The Mets acquired lefty reliever José Castillo from the Diamondbacks for cash, the teams announced. New York designated righty Kevin Herget for assignment to create a spot on the 40-man roster. Arizona had designated Castillo for assignment on Monday.
Castillo has technically appeared in five MLB seasons, though all but eight of his appearances came with the Padres during his 2018 rookie season. He turned in a 3.29 ERA over 38 1/3 innings that year but was subsequently set back by injury.
The 29-year-old signed a minor league deal with the Snakes in November. It marked his second consecutive season in the Arizona organization. He had spent all of last year with their Triple-A team in Reno, though he lost the first half of that season to injury. The Diamondbacks assigned him back to Reno to begin this season. He struck out seven while tossing 5 1/3 innings of one-run ball and was called up at the beginning of May.
The 6’6″ southpaw only spent a couple weeks in Torey Lovullo’s bullpen. He didn’t pitch well, allowing eight runs on 10 hits (including a trio of home runs) over 6 1/3 frames. Arizona bumped him out of the bullpen when Kendall Graveman returned from injury. Castillo is out of options, so they needed to designate him for assignment to take him off the MLB roster.
That out-of-options status means the Mets are prepared to give Castillo at least some time in their big league bullpen. They’ve been forced to scour the lefty relief market after losing Danny Young and A.J. Minter to season-ending injuries. They called up Génesis Cabrera from Triple-A Syracuse. He’s the only southpaw in Carlos Mendoza’s relief corps. Cabrera has managed five innings of one-run ball over four outings, but he had walked nearly 15% of opposing hitters in Triple-A before the promotion.
The Mets will need to remove someone from the major league bullpen once Castillo reports to the team. Dedniel Núñez is the obvious candidate, since he still has a couple options remaining. Cabrera is out of options, so the Mets would need to designate him for assignment if they wanted to use Castillo as their only left-hander.
Herget relinquishes his spot on the 40-man roster. The Mets claimed the 34-year-old off waivers from Milwaukee early last offseason. He only spent one day on the MLB roster, allowing two runs on three hits in one inning. He has otherwise been working out of the bullpen at Syracuse. Herget has only allowed five runs over 15 2/3 innings, but that came with a pedestrian 13:7 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He had a much stronger 32.4% strikeout rate over 38 appearances with Milwaukee’s top farm team a year ago.
The Mets will likely place Herget on waivers within the next few days. He has been outrighted twice in his career and would have the right to elect free agency if he goes unclaimed.
Very interesting that the Mets DFAd Herget… He hasn’t been that bad but I’m not a GM.
#NEVERFORGETHERGET
… but you did stay at a Holiday Inn last night?
Unhergettable.
A 34 year old with a career ERA in AAA of 4.01 and in MLB of 4.63 just doesn’t bring enough to the table. He’s one of that very fungible class of guys who are slightly better than the class of guys who should never pitch in MLB if you can possibly help it, but who will quickly blow up if they get more than a few innings.
5.4 K/9 in MLB, career, just means he’s putting too many balls in play, and he’s borderline enough without the problem of being unable to survive anything other than good luck.
Interesting that the guy they are designating has been considerably better than the one they are picking up. I have to assume they’re desperate for a lefty.
CardsFan57:
Considerably better? Where? I’d say they’re both trash.
The one they picked up has an ERA over twice that of the one they are designating.
CardsFan57:
You’re talking about the handful of innings they’ve pitched this season? That’s hardly a representative sample size. They’ve both had pretty terrible careers.
Yes that minor success Castillo had in 2018 changes everything. Are you a troll or an idiot? I’m really not sure at this point.
CardsFan57:
I think troll and idiot fits you appropriately. What are you arguing here exactly? These guys both have had terrible careers and not pitched a lot of innings in the majors. You think one is markedly better than the other? Did you just start following baseball yesterday? You’re quite the genius who looks at four innings and makes conclusions from that.
I don’t understand calling players who have reached the majors “trash.”
gbs42:
Give me a break. We’re talking relative to other major league players, of course.
We’re well aware of that and still think you should keep the description “trash” for something else.
Agreed. Hardly a positive 0.1 and 0.3 WAR nowhere trash….
Miken31,
Give me a break. You’re still calling people who have reached the pinnacle of their profession – even if only briefly – “trash.”
Joel from NY:
Well, thankfully, we’re on a message board where we can have a free exchange of ideas.
gbs42:
Yeah, I don’t think these guys are reading this message board and getting offended or anything. I think it’ll be fine.
Herget has just 13K against 7BB in 15.2IP down in AAA. 5.65FIP. 44IP in the Majors and he’s 34. Who actually cares that they’re moving him out? Guys with his profile are a dime a dozen.
Castillo similarly sucks but is left handed which the Mets really need. Two lines of thinking with him: they send him to the lab and help him become something consistently good, or they catch lightning in a bottle at least until Raley comes back this summer (and they acquire a real arm). Or…he sucks and they move on, with nothing of consequence lost.
Cabrera has been good and has big league success not sure why they don’t just roll with him
Hello Mr. Beltran. Genesis Cabrera is a wild man, as in Bases on Balls. He still doesn’t throw strikes.
It’s a lefty/righty issue. They do need more than 1 lefty in bullpen & who knows long Cabrera will keep pitching ok.
Given who’s available at this point in the season and that the platoon advantage isn’t a magic wand and won’t turn a modest talent such as Herget into a lefty killer ™, they need good bullpen arms more than they need a lefthander out there.
If there’s good news, it’s that Stearns knows enough to know this.
Yeah, Cabrera is not likely to continue to put up an ERA of 1.80 and partake in the Mets staff’s unearthly ability (0.6 per 9) to avoid surrendering HRs.
Stearns does no wrong. Or, so I am constantly told by my MET fan friends. I think they are predicting 110 wins and having 4 starters all top 4 Cy Young.
Cambo:
Well, no, but they do have the second most wins in baseball and not one of their starting pitchers has an ERA over 3.15, so……
Minor details of no importance.
Reply to LFGMets (Metsin7) #10thTimeBeingBannedForNoReasonFireDrewSmith:
What facts do you have to support this? I read a stat the other day that the Mets starting pitching is 10th in the sport in innings pitched. So that doesn’t really support what you’re saying does it?
Reply to LFGMets (Metsin7) #10thTimeBeingBannedForNoReasonFireDrewSmith:
I fact checked myself and I think the are 10th in the National League in innings pitched, so erase what I said in the above post. Yes I agree length from the starting pitchers is important, but I also think the evolution of the game is that bullpen is becoming more and more relied on and relievers are going to end up factoring more into games.
LFGMets (Metsin7) #10thTimeBeingBannedForNoReasonFireDrew:
I respect your opinion but not sure what you are seeing with the bullpen you don’t like. There are guys who throw hard. A lot of versatility and guys who throw multiple innings. I fell Stanek has pitched well outside of a few appearances he was put on the ninth. Nunez hasn’t gotten going yet either. I’m never against getting more relief pitching though.
Friends on the Internet we can presume.
2 Castillo’s down, 1 to go???
Castillo has a big frame and velocity on fastball and a good slider. Time for the pitching coaches to do their work with him. If they can harness Castillo’s talent to be a role player it will be huge.
252 pounds huge!
Ahhh, found some internet Met fans on here. 🙂
I’m aware the pitching numbers are good. Under the hood numbers are a bit concerning and then when you look at the opponents….Not sure one is Cy Young consideration with all the other names in the NL.
You’re the only one who’s mentioned cy young here. Are you arguing with yourself just so you have a chance of winning? It’s a little concerning.
Cambo:
When you look at the opponents? They’ve played 44 games already. That’s more than a quarter of their schedule. Yes I think some of the starters WHIPs are too high and it’s not a recipe for success going forward unless they can figure that out, but the results are what they are.
as a diehard dbacks fan this guy was awful. Good luck with that
TAKERDBACKS:
He probably will be nothing more than minor league depth for the Mets.
Agreed dbacks used him in 2 big situations like idiots
Minor league depth if they waive him and he doesn’t het claimed. He is on the big league roster right now, with no options left.
imissjoebuzas:
Well, then, I would waive him. And send him to the minor leagues. Risk someone claiming him. I don’t see where he fits on a big roster.
Even when you’re not a diehard Dbacks fan this guy was awful. 😉
These are all temporary moves. Senga, Peterson, Holmes, Manaea, and Montas – if all healthy – are the rotation til the deadline. Megill has options. Canning will go to the pen, replacing the weakest link there, just like Blackburn will.
Personally, I’ll bet Stearns starts talking about managing Holmes’ workload by midsummer: first using him behind an opener, and then promising the 8th inning in Sept/Oct…
@rachel –
Homegrowns, extensions, trades, free agency, player development, excellent staff, front office, owner, superb clubhouse culture and manager.
A nice mix.
Timmy Trumpet gonna play a sad tune..
If Castillo was anything near average the Dodgers would not of DFA’d him so the DBacks took their chance with him, now he goes to the Mets turn to see if he can become any better than a AAA pitcher.