The Mets are going to designate right-hander Paul Blackburn for assignment, reports Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. That will be the corresponding move for the promotion of Nolan McLean, a move that was previously reported.
Blackburn was acquired by the Mets at last year’s trade deadline. At the time, the Mets had lost both Kodai Senga and Christian Scott to the injured list and suddenly needed a bit of rotation depth. He made five starts for the Mets before he himself required a stint on the injured list. He hit the IL due to a right hand contusion. While on the IL, it was reported that he was dealing with a spinal fluid leak in his back. He didn’t make it back off the IL. He underwent a cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak repair procedure in October.
Despite the rough landing in Queens, the Mets tendered him a contract for 2025, his final arb season before reaching free agency. The Mets seemed interested in stockpiling rotation depth. They signed Sean Manaea, Clay Holmes, Frankie Montas and Griffin Canning, adding to a rotation mix which already included Senga, David Peterson, Tylor Megill and Blackburn. The Mets and Blackburn avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $4.05MM salary for this year.
Unfortunately, it has turned into another season marred by injuries and the Mets seemingly never had much interest in putting him back into the rotation. He likely would have been off the roster long ago if not for other injuries, both to himself and others.
Blackburn started the season on the IL due to inflammation in his right knee. He was rehabbing throughout May, before being reinstated from the injured list in early June. By the middle of June, there was reporting that the Mets were fielding trade interest in Blackburn. At the time, they had a rotation of Senga, Peterson, Holmes, Canning and Megill, with both Montas and Manaea on rehab assignments. Blackburn appeared to be surplus to requirements. But moments after that report came out, Senga got injured and landed on the IL. Megill went on the shelf not long after.
That opened a window for Blackburn to stick around, but then he himself hit the IL again in early July due to a right shoulder impingement. He began a rehab assignment in the middle of July and got up to five innings by his second outing. But the Mets didn’t have a rotation spot for him behind Senga, Manaea, Holmes, Peterson and Montas. They let Blackburn throw a few more rehab starts, perhaps because they just wanted to keep him around in case someone else got injured.
In recent days, Montas was moved to the bullpen to open a rotation spot for McLean. Blackburn was reinstated from the IL and put in the bullpen as well. He tossed five innings of long relief on Wednesday after Peterson couldn’t get through the fourth inning. Now, he’s been bumped off the 40-man entirely.
This move ends a strange Mets tenure for Blackburn. He was technically with the club for over a year but only made 12 appearances in orange and blue. It often seemed like the Mets were on the verge of nudging him out the door before it finally happened.
He now heads into DFA limbo. With the trade deadline having passed, he will have to be placed on waivers. There is just under $1MM left to be paid out on his salary. His frequent injuries likely hurt his chances of being claimed, though he has had some decent results when healthy. With the Athletics in 2022 and 2023, he tossed a combined 215 innings with a 4.35 earned run average. His 20.7% strikeout rate, 7.8% walk rate and 44.5% ground ball rate were all fairly close to league averages.
Those cromulent results surely attracted the Mets in the first place but he wasn’t spared the injury bug even in those campaigns. Issues with his right middle finger prevented him from surpassing 115 innings in either of those seasons.
Still, decent starting pitching is hard to find after the deadline, so perhaps Blackburn will find some interest. If he clears waivers, the Mets will remain on the hook for the rest of his salary. At that point, another club could sign him and pay him the prorated portion of the league minimum salary for any time spent on the roster. That amount would be subtracted from what the Mets pay.
Photo courtesy of Jason Parkhurst, Imagn Images
Thank god
I would have kept Blackburn and dumped Stanek.
metzfan Blackburn can’t pitch back to back days or get strikeouts in big spots. Stanek can occasionally
metzfan addressed a comment to him/herself???
Um…metzfan, did you forget which troll account you were using?
Brian Cashman on line 1.
I hope the A’s can sign Blackburn next year for a guaranteed contract at the minimum salary.
It won’t prevent the season from going off the rails.
Follow this up with Stanek and Montas
Follow it up with Hefner and Mendoza
metzfan they are going to fire an excellent manager and one of the most respected pitching coaches in baseball because guys are in a slump we’re not pitching well especially those that just got here
@metzfan
When you comment to yourself, it shows that you have forgotten which troll account you are using.
Stearns gave them those pitchers. They’ve gone bottom of the barrel signing. At best their top pitcher should be third in the rotation – they have a bunch of 4’s and 5’s in that rotation. No ace. Not even a second.
In that order.
I know this is a Mets article, but I need to vent.
There are times I want to believe in Oliver Marmol. But tonight is just one more reason he has to go. Our players made too many fundamental mistakes and that is bad enough. But the home plate umpire’s strike zone was SO inconsistent it was comical. Where was Marmol? Safely on the top step of the dugout. Aaron Boone may be an incompetent manager, but he would have been thrown out of the game if he were the Cardinals manager. Marmol is a coward. He never stood up to a clueless front office. He used the media to criticize players instead of addressing it directly. And he fails to go to bat for his players when an umpire is affecting the outcome of the game. Mike Matheny was a simple minded, paint-by-numbers manager, but he would have had to been restrained when Saggese got called out on strikes. Marmol did nothing.
Some of your points are valid and understandable, some are misguided and possibly even incorrect.
Fwiw, Marmol leads the NL in ejections and only has 1 fewer than Boone.
Tonight he did nothing. That’s a fact. This team has no killer instinct. That’s also a fact. I get that it’s a long season. I understand that you can’t let emotion dictate your approach. But Tony La Russa managed to keep the intensity level at 10 162 games a year. Marmol’s intensity level is 4, and the team reflects that.
But the players find him so relatable….
@ myaccount
I admit my flaws. I’m a fan with a fan’s feelings and a fan’s bias. Tonight’s game was hard to watch for a variety of reasons. Marmol obviously doesn’t deserve all the blame. But there were multiple points in the game where he could have shown some fire and he acted as though he just wanted to get the game over with. I have a hard time with that. Culture is important. I can accept a lack of talent. I have no tolerance for a lack of fight. This organization had better check the standings. The Milwaukee Brewers are in first because they play every pitch like they’re fighting snakes.
Getting thrown out of a game isn’t very effective if it happens consistently.
Being able to talk to the umpire between innings, or having your catcher do it, takes some finesse and is appreciated by said umpires. Which may be of more benefit to your team over time.
@DonOsbourne Marmol is a puppet, plain and simple. There is a reason why they extended him after 2 straight failed seasons. I remember one time when he publically called out Tyler O’neal and it basically ruined the clubhouse. In my opinion, a manager shouldn’t be younger then a player on their roster. He was in-charge over Molina, Pujols, and Waino. You really think any of these guys are going to listen to him? Hes a Luis Rojas 2.0
Marmol was 36 and the players you.me toned were 39-42 yrs old and all consummate professionals. I think they listened to him as much as they’d have listened any new coach. Unless you seem to think they’d have listened more to a coach in his 70s and in cognitive decline…
Ultimately there’s a handful of people currently on the planet as accomplished as Pujols, a few dozen more then Yadi, and Waino is pretty elite as well but a step below those 2 in baseball terms. Id say most Managers and coaches likely take a different approach with players like those 3. Part of leadership is managing not just a team but the individuals on that team.
Marmol is a lackluster manager, no fire and quick to throw his players under the bus with the media. Reprimanding your players when speaking to the media is one thing, but this guy has gutted them completely when those conversations should be held behind closed doors. Matheny was a jerk but Marmol is at another level of jerk.
Most people are not aware of this, but over the winter last year, Manfred signed a new contract with the umps. Everything the union demanded, they were given. The most notable rewards were a blank check to eject anyone and everyone arbitrarily and without punishment. They were given absolute power over every player and coach. Also, the grading system was abolished. They no longer have to earn their way to the postseason.
That’s why they need a message board around here. So that people can talk about whatever without needing to comment on an article.
Hey Gollum, Here’s another chance for you to get one back that got away!
Trading him away sealed the 2016 World Series. Well that and Cleveland having nowhere to turn to but Michael Martinez.
@Boycottsidneysweeney Its because the incompetent GM values analytics over results. There was no need to sign Clay Holmes or Frankie Montas in the offseason. There was no need to trade for Paul Blackburn at last year’s deadline. Why not sign/trade for proven starters that have results? I really do think he does these kind of things because he wants to look like the smartest guy in the room over making the correct baseball decisions. I also think that his hire of Mendoza was the wrong choice, this group of guys needs an established veteran manager like Girardi or Shildts (who was available). Just because you spend a lot of money doesn’t mean you’ll be a good team. Case in point, InEppler gave Verlander 40 mil a year for 3 years and he was 40 at the time. I said at the time of the signing that it was an awful move and most of the people on this site called me an idiot. Some people just can’t see past the numbers
Your hashtag doesn’t do you any favors to help us think otherwise.
“Why not sign/trade for proven starters that have results?”
like say the prior year cy young winner Verlander that had cy youngs before that and a world series ring?
“Case in point, InEppler gave Verlander 40 mil a year for 3 years and he was 40 at the time. I said at the time of the signing that it was an awful move”
so dont sign proven veterans? which one is it? Also it was 2 years or he would not have been free agent this year as usual wrong again but im sure wont admit to it.
” and most of the people on this site called me an idiot.””
For many more reasons than that.
@Roll there is no need to sign a guy in his late 30s to a big deal. You are twisting what I said. There is a difference in signing Verlander at 30, who was proven already, compared to him at 40
@LFG
So you dont want a proven starter then because I dont think you can get more proven than being last year’s cy young with multiple cy youngs prior under your belt with almost 200 strike outs. and not far off 200 innings as well. I mean make up your mind.
The only pitchers that werent mid 30s were zach efflin not at the time a proven starter and walker they let walk. or Rodon who was injury prone and wanted 6 years at around 30M per. Way too much imo. Also that 40 year old did better than Rodon for those 2 years and the mets would have cut bait with him. Flexibility still there.
@Roll you can trade for someone and then extend them, just like what the RedSox did with Crotchet or Dodgers did with Glasnow if there aren’t any good free agents. I’m sure that there were other free agent pitchers that were better options then the two you named, I just can’t think of them off the top of my head
It has nothing to do with valuing analytics too much. Any team that doesn’t value them will be left in the dust like the Rockies
Analytics are indeed overused by some teams. To me, they should be treated more as clerical work to support or enhance a team philosophy with data. With every team pretty much having them as a part of their organization, everything goes back to whether you are able to win with your team philosophy as to what type of team you want to build, and where are the undervalued gems that can be found to fit into your team pilosophy. When you overuse analytics as the team philosophy with no real philosophy beyond that, you run into issues.
To use the perfect metaphor, it’s like entrusting your Fortune 500 company to the decisions made of your leading data entry clerk, when your Board of Directors should have a plan and only use the data entry department to support their plan with numbers…and to use numbers to strengthen the effectiveness of your plan with finding the undervalued or bargain pieces for your plan.
With the Mets, it’s hilarious that you see this with Stearns. Won’t be long before he wishes he was back in Milwaukee…if he hasn’t started wishing that already.
@Marlins
So what your saying is the Marlins will be signing Walker Buehler to a big fat contract with multiple years then? Analytics be damned he will be an ace. Its like saying Fuji Shintaro is an excellent reliever even though he walks the team but can throw 100MPH. Look at the yankee philosophy of getting power lefties for their short porch and how many world series has it gotten them over the years.
@Roll
I’m not sure what you saw in my statement that brought you to that conclusion.
Do explain.
The youth movement for the Mets rotation has begun.
I would have kept Blackburn and let Montas go. That was really a questionable signing of montas especially if it was true what severino said he would have stayed with 2 / 40 especially for some one that would have been the number 4/5 pitcher.
They gave him too much money to cut bait yet. They’re going to try to do all they can to fix him before they give up.
Yup. $17 million for 2026.
Montas is going nowhere in 2025.
Might be dealt over the winter or during ST.
One can only hope
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
I will.
Hey that’s the Dodgers theme song for pitchers this year. And they are learning to do so.
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum. No wait that was Blackbeard. Argggh
Old black water, keep on rolling
Mississippi Moon don’t you keep on shining
The richest owner in the game and they go dime store for their pitching.
They have many years of Soto remaining, so there’s hope.
Soto is not worth $800MM and the other Mets hate him!
I didn’t say there was hope for Mets fans.
Perhaps I should have specified.
Soto appears to be a pinhead. Beware pinheads with millions of guaranteed dollars. I predict this will end up as possibly the worst signing in baseball history.
According to who?
For their number 9 SP. Sometimes depth starters suck. Hope this helps you.
metzfan Cromulent? Seriously? Didn’t want to stoop to using “decent” ?
Folks, welcome to the internet.
Hilarious that @metzfan still doesn’t realize which troll account he/she/they is using.
Are you peeved because you had to look up a word? Try to enjoy the novelty.
About time. Montas should be next. Not sure why we haven’t bitten the bullet on that one. Take the loss financially and stop the others he’s creating.
See Charlie Morton.
Soto looks miserable and not worth that contract!
Great signing. The market defined his worth.
Keep taking your fight to the internet. You’re winning. Keep up the good work.
Has #LOLmets started to trend in New York?
I think it would be just LOLNY. The whole city including the Yankees is nothing but a joke.
New York City is not a joke, the ballclub in Queens is a joke.
This year, both of them are.
Scott Harris will have this guy in Detroit by the end of next week.
What else have you told us all so since the beginning of time from atop a mountain?
@Cora the Destroya
Um, it’s really not as fun to gloat since most of those yapping Mets fans have disappeared and are no longer posting on this site. I’m saying this as someone who has also had back-and-forth with Mets fans yapping.
And also take note on a quick FYI. There is a difference between Mets fans and Mets “fans”. There are certain Mets fans that are always posting on this site no matter what happens to the Mets – they enjoy their team when all is well, but they also take their lickings when the Mets are stinking it up (much respect to those fans). Then there are those we see every offseason when the Mets make a big trade or free agent signing, who will yap like the Mets have already made the final out of the World Series, as they hold their online tickertape parade, but as soon as reality hits, and every flaw non-Mets fans pointed out shows itself, those Mets “fans” are gone. They abandon “their team” and leave their fellow Mets fans who are actually loyal, and they do so with leaving them with all the repurcussions that those fairweather fans ignited with all their yapping from the offseason until reality sets in. Note that. Again, not too fun to gloat when the Mets “fans” who really deserve to have it rubbed in their faces, are no longer around and won’t show themselves again until the weather is fair again…and they feel it’s safe to come around to yap again. Very likely that will be in the offseason…if tradition continues.
Go get him AA
DFA stanek next. Bring up sproat & either go with a 6 man rotation or move Holmes to the pen (he’s looked cooked for the past 2 months)
Stearns approach always had a good chance of backfiring. It just happened to get them by last year. On the other hand, throwing money at a guy like Corbin burnes exactly hasn’t worked out either. They have to hope 2 out of the 3 kids work out (I don’t think you see tong enter the convo until next season)
The Mets were trying to trade Blackburn prior to the deadline while he was pitching in Rehab games. No takers so this is the result.
The Mets starting pitching is having difficulty reaching 5 IP these days and the new arrivals in the Super Bullpen are now imploding.
Instead of addressing their flaws SP and hitting at the deadline they tried to bolster the BP. They just keep losing. LOL Mets
Thank god they didn’t sign Bassit or Quintana…….
2026 rotation will be 6 man Senga Peterson menaea Holmes Nolan tong sproat . 6 man. 1 of these 6 will either be in bullpen or injured list.
Reed needs to be optioned when they need a sixth starter who’s name is Sproat. They have to do this because of Senga. I hope they trade Senga at the off season and keep these kids plus C Scott in the starting rotation next year with Peterson, Manea and Richardson.