Jay Marshall, a left-handed reliever the Mets claimed off waivers from the Oakland Athletics last month, did not report to camp because of a sore shoulder. The Mets said it was a pre-existing injury and asked the commissioner’s office to void the claim

The Mets have good case as last season, while with the Athletics, Marchall had been sidelined due to tendinitis in his throwing shoulder. This offseason the A’s designated him for assignment, and the Mets claimed him on January 8th.

It is now in the hands of the commissioner’s office, who should rule in the Mets favor.

Waldstein also offers another possible reason for the injury and writes,

But with the Mets’ recent history of injuries, this situation sounds more plausible: Marshall was sitting at his home in Missouri on Jan. 8, minding his own business, and the instant the Mets filed the claim, he felt a piercing pain in his throwing shoulder.

Everybody is a comedian these days when it comes to the Mets…

The 26-year-old left-hander was 0-2 with a 14.73 ERA in 10 relief appearances last season for the A’s, but was slowed and hampered by shoulder tendinitis.

He fared much better in the minors where he went 5-3 with seven saves and a 3.20 ERA in 50 games with Triple-A Sacramento.

The Mets could use another left-handed reliever to join Pedro Feliciano in the bullpen, and Marshall’s dominance over fellow southpaws indicates that could certainly fill that role.

In his minor and major league career, Marshall has held left-handed hitters to a .164 batting average, and in 99 innings pitched against them he has allowed just 54 hits, 8 walks and one homerun, while sporting a 0.64 WHIP. That’s pretty dominating…

Against right-handed hitters he is absolutely dreadful and they roughed him up for a .303 batting average against. If Manuel uses this guy exclusively against the big left-handed hitters of the NL East, he could become an impressive weapon late in games.

He has a side-arm delivery that he only learned in 2005, but it resulted in giving his fastball a heavy sink and transformed him into an extreme groundball pitcher.

With his addition to the bullpen, it could lessen the load on the usually over-worked Pedro Feliciano and allow him to remain effective for an entire season.

I like this move.