Luis Garcia was supposed to bring veteran stability to the New York Mets bullpen, but now he's been released.
The New York Mets made yet another pitching move as they try to shore up their bullpen, designating right-hander Luis Garcia for assignment and bringing up reliever Joey Gerber to replace him, with the move reported by Anthony DiComo of MLB.com.
This move isn’t all that surprising. Garcia has been hit hard to far, with most of his appearances coming in low-leverage, mop-up roles. His ERA ballooned to 7.11 despite the lack of pressure, so it was probably only a matter of time before this happened.
Garcia’s contract this year was for $1.75 million, and the Mets will still be on the hook for that money unless another team claims him off waivers. He also had another $1.25 million incentives that were available, but now those are gone, as is his spot on the Mets staff.
“We needed [a fresh] arm, especially the way we used the bullpen the last couple of nights. We felt that we needed some protection there in case something bad happens again,” manager Carlos Mendoza said.
The reliever was coming off a strong year with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Washington Nationals and Los Angeles Angels, posting a 3,42 ERA over 55-1/3 innings. But his sinker velocity was way down from the 96.9 mph he posted last year, according to DiComo, and Garcia allowed multiple runs in two of his six appearances with the Mts.
“It wasn’t [an easy decision]," Mendoza said. “Obviously, Louie had to pitch yesterday. We were [hoping to stay] away from him until [Luke Weaver] got in trouble. We needed to have a fresh arm here.”
The Mets were expected to have a better bullpen this year, but instead they’re doing exactly what they wound up doing last year, which was plugging in marginal pitchers to holes that likely wouldn’t have existed with better planning. The latest plug-in was Craig Kimbrel, who sent Richard Lovelady packing as the left-hander was once again designated for assignment.
Gerber, meanwhile, pitched for the Rays last year, posting a 3.60 ERA over 19 major league appearances. He had a 5.40 ERA over his first four outings at Triple-A Syracuse so far this season.
Kimbrel pitched a scoreless inning in his first appearance yesterday, so that’s the good news here. There could be more moves coming as the Mets head west unless New York starts hitting playing more consistently, and right now the Mets look like the opposite of contenders.