The Mets have signed left-hander Colin Poche to a minor league deal, reports Will Sammon of The Athletic. The southpaw was on the club’s roster less than a week ago but was designated for assignment and then elected free agency.
The injury bug has been gorging itself on the Mets of late, which has led to a great deal of roster churn. They now have 13 pitchers on the injured list, seven of those hitting the shelf in the past three weeks. Poche was briefly on the roster as a part of that churn. He got into one game, allowing two earned runs in two thirds of an inning before being cut.
That wasn’t an especially impressive performance but it’s easy to understand why the Mets brought him back. There’s no real harm in a minor league deal, for one thing. Poche also has a strong track record. He tossed 156 2/3 innings for the Rays over the 2022 to 2024 seasons with a 3.27 earned run average, 24.5% strikeout rate and 9.2% walk rate.
The Mets have also been particularly hamstrung when it comes to left-handed relievers. They came into the year with A.J. Minter and Danny Young as their primary southpaws but both were felled by season-ending surgeries. Since then, they have cycled through pitchers like Poche, Génesis Cabrera and José Castillo. As of today, Richard Lovelady is the only lefty in the bullpen, with Brandon Waddell scheduled to make a start this weekend.
The club will likely look for a more permanent upgrade at the deadline. They also have Brooks Raley working his way back from Tommy John surgery. For now, Poche gives them some experienced non-roster depth.
Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images
Nice win today.
Regarding Raley, he pitched today for AAA Syracuse. It’s his sixth game this season, first for Syracuse. Yet to give up a run. 11 Ks, one walk, five hits in 6.2 innings. Small sample size but encouraging.
Would not be surprised if he was back very soon. Another couple of solid outings and I suspect he’ll be back.
The general rules of thumb that have been cited by both Stearns and Mendoza on several occasions regarding the return of a reliever from the IL is that they want to see him pitch in back-to-back games, they want to see him go more than one full inning (Raley did this one in his previous outing), and he has to be able/available to pitch three or four times a week.
That said, we’ve seen them skirt these “rules” at times when injuries forced their hand.
Yeah, that rule of theirs is certainly interesting and I assume bend-able. He’s yet to pitch back-to-back so far. He’s also 37 and coming off of a major injury. It looks like he’s been getting 2-3 days rest between appearances, so maybe they’re taking it somewhat slow. My guess is Raley is back after the All-Star break.
But, like you said, injuries can force their hand. Or poor performances. Lovelady hasn’t looked terrible (imo), but a couple bad appearances and he’ll be gone.
Agree that it is completely situational. And what a difference a few games make. As of right now, they’re not going to push the envelope. Holmes and Peterson were more settled in their last starts, Barzo and Garrett seem to no longer be hemorrhaging. If Montas has figured out the problem as he says, and does well today, they’ll probably stay the course on a lot of players till after the ASB.
Garrett may not be hemorrhaging, but he certainly isn’t close to the pitcher he was in April and May.
Perhaps not. But he wasn’t going to go from what he’d been doing to excellence in one appearance. The point is the org doesn’t need to go into panic mode as fans seemed to think a few days ago.
No, not panic mode at this time. But I think Stearns needs to have a plan to bolster the bullpen at the deadline. The current pen is not playoff caliber. I’m assuming he’s got some targets on the radar
Spice up your life!