, one more walk, and a few deeper counts that then AAA hitters, he might not last four. And there are no guarantees that Scott is ready and will be successful. That leaves no alternatives, at least until Megill gets back at least ten, possibly 15 days from now.
Bad as Houser has been lately, on balance, he was decent in two of his first three starts. His career track record is below-average but serviceable as 5th starters go. If this doesn’t work, they can always cut him at a later date. If they cut him now, he’s gone for good.
Houser should be the long man or they should go to a 6 man. Scott hasn’t pitched a full major league work load across his four minor league seasons so he can’t just jump into 30 starts. Go to a 6 man now or when Senga comes back.
Carlos he’s probably on a load management schedule or w/e they call it so even if he pitches lights out in the MLB they would continue to limit his innings akin to Jared Jones I think.
In other news, Raleys elbow is not as bad as feared. No surgery and he’ll continue throwing.
If that’s true, moving him to the 60-day IL won’t work and they’ll have to move someone else off the 40-man roster to add Scott.
Cut Fujinami. He is an arsonist at Syracuse. Seven and 2/3 innings with 17 walks and 2 hit batsmen. Add 7 the 7 hits allowed, and his WHIP is an atrocious 3.13.
Not his ERA, his WHIP!
Million dollar arm, ten cent results.
Cut him NOW!