Mets Designate José Castillo, Richard Lovelady For Assignment
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
Mets To Select Jonathan Pintaro
The Mets will select right-hander Jonathan Pintaro onto the MLB roster, reports Will Sammon of The Athletic. They’ll need to make corresponding active and 40-man roster moves.
Pintaro, 27, has been pitching at Double-A Binghamton this season. He has started all 11 appearances but hasn’t worked a traditional rotation workload, usually going around four innings. He has posted good rate stats, striking out a third of opponents against an 8.8% walk percentage. The Mets had just promoted him to Triple-A on Tuesday but evidently decided they needed him on the big league staff instead. Sammon notes that he’s expected to pitch out of the bullpen, presumably as a low-leverage long reliever.
A product of Division II Shorter University in Georgia, Pintaro went undrafted in 2022. Once he gets into a game, he’ll become the second player in school history (after 1980s reliever Bob Long) to appear in the big leagues. Pintaro began his professional career in the Pioneer League before catching on with the Mets via minor league contract last June.
He combined for a 2.68 ERA with more than a strikeout per inning across 74 frames between three levels to begin his affiliated ball career. Baseball America ranked Pintaro as the #25 prospect in the New York system over the offseason. BA called him a potential depth starter and/or swingman who succeeds by varying hitters’ timing with a five-pitch mix.