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.
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.
The Braves need to part ways with Harris and Albies. Regardless, this team is still bad, but at least they’re beating up on the Mets so far.
Trade Acuña for Harris.
Trade Scott Harris for Acuna. AA sucks.
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.
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!
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.
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
Who cares? We are about to elect a hero that will save ny and America
You spelled ruin wrong.
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.
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.