The Mets announced this morning that they’ve designated right-hander Chris Devenski for assignment. Devenski’s spot on the active roster will go to left-hander Sean Manaea, who has been activated from the paternity list.
Devenski, 35 in November, signed a minor league deal with the Mets last offseason and has served in an up-and-down role for the club this year. He’s made 13 appearances for the Mets in total this season and was already DFA’d by New York once before in late July, though he signed a major league deal with the club just a few days later and has remained in the organization ever since. All together, he’s posted a 2.16 ERA with a 3.51 FIP in 16 2/3 innings of work while striking out 21.5% of his opponents against a 7.7% walk rate.
Those are perfectly solid numbers, and his 3.35 ERA and 20.8% strikeout rate across 35 appearances with Triple-A Syracuse this year is largely consistent with that. Despite the minimal playing time at the big league level, 2025 represents something of a return to form for Devenski. A 25th-rounder drafted by the White Sox all the way back in 2011, Devenski made his big league debut in Houston during the 2016 season and was a big part of the Astros bullpen in the early days of their dynasty. In 305 1/3 innings from 2016 to 2019, Devenski posted a 3.21 ERA with a 3.49 FIP and even picked up an All-Star appearance during the 2017 campaign.
Unfortunately, he’s been unable to find his footing since struggling in a small role with the Astros during the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign. Since the start of 2020, Devenski has bounced between six organizations at the big league level. Prior to joining the Mets this year, he had pitched to a 6.46 ERA with a 5.30 FIP in 82 appearances over the past half decade, including a 6.75 ERA in 26 2/3 innings of work for the Rays last year. If some club views Devenski’s strong performance in a minor role with the Mets this year as evidence he’s put his years of struggles since leaving Houston behind him, then it wouldn’t be a shock to see Devenski garner some interest on the free agent market this winter.
As for Manaea, the Mets recently moved him to the bullpen for the remainder of the season amid his struggles to find success in the rotation this year. That move has paid off so far, as the lefty threw five innings of one-run ball in long relief against the Padres last week. Now that Manaea is back from the paternity list, he’ll likely have another opportunity or two to pitch this week as the Mets fight to hold onto their spot in the playoffs amid strong pushes from Cincinnati and Arizona to get back into the conversation.
Devenski has had some decent outings for the Mets
He had some good time in Houston, perhaps they give him a shot. They seem to make a habit of recycling former players (Nerris, Verlander, Correa) so why not? Perhaps the Astros could get his “circle of death” change up working again..
That’s unfortunate. I’ve tried not to read anything into the Mets’ endless parade of options/DFAs of pitchers who have come up and pitched decently, but Devenski has shown some good stuff and has had some excellent outings. Based on what I’ve seen so far, I’d rather have Devenski than Ryne Stanek.
Or “Dicky” Lovelady, for that matter. I turned on the Mets game in the seventh inning yesterday, saw Lovelady on the mound, and thought there was somehow a rain delay and SNY was replaying a game from June to fill time. Had no idea Lovelady was still in the organization after all his wretched outings mid-season. I thought the whole point of the mid-season trades was that we never saw Dicky Lovelady again. Anyway, tough break for Devenski.
I agree that dumping Devenski makes no real sense.
The last time Lovelady was DFA’d, he chose to accept the outright assignment rather than declare free agency. Thats why he is still with the org.
Devenski has already been optioned down the maximum 5 times this season. As such, he cannot be optioned again. So the Mets had to either keep him, or DFA him.
The Mets have clearly decided that Stanek is not going anywhere. Apparently, they felt the need to keep the lefty, Lovelady, over the righty.
Idk why the Mets keep treating this guy as expendable. Been one of the better arms for them.
Voila! Someone said “Twin Pines” and suddenly Detroit has a new closer.
Mets are just going to designate a pitcher every day?
No
???
???~!
Mets playoff hopes becoming dimmer. Guaranteed Carlos Mendoza will be fired if Mets don’t make the playoffs.
One can only hope.
It’s Bobby Valentine’s fault…no Art Howe’s fault..no Willie Randolph’s fault…no Jerry Manuel’s fault…no Terry Collins’ fault…no Mickey Calloway’s fault…no Carlos Beltran’s fault…no Luis Rojas’ fault…no Buck Showalter’s fault…no Carlos Mendoza’s fault…
The next manager will certainly be the savior for the Mets…or it will be his fault too!
Are you implying its too many managers? It’s 9 over 30 years.
Are you implying they’re all bad? 5 of those 9 guys you listed had wining records for Mets
Are you implying it’s the players? There’s been like over 1000 Mets players over that period of time
What exactly was the point of this comment?
My point is how Mets fans always praise guys like they’re the saviors of the team, but then blame them when the team isn’t as good as hyped up to be by the Mets PR team, NY-led media, and the fan base that drank the Kool-Aid.
Remember Day 1 for all of the names I mentioned and how Mets fans were looking for their heads at the end…blaming them for the Mets failures.
That was my point.
I can do the same for the GMs too. Same story with a different role and names to target.
Or, I can do one for the Wilpons too. It’s their fault that Steve Cohen didn’t spend enough money this past offseason. Anything under $1 billion in payroll is not enough for the Mets to win.