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Mets Designate Chris Devenski For Assignment

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The Mets announced a series of roster moves today. Outfielder/designated hitter Starling Marte has been reinstated from the 10-day injured list. Infielder Jared Young has been optioned to Triple-A Syracuse in a corresponding move. The club also activated recent waiver claimee Rico Garcia and recalled right-hander Justin Garza. To open spots for those two arms, the club optioned right-hander Kevin Herget and designated right-hander Chris Devenski for assignment. Additionally, left-hander Brandon Waddell’s optional assignment was reversed and he has instead been placed on the major league 15-day injured list due to a right hip impingement.

Devenski, 34, signed a minor league deal with the Mets in the offseason. He was selected to the big league roster in April. As a veteran with well over five years of major league service time, he can’t be optioned to the minors without his consent. The Mets have optioned him to Triple-A Syracuse three times this year, so he presumably agreed to those transactions.

This time, instead of being optioned, he’s been designated for assignment. The Mets didn’t need to open a 40-man spot today, so it’s unclear why they’ve done so. With the deadline coming up, they are expected to pursue bullpen upgrades. Perhaps the Mets, or Devenski, realized that their relationship might not extend much farther. From Devenski’s perspective, if he’s going to get squeezed down the depth chart, perhaps now is a good time to open himself up to other clubs rather than accept another stint in Syracuse.

Whatever the reasoning, he is now in DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Mets could take five days to explore trade interest. Around his optional assignments, Devenski has tossed 11 1/3 innings big league innings for the Mets this year, allowing three earned runs on seven hits, three walks and two hit-by-pitches while striking out nine. He has also thrown 25 Triple-A innings with a 4.32 ERA, 17.2% strikeout rate, 4% walk rate and 50.6% ground ball rate.

Devenski’s best seasons came with the Astros almost a decade ago. More recently, his results have been up and down. He had an encouraging showing in 2023, split between the Angels and Rays. That year, he tossed 42 1/3 innings with a 4.46 ERA, 24.3% strikeout rate and 6.4% walk rate. The Rays re-signed him for 2024 but Devenski posted a 6.75 ERA last year. He was released by July and was stuck in the minors the rest of the year.

Photo courtesy of Gregory Fisher, Imagn Images

Mets Sign Kevin Herget

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The Mets have signed right-hander Kevin Herget to a minor league contract, and announced that the reliever has been selected to the active roster.  Left-hander Brandon Waddell was optioned to Triple-A in the corresponding transaction.

Herget is back in Queens after a stint on the Braves roster that lasted a little under two months.  The Mets claimed Herget away from the Brewers during the offseason, but he was designated for assignment in mid-May and found himself changing teams again on the waiver wire when Atlanta made a claim.  Herget was DFA’ed again last weekend and elected free agency rather than accept an outright assignment to the Braves’ Triple-A club (he had the right to choose free agency since Herget had previously been outrighted in his career).  Amidst all these roster moves, Herget hasn’t spent much time on a big league mound this season, as he has made a single appearance apiece for the Mets and Braves at the MLB level.

The right-hander now has 26 appearances and 45 2/3 innings on his career resume in the majors, with a 4.53 ERA to show for his work with the Rays, Reds, and Brewers in addition to New York and Atlanta.  The 34-year-old Herget has carved out a long career in pro ball since being a 39th-round pick for the Cardinals in the 2013 draft.  Most of his career has been spent in the St. Louis farm system, and Herget has a 4.00 ERA over 505 2/3 career innings at the Triple-A level.  This includes a 3.26 ERA, 21.6% strikeout rate, and eight percent walk rate over 30 1/3 combined innings with the Mets’ and Braves’ Triple-A affiliates in 2025.

It could be that Herget’s latest stint in the Show might be another cameo, as his addition gives the Mets a fresh arm over the short term.  Waddell pitched 3 2/3 innings in yesterday’s 8-4 loss to the Reds and wouldn’t have been available for a few days anyway, so he can rest up and get some work in for Triple-A Syracuse.  New York can’t recall Waddell back to the 26-man roster for at least 10 days, barring an injury to an active player.

Kevin Herget Elects Free Agency

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Right-hander Kevin Herget has elected free agency in lieu of accepting an outright assignment to Triple-A Gwinnett, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment by the Braves last week.

Herget, 34, was claimed off waivers from the Mets in May. Since then, he has mostly been on optional assignment, making just one appearance for Atlanta. That was a scoreless inning on July 1st, after which he was optioned back down to Gwinnett. The Mets claimed him off waivers from the Brewers in the offseason and gave him similar treatment. They mostly stashed him in the minors and only put him into one big league game before designating him for assignment.

Since he has previously been outrighted in his career, Herget has the right to reject outright assignments and has exercised that right. He has 45 2/3 major league innings under his belt, spread out over this year and the previous three seasons. In that time, he has a 4.53 earned run average, 13.9% strikeout rate, 5.7% walk rate and 35.9% ground ball rate.

His minor league work has been decent this year. Between Syracuse and Gwinnett, he has logged 30 1/3 Triple-A innings with a 3.26 ERA. His 21.6% strikeout rate, 8% walk rate and 41.6% ground ball rate are all pretty close to typical averages.

He will head to the open market to see what opportunities await him. Since he cleared waivers, he will probably be limited to minor league offers. If he eventually makes it back to the majors with some team, he can be optioned for the rest of this season but will be out of options in 2026.

Photo courtesy of Dale Zanine, Imagn Images

Braves Claim Joey Wentz, Designate Kevin Herget

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The Braves have claimed left-hander Joey Wentz off waivers from the Twins, per a team announcement. Righty Kevin Herget was designated for assignment in a corresponding roster move.

It’s a full-circle moment for Wentz, whom the Braves originally drafted with the No. 40 overall pick back in 2016. The left-hander ranked among Atlanta’s top prospects for several years but was traded to the Tigers alongside infielder/outfielder Travis Demeritte in the 2019 trade that brought righty Shane Greene to the Braves.

Wentz made his major league debut with the Tigers in 2022 and had a nice start to his big league career (3.03 ERA in seven starts) before stumbling in subsequent seasons. Detroit gave Wentz a full audition in the rotation in 2023, but he was shelled for a 6.90 ERA in 105 2/3 frames. Those struggles prompted a move to the bullpen, but relief work hasn’t necessarily treated him much better. In 101 2/3 innings across the past two seasons, Wentz has a 5.42 ERA. That’s come in stints with Detroit, Pittsburgh and Minnesota.

Now 27 years old, Wentz had a particularly rough run in Minneapolis. He pitched eight innings as a Twin but was rocked for 14 runs on 17 hits (three homers) and nine walks with only six strikeouts. Minnesota designated him for assignment last week.

Wentz is out of minor league options, so he’ll go right onto the Braves’ big league roster. He’s now in line to make his debut with the team that originally drafted him nearly a decade ago, albeit in a highly circuitous manner. He’s fairly stretched out — Wentz tossed 48 pitches in a June 28 appearance, for instance — so he should be ready for multi-inning work as a long reliever or opener for an injury-riddled Braves staff that could lean heavily on bullpen games with four starters on the injured list.

Herget, 34, has pitched three major league innings in 2025 — two with the Mets and one with Atlanta. He’s spent most of the year in Triple-A, logging a 3.26 ERA in 30 1/3 innings split nearly evenly between the two organizations. He’s set 21.6% of his opponents down on strikes and issued walks at an 8% clip.

Herget has pitched in parts of four major league seasons and totaled 45 2/3 innings. He’s logged a 4.53 ERA in that time but fanned just 13.9% of the batters he’s faced. Herget has a strong 5.7% walk rate in that time. He’s sat 92.4 mph with his four-seamer in the majors, combining that offering with a cutter that sits 85.8 mph and a changeup that sits 83 mph. Herget has pitched 505 2/3 innings across parts of eight Triple-A seasons and recorded a 4.00 ERA. He’s in his final minor league option year. Atlanta will trade him or place him on waivers within the next five days.

Braves Place Spencer Schwellenbach On IL With Elbow Fracture

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The Braves announced today that right-hander Spencer Schwellenbach has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to a right elbow fracture. Left-hander Austin Cox has been recalled to take his roster spot. The club also reinstated righty Daysbel Hernández from the IL and optioned right-hander Kevin Herget. They also officially announced that outfielder Jurickson Profar has been reinstated from the restricted list with outfielder Alex Verdugo designated for assignment, a swap that was previously reported.

Mark Bowman of MLB.com relays that Schwellenbach felt sore after his last game against the Phillies and a small fracture was discovered. He’ll be shut down for four weeks and could be back with the big league club in September.

It’s obviously bad news all around. For Schwellenbach personally, he was on the way to having an excellent first full season in the big leagues. He debuted with 21 starts last year and posted a 3.35 earned run average in 123 2/3 innings. That secured him a rotation spot for 2025 and he has been even better this year, with a 3.09 ERA in 17 starts. Put together, he has a 3.23 ERA, 25.2% strikeout rate, 4.4% walk rate and 44.1% ground ball rate in 234 1/3 innings.

All that is now on pause, as he’ll be on the shelf for a while. The four-week shutdown period will take him into August. If he’s healthy at that point, he could ramp back up and make a few more starts in September, though a setback could prevent him from returning again this year.

For the team, it’s yet another kick when they’re already down. Atlanta has struggled to get into a good groove this year and has produced disappointing results so far. They have a record of 38-46, which puts them seven games back of a playoff spot and with six teams to leapfrog. That’s partially due to underperformance from some guys on the roster but they also lost Profar to a PED suspension and have seen their rotation get weakened by injuries.

The first domino to fall was Reynaldo López, as he made just one start before requiring arthroscopic shoulder surgery. He’s been on the IL since then and still isn’t near a return. About a month ago, AJ Smith-Shawver required Tommy John surgery, putting him out of commission until well into next year. A couple of weeks back, Chris Sale suffered a rib cage fracture. His timeline is unclear but he has been transferred to the 60-day IL, meaning he can’t return until mid-August at the earliest. Now Schwellenbach is the latest blow.

Prior to the Sale injury, president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos tried to strike an optimistic tone and said the club would not be selling, though he did leave the door open a crack by saying they could reevaluate late in July. That reevaluation seems more likely with today’s news. The club still needs to climb in the standings to give the club justification to buy, but that will be hard to do with no López, Sale, Smith-Shawver or Schwellenbach.

For now, the club will proceed with a rotation consisting of Spencer Strider, Grant Holmes, Bryce Elder and Didier Fuentes. To take Schwellenbach’s spot, they could recall someone like Hurston Waldrep, Nathan Wiles or Davis Daniel. Non-roster guys like José Suarez, Ian Anderson and Zach Thompson are all on the minor league injured list.

Going forward, the club presumably has less confidence in its ability to contend with the recent injuries to Sale and Schwellenbach, so the prospect of doing some deadline selling with an eye towards returning to contention in 2026 has surely increased. The deadline is on July 31st this year, so there are still about four weeks to see some more results roll in and have conversations with other clubs.

Photos courtesy of Brett Davis and Orlando Ramirez, Imagn Images

Braves Claim Kevin Herget

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The Braves announced that right-hander Kevin Herget has been claimed off waivers from the Mets and been assigned to Triple-A Gwinnett.  The Mets designated Herget for assignment on Thursday.

Herget came to New York on another waiver claim off the Brewers’ roster back in November, and his time with the Amazins ended up consisting of two innings in the Mets’ 8-3 win over the Diamondbacks on April 29.  Herget was called up to the active roster that same day and optioned back to Triple-A the following day.  His work at Triple-A Syracuse has seen Herget post a 2.87 ERA in 15 2/3 relief innings, but with some uninspiring peripheral numbers.

While he has now appeared in each of the last four MLB seasons, Herget hasn’t gotten much of an extended look, as his big league resume consists of 44 2/3 total innings of 4.63 ERA ball across 25 games with four different teams.  A veteran of 14 pro seasons that includes a long stint in the Cardinals organization and a couple of stops in independent ball, Herget offers plenty of experience and some pretty decent numbers as a minor leaguer.

Atlanta becomes the latest team to get a look at the 34-year-old, and Herget becomes the latest in a very long line of veteran relievers the Braves have auditioned throughout Spring Training and into the season.  The revolving door hasn’t brought much consistency to a bullpen that still around the middle of the pack in overall production, yet the Braves have had some luck in the past at finding hidden gems amongst less-heralded pitchers.

Diamondbacks Trade Jose Castillo To Mets

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The Mets acquired lefty reliever José Castillo from the Diamondbacks for cash, the teams announced. New York designated righty Kevin Herget for assignment to create a spot on the 40-man roster. Arizona had designated Castillo for assignment on Monday.

Castillo has technically appeared in five MLB seasons, though all but eight of his appearances came with the Padres during his 2018 rookie season. He turned in a 3.29 ERA over 38 1/3 innings that year but was subsequently set back by injury.

The 29-year-old signed a minor league deal with the Snakes in November. It marked his second consecutive season in the Arizona organization. He had spent all of last year with their Triple-A team in Reno, though he lost the first half of that season to injury. The Diamondbacks assigned him back to Reno to begin this season. He struck out seven while tossing 5 1/3 innings of one-run ball and was called up at the beginning of May.

The 6’6″ southpaw only spent a couple weeks in Torey Lovullo’s bullpen. He didn’t pitch well, allowing eight runs on 10 hits (including a trio of home runs) over 6 1/3 frames. Arizona bumped him out of the bullpen when Kendall Graveman returned from injury. Castillo is out of options, so they needed to designate him for assignment to take him off the MLB roster.

That out-of-options status means the Mets are prepared to give Castillo at least some time in their big league bullpen. They’ve been forced to scour the lefty relief market after losing Danny Young and A.J. Minter to season-ending injuries. They called up Génesis Cabrera from Triple-A Syracuse. He’s the only southpaw in Carlos Mendoza’s relief corps. Cabrera has managed five innings of one-run ball over four outings, but he had walked nearly 15% of opposing hitters in Triple-A before the promotion.

The Mets will need to remove someone from the major league bullpen once Castillo reports to the team. Dedniel Núñez is the obvious candidate, since he still has a couple options remaining. Cabrera is out of options, so the Mets would need to designate him for assignment if they wanted to use Castillo as their only left-hander.

Herget relinquishes his spot on the 40-man roster. The Mets claimed the 34-year-old off waivers from Milwaukee early last offseason. He only spent one day on the MLB roster, allowing two runs on three hits in one inning. He has otherwise been working out of the bullpen at Syracuse. Herget has only allowed five runs over 15 2/3 innings, but that came with a pedestrian 13:7 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He had a much stronger 32.4% strikeout rate over 38 appearances with Milwaukee’s top farm team a year ago.

The Mets will likely place Herget on waivers within the next few days. He has been outrighted twice in his career and would have the right to elect free agency if he goes unclaimed.

Mets Select Brandon Waddell

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April 30: The Mets have now made it official. Waddell has been selected with right-hander Kevin Herget optioned as the corresponding move.

April 29: The Mets are going to select the contract of left-hander Brandon Waddell tomorrow, per Tim Healey of Newsday. The southpaw will either start the game or work bulk innings behind an opener. That decision will perhaps be determined by who the club uses in tonight’s game. The Mets have an open 40-man spot after designating José Ureña for assignment earlier today, but they will need to make a corresponding active roster move.

The move is perhaps a reflection of the club’s schedule, as they are currently four games deep into a stretch of playing 13 straight. Kodai Senga, Clay Holmes, Tylor Megill and Griffin Canning started the first four. David Peterson starts tonight. Rather than have Senga pitch on normal rest tomorrow, Waddell will take the ball and push everyone else by a day.

Waddell, 31 in June, signed a minor league deal with the Mets in the offseason. He has made five Triple-A starts to begin the year and logged 23 1/3 innings, allowing just 1.54 earned runs per nine. He has a 21.6% strikeout rate, 7.2% walk rate and 50% ground ball rate.

His previous major league experience is fairly limited. He tossed 12 2/3 innings over the 2020 and 2021 seasons with the Pirates, Twins, Orioles and Cardinals. He headed to Korea for the 2022 through 2024 campaigns, pitching for the Doosan Bears of the KBO League. He tossed 244 2/3 innings over that time with a 2.98 ERA, which led to his minor league deal with the Mets this past winter.

Presumably, Waddell is just going to make one appearance and then be sent back down to the minors. He does still have an option remaining, so it’s possible he could hang onto his 40-man roster spot to serve as depth.

Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images

Mets Designate José Ureña For Assignment

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The Mets officially announced their previously-reported deal for left-hander Brooks Raley, with Sean Manaea transferred to the 60-day injured list. Raley, who is recovering from Tommy John surgery, was promptly placed on the 15-day IL. The Mets also recalled right-hander Kevin Herget to the big league team. Right-hander José Ureña has been designated for assignment as the corresponding move for Herget. Tim Healey of Newsday reported the moves prior to the official announcement.

Ureña, 33, was selected to the club’s roster on Sunday. The Mets had leaned heavily on their bullpen in the prior days. Since Ureña had been pitching out of the Triple-A rotation, he gave them an arm capable of covering multiple innings.

Yesterday, the Mets stomped the Nationals with a 19-5 victory. It was 11-0 after six and a half, when Ureña came in to cover the final three frames. He allowed five earned runs but managed to largely give the bullpen a night off, apart from Max Kranick pitching one inning before Ureña entered.

It took Ureña 68 pitches to get through those three innings, so he might not have been available for a few days. Rather than have him taking up a roster spot while unavailable, the Mets are bringing up a fresh arm in Herget. Since Ureña is a veteran with far more than five years of major league service time, he can’t be optioned to the minors without his consent. He has been bumped off the 40-man entirely and will likely be put on waivers in the coming days.

It’s possible the veteran could garner interest from other clubs who need an innings eater. The Blue Jays just claimed Casey Lawrence, for instance, a somewhat similar veteran capable of tossing multiple relief innings. Ureña has a longer track record than Lawrence, with 951 1/3 career innings with a 4.80 earned run average. If goes unclaimed, he would have the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency.

As for Manaea, this doesn’t change anything about his outlook. The 60-day count is retroactive to his initial placement on the 15-day IL, which was at the start of the season. He can therefore be reinstated by late May, which doesn’t seem to be a realistic possibility. He has been out all year with an oblique strain. He suffered a setback in early April and was to be shut down for another couple of weeks. It’s unclear when he’ll be ready to get into game action as part of a rehab assignment.

Even if he were to start such an assignment right now, he would likely need more than a month to get into game shape anyway as an unofficial spring training. That means this 60-day IL transfer was an inevitable formality.

Photo courtesy of Brad Penner, Imagn Images

Mets Claim Kevin Herget From Brewers

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The Mets have claimed right-hander Kevin Herget off waivers from the Brewers, per a report from Robert Murray of FanSided. There had been no prior indication that Herget was designated for assignment, though with today’s deadline to activate players from the 60-day injured list plenty of 40-man roster movement is to be expected around the league.

Herget, 34 in April, signed a minor league deal with the Brewers last offseason after being cut loose by the Reds. He went on to get a limited amount of big league action in the majors in 2024, tossing 11 1/3 innings for Milwaukee with two earned runs allowed. In Triple-A, he had a larger sample of work, posting a 2.27 earned run average in 47 2/3 innings. He struck out 32.4% of batters faced at that level while only giving out walks 6% of the time.

The Mets were apparently intrigued by those strong numbers, grabbing Herget off waivers today. The Mets just lost Brooks Raley, Adam Ottavino, Ryne Stanek and Drew Smith to free agency so they have filled in some lost bullpen depth with this claim. Despite his age, Herget is still in his pre-arbitration years and is therefore cheap and can potentially be controlled for years to come.

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