The Mets announced that they have selected right-hander Jonathan Pintaro to the roster, a move that was reported yesterday, and recalled left-hander Brandon Waddell. In corresponding moves, they have designated left-handers José Castillo and Richard Lovelady for assignment.
The Mets opened the season with A.J. Minter and Danny Young as the lefties in their bullpen. They lost both of them before the end of April. Minter required season-ending lat surgery while Young required Tommy John surgery.
Shortly thereafter, the out-of-options Castillo was designated for assignment by the Diamondbacks. The Mets sent some cash to Arizona in order to skip the waiver queue. He has generally performed well since becoming a Met, having tossed 11 1/3 innings with a 2.38 earned run average, 24.1% strikeout rate, 10.3% walk rate and 55.9% ground ball rate.
Getting bumped off the roster today might simply be due to the club having a taxed bullpen, as they used all eight of their relievers in the past two days. Reed Garrett pitched on both days, including 22 pitches last night. Three other relievers on the club, including Lovelady, tossed 24 pitches or more last night.
They have added some fresh arms to the group today but Castillo has been bumped into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Mets could take as long as five days to explore trade interest.
Lovelady, 29, was just signed a couple of days ago. There was an amusing bit of confusion about his name when the Mets announced him as “Dicky” Lovelady. Per Anthony DiComo of MLB.com, the lefty does go by “Dicky” during casual interactions but will be referred to as “Richard” in official settings such as in print and on scoreboards.
He tossed an inning and two thirds for the Mets last night, allowing two earned runs via two walks and a hit, while striking out one. Like Castillo, he is out of options and has been bumped off the roster and into DFA limbo.
Prior to joining the Mets, he was in good form on a minor league deal with the Twins. He had tossed 20 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level with a 1.31 ERA, 26.5% strikeout rate, 8.4% walk rate and 60.4% ground ball rate.
The Mets now have no real lefty presence in the bullpen. Waddell is a southpaw but he’s likely to be used as a long reliever. Brooks Raley could join the club later in the season but is still recovering from last year’s Tommy John surgery. It seems fair to expect the Mets to be on the lookout for lefty relief help between now and the deadline.
Photo courtesy of Vincent Carchietta, Imagn Images
No… not Dicky Lovelady!
Ik. He just signed yesterday. WHYYYYYY DICKY
Dick move by the Mets.. He just moved his family
Love ‘em and leave ‘em.
Or hit it and quit it….
I wondered why the ATL announcers called him “Richard” when he entered the game. Now I know.
That was short lived.
Dick looked good last night pitching with a quick delivery. He entered in the 7th and retired the side 1 2 3. He started the 8th and retired the first 2 batters. The Mets Manager left him in too long and he ran out of gas.
I liked what I saw of Dicky but he was overused.
He didn’t have a good time with the Jays this year.
Smart move. Go back down to 1 lefty in your bullpen. Good job mets
Does it matter when they all suck?
Have you seen Castillo pitch? NOPE.
He’s terrible.
He can’t throw strikes.
He lets too many inherited runners score.
He’s absolutely painful to watch.
I will suffer with a right arm attached to a major leaguer, thanks.
Lovelady pitched well last night, Brazoban blew it up with three walks to start the sixth.
Mets bullpen is in bad shape. Montas would be good out of the bullpen, he pitched well last night and with his injury issues, the Mets might be best with Montas, Blackburn and MeGill in the relief.
Sengai
Peterson
Manaea
Holmes
Canning
Its a good rotation. Might have to trade Sproat or Tong for the bat you need, decide on Jett Williams or Acuna and trade one for another bullpen arm.
They have to move quick, the Braves are looking to sweep them again tonight.
They play tomorrow too.
there are major question marks on pretty much everyone on the 5 you have there.
Manaea hasnt even pitched this year.
Holmes is now in June at the most innings he has ever pitched in a year,
Senga just coming back from injury and is now out,
Peterson will probably hit the most innings he has ever pitched as well right around or just after the allstar break and has always dropped off in the 2nd half (worn out maybe?)
Canning has been blown up at times especially the last few games
I like the potential of the staff and they have shown what they can do i think you need one more top end guy. I still like the idea of megill potentially piggy backing with someone maybe a canning or peterson to rest the bullpen or stretch out the starters with an every other time through the rotation of a piggy back of maybe one of the other 3 and give the rotation an extra day off and some rest of the bullpen.
@ Roll.. Innings are certainly a concern for Holmes, but let’s not overstate it. Its the most innings Holmes has pitched in the majors. But he was a starter in the minors, and while its been awhile, its not uncharted territory for him.
In ST, the Mets had talked about the possibility of managing SP innings by having each pitcher simply skip one turn through the order every now and then. Or by mixing that strategy in with a 6-man rotation in certain stretches. They may be healthy and deep enough to do that before the trade deadline gets here.
I agree that piggybacking is a very real possibility, as well. They have been doing a lot of that across all four levels in the minors for a good month now.
No thanks on trading Tong. And Jett Williams has been looking very good this year. Would like to see him moved up to AAA with an eye towards potentially calling him up towards the end of the season if he’s doing well. Can play center and middle infield. Not as fast as Acuña and not as good defensively but his bat so far is much better.
I would also consider calling up McLean in another month or so if he’s pitching as well as he has so far. He’s got to be better than Blackburn.
We need to back off of the idea that he will be a CF any time soon. He’s played only 10 games there this year, and 350 innings for his entire career, or 15% of his playing time. His range factor there has been pretty low for a CF since moving to AA. I also think Jett would have to absolutely storm through AAA and break the doors down to get promoted this year, and there’s evidence to suggest that he won’t do that.
He got a slow start in AA last year. And he recently went thru a 14 game stretch with only 1 XBH. It would be warranted to suppose that he might go through the same thing in AAA. He is still one of the youngest players in AA, and reaching the majors at 20 is extremely rare and only happens for the truly ultra-elite prospects.
Bro changed his name and it was unfortunately only a one-night stand for Dicky.
Hilarious and original. Not.
And just like that the Mets are now Dick-less…
kind of like when RA dickey left
So witty!
Trade Acuña for Harris.
Trade Scott Harris for Acuna. AA sucks.
Name change =====} team change
For all the love that Hefner gets for his pitchers success, got to ask why can’t Mets pitchers throw strikes. It’s not an issue with just the bullpen.
Also raley supposedly started rehab so hopefully he helps sooner than later.
I think Raley’s rehab is likely to take the full 30 days that the rules allow, or close to it. So we’re still 3+ weeks away from that.
Braves bullpen locked it down last night, had to bring in Iglesias in the ninth, he worked after having thrown around 30 pitches Monday. They could use another high leverage bullpen arm, but Nick Allen has been good and Eli White had a clutch hit last night. Braves are looking like contenders to me if they get Sale back in the rotation and can add a bullpen arm. They don’t need much else.
What they need more than anything is to get a player besides Olson or Acuna to hit. They need a reliever but I’ve really liked Dodd, and others like Montero seem to be figuring it out.
Hoping Lopez and Jiminez can make it back by the end of July. Using Lopez in the pen for the rest of the season could be a big add. Profar back on July 2nd should help the lineup a lot. Riley’s getting ready to go off—-I hope.
I’m not terribly optimistic about Profar tho I’m glad they are getting him back. He could be good and he’s certainly capable of at least being better than what they have but he’s always been so up and down and seemed to do well in SD in part because he was so comfortable there. Just think it’s pretty hard to come back mid season after letting the whole team down (he’s practically making his Braves debut. It’s already a big task being the only off-season add and being expected to follow up a career year). He’s likely to get booed a bit too. It was a risky signing even before the suspension.
He’s been really good at Gwinnett so far. Adding him to the lineup even if he’s just a league average bat in left field will be a big improvement. Last I saw, the Braves ranked next to last in offensive production from the position.
It will be an improvement simply by getting Alex Verdugo off the roster. He is the most pathetic excuse for a hitter I have witnessed the Braves give 200 PA to in a long time. They would have been better off with literally any player in MLB (even Rosario). And worst of all he led off most of those games. He is Slugging under 300.
I also just don’t understand why they are giving the ball to a 20 year old with one appearance at AAA (barely any at AA if I recall) when Nathan Wiles has a sub 3 era in AAA and has been pitching well all season.
Yeah, Verdugo’s awful. Zero homers, he’s a rollover to 2B groundball machine. Brutal for them w/Verdugo, Harris II, and Albies in the lineup at the same time. Not only has his bat disappeared, Harris II hasn’t taken a walk since May 18th. Ozzie’s lost all of his power too. Allen can’t hit either, but nobody expected him to. He provides enough value w/his glove.
I understand why they pitched him against Miami. It was his turn in Gwinnett’s rotation. Surprised me they kept him up for this start vs the Mets though. I don’t think they trust Wiles. He looked terrible when they called him up earlier this season. Soft tossers w/decent breaking stuff or a good change often get guys out in the minors—-not so much in the bigs.
Yea I honestly didn’t see him pitch earlier this year. I saw the stats. I didn’t know if he started or not. I mean I know they don’t trust him. The annoying thing about Harris is he still hits the ball hard at times but he has such poor pitch selection and is constantly 0-2. As opposed to Verdugo who can work the count but just can’t hit. And Albies pops up more than anyone I’ve ever seen.
The ole 1 night stand for Mr Dickey.
Damn it Dicky!
“Mom always liked you best!”
Dicky was a milkman.
Who was the Rangers pitcher… Dickey? I’m computing my brain but his name is popping up
R.A. Dickey – knuckleballer
Ridickylous move by the Mets.
Carlos Mendoza seems genuinely worried. Team has gone off the rails. Bullpen not performing so 5 inning starts isn’t working. Batting lineup has lost their confidence. Team is losing the edge. Unfortunately now the Mets will have to part with some legitimate prospects to rebuild mid season otherwise they will not make it far. 1) 1-2 relievers 2) 1 hitter plus possibly a starter .
Blackburn is terrible.
You spelled ruin wrong.
Now the Mets ain’t got d*ck(y)
Mets need to make a move for Aroldis Chapman and Kyle Finnegan in July as the Bosox and Nats continue to fade. Take a chance on Sandy too before the Dodgers, Phil’s and Braves do. Tong. McLean, Jett, Benge and maybe Sproat are going nowhere but Baty, Acuna, Acuna and other prospects could. Don’t be surprised if Marte goes too. Mets would pay a lot of his expiring contact if it helps aquire a need.
Really should have a rule that these players that are signed as free agents get sometime up before they can be DFA. Say at least 1 week on the 26 man roster before removal. Otherwise,they can simply get signed and dropped like yesterday’s newspaper.
There’s that word again: ‘should”. Why “should” there be a rule? So what if they get dropped after a day? Why is that an issue? How is the player being wronged, here?
The very reason these guys get dropped so often and so quickly is that they are not bona fide major league pitchers. This is his niche – journeyman, roster filler, quad-A player. And this is what comes with that territory. The guys who are used in this way are better paid and better off than 80 or 90% of all minor leaguers. Getting called up or signed, even for only a day is better than being mired in AAA for seven years and never making it at all. Or being washed up clinging desperately to a AAA career just hoping that they get this one more call-up.
The player is not being wronged or hurt by this. He’s getting a bonus.
I have to disagree with you. Players make a great effort to get to a new team. Family, pets, vechiles, etc. Just to join a new organization and they are DFA after one game. Just think it’s fair and reasonable for teams to give them an opportunity and I don’t think one week is asking to much or a hardship for teams.
1- Do you really believe these players – these minor league and/or journeyman level talents – take their families with them from city to city? Thats huge stretch. Few, if any of them do.
2- And you want the team to hold onto a marginal player that they don’t want for a week rather than give that roster spot to someone they think is more deserving? Ridiculous. This is a game where one win per week equals 25 games per season. So asking a team to do that is potentially a hardship from a competitive standpoint.
3- If they make that a rule as you suggest, teams will think twice and sometimes balk at claiming the player in the fist place, rather than be stuck with him for a week. Instead, they’ll wait for him to clear and sign him to a minor league deal. How is that better for the player?
4- These players do have a union, and roster rules are collectively bargained through that union. If this were an important issue to the players, the union would take it up. We’ve never heard nor read about that being the case.
The Mets do not “love the lady”
A quicky for Dicky
I was flabbergasted when Dicky Lovelady opted out of that deal with the Twins. But he may love one lady at a time.
Pssst, Mets….. Matt Gage is looking for work as of this morning. Maybe give the Tigers a call?
Don’t understand letting Castillo go. Hopefully he can be retained.