Mets Head to Cleveland To Start Series With Depleted Bullpen

The New York Mets traded nearly a third of their active roster yesterday and over the weekend, and now they have games to play. They’ll start their three-game series against the Cleveland Guardians without much of a bullpen, as relievers Brooks Raley, A.J. Minter, Huascar Brazoban and Luke Weaver were all dealt before the deadline. 

So who’s left? Well, the Mets do still have closer Devin Williams, but expect a skeleton crew available to get to him. The names we know so far are Daniel Duarte, Xzavion Curry and maybe Kodai Senga, with Bryce Conley listed on the roster. Expect a series of roster moves in the next day or two to fill in, but tonight’s bullpen moves could be a serious scramble. 

To compound the problem, the Mets will start Sean Manaea, who’s still a member of a rotation that no longer includes Freddy Peralta and Clay Holmes, although Holmes was last seen on a big league mound in May. Manaea typically doesn’t give the Mets much length, but he’s actually been excellent in his last two starts, giving up a total of just three runs against the Atlanta Braves and the Los Angeles Dodgers. 

The Guardians will start left-hander Joey Cantillo, who’s been hit and miss. He delivered four shutout innings against the Cincinnati Reds in a 6-1 Cleveland win over the Cincinnati Reds, but before that he was knocked around by both the Tampa Bay Rays and Pittsburgh Pirates as he gave up a total of nine runs in those two starts. Cantillo comes into this one with an ERA of 3.88 in his first full season as a starter, and he’s thrown 113-2/3 innings to date. 

Cleveland is currently three games off the pace in the highly competitive AL Central, where the Chicago White Sox are trying to complete their surprising with a division title. The Guardians were also active at the deadline, adding starter Foster Griffin, first baseman Nathaniel Lowe and outfielder Jo Adell to bolter both their lineup and their rotation. 

The Mets will have one noteworthy change in their lineup, with outfielder Tyrone Taylor moving on to the Chicago Cubs in the trade that also subtracted Holmes. 

But the Mets did retain Luis Robert Jr., which was also surprising given that Robert has returend to the lineup after spending most of the season on the IL with a back injury, and he’s been supplying some power. According to reports, though, the market for Robert was thin, so he should be getting plenty of playing time going forward.