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.
Brian Cashman on line 1.
Follow this up with Stanek and Montas
Follow it up with Hefner and Mendoza
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.
@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
Hey Gollum, Here’s another chance for you to get one back that got away!
Don’t the meta have a 300+ million dollar payroll, and they will finish near 500?
@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.
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.
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
I will.
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum. No wait that was Blackbeard. Argggh