The Mets officially announced their previously-reported deal for left-hander Brooks Raley, with Sean Manaea transferred to the 60-day injured list. Raley, who is recovering from Tommy John surgery, was promptly placed on the 15-day IL. The Mets also recalled right-hander Kevin Herget to the big league team. Right-hander José Ureña has been designated for assignment as the corresponding move for Herget. Tim Healey of Newsday reported the moves prior to the official announcement.
Ureña, 33, was selected to the club’s roster on Sunday. The Mets had leaned heavily on their bullpen in the prior days. Since Ureña had been pitching out of the Triple-A rotation, he gave them an arm capable of covering multiple innings.
Yesterday, the Mets stomped the Nationals with a 19-5 victory. It was 11-0 after six and a half, when Ureña came in to cover the final three frames. He allowed five earned runs but managed to largely give the bullpen a night off, apart from Max Kranick pitching one inning before Ureña entered.
It took Ureña 68 pitches to get through those three innings, so he might not have been available for a few days. Rather than have him taking up a roster spot while unavailable, the Mets are bringing up a fresh arm in Herget. Since Ureña is a veteran with far more than five years of major league service time, he can’t be optioned to the minors without his consent. He has been bumped off the 40-man entirely and will likely be put on waivers in the coming days.
It’s possible the veteran could garner interest from other clubs who need an innings eater. The Blue Jays just claimed Casey Lawrence, for instance, a somewhat similar veteran capable of tossing multiple relief innings. Ureña has a longer track record than Lawrence, with 951 1/3 career innings with a 4.80 earned run average. If goes unclaimed, he would have the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency.
As for Manaea, this doesn’t change anything about his outlook. The 60-day count is retroactive to his initial placement on the 15-day IL, which was at the start of the season. He can therefore be reinstated by late May, which doesn’t seem to be a realistic possibility. He has been out all year with an oblique strain. He suffered a setback in early April and was to be shut down for another couple of weeks. It’s unclear when he’ll be ready to get into game action as part of a rehab assignment.
Even if he were to start such an assignment right now, he would likely need more than a month to get into game shape anyway as an unofficial spring training. That means this 60-day IL transfer was an inevitable formality.
Photo courtesy of Brad Penner, Imagn Images
One day Urena major league clubhouse, then the next day you aren’t.
Well, that last game didn’t bode well for Urena’s longevity, that’s for sure.
Let’s just say he took one for the team.
A future brave or angel.
Putting Urena and Acuna on the same team is a recipe for disaster waiting to happen.
Imagine if Ureña stuck around long enough to bean Acuña in front of Acuña’s brother
That would’ve been wild
Should have done that the day they signed him…
what do teams see in this guy
The Marlins thought he was a prospect that they could have developed
I don’t know what any other team’s excuse was
He’s still got it!
If you watched him pitch, his delivery does not conceal the ball much. Easier to time his arm movement than other pitchers. Wonder why he uses that delivery.
“We were up by 16 runs…”
We? Tell us, LFGMets, how many runs did you score or drive in?
Send him to Uranus.
I don’t know how this can be prevented, but something seems off when guys are called up from the minors, just to pitch one game and then get released. Teams should be able to manage their bullpens well enough that they don’t need to release someone simply because he went 3 innings and isn’t available for two nights. Why “take one for the team” if that means that you won’t be on the team anymore? Michael Fulmer with the Red Sox is an even worse example.
He’s only up cause Minters hurt. He pitched himself off the roster
It has nothing to do with anything you just said and everything to do with this insane schedule. No team should be playing 13 straight days, hopefully in the new CBA they get one guaranteed off day a week. Doubleheaders with an off day are better than these insane stretches with 4 flights and no off days.
@phillies1993 Let’s not get carried away here. They took a non-major league player and gave him an opportunity to be in the show for a[nother] day.
You know, you never handle your luggage in the show, somebody else carries your bags. It was great. You hit white balls for batting practice, the ballparks are like cathedrals, the hotels all have room service, and the women all have long legs and brains.
Uceta had a bounce back year last year but when the Mets had him he was nothing but minor league depth, just like Urena
Uceta had a good year last year and his ERA and FIP are back up to where his norms were before the mets.
Looking over his games this year, he doesnt have many clean innings which is a sign of a good reliever. Funnily enough, he actually has the same amount of clean innings as drew smith at this time last season but drew had better peripherals while he was injured. Guess they will be firing Edwin Uceta since he is healthy and younger. .
Too bad Arena’s not very good, they’d be naming parks, ball fields, theaters, stadia, concert halls, meeting rooms, auditoria, atriums, convention center, amphitheater, hockey rink, race track, indoor gymnasia after him.