The Mets had a tough call last night when it came to whether or not to actually play their game against the Milwaukee Brewers, with the decision resting in them given the fact the game was being hosted at Citi Field.
Likely due to the limited amount of times the teams see each other over the course of every season, the team decided to have the game, with a 9:50 p.m. start time which was two hours and 40 minutes later than the scheduled start time.
However, the decision to let Jacob deGrom start the game, at least in my opinion, was the more troubling one for the team to do.
Considering the fact the right-hander was just activated from the injured list earlier in the day after missing one start with a “barking elbow,” it would have made sense to not have let him pitch in a rain-delayed game that likely upset his pre-game workout routine.
DeGrom, 30, has actually made three starts this season already in games of this sort, none of which he has fared well in, as detailed by MMO’s own, Logan Barer.
In three rain-delayed starts, deGrom has a 9.69 ERA while he has allowed 18 hits and eight walks in 13 innings of work. Meanwhile, in his two normal routine starts, he has not allowed a single run in 13 innings while striking out 24 batters and only given up eight hits and two walks.
The Mets also called up Corey Oswalt earlier in the day to protect themselves against this type of scenario, but for some reason decided not to start him in deGrom’s place,
However, they did end up using Oswalt, but only after deGrom had already pitched four innings in which he allowed five runs, five hits, and three walks while striking out seven.
Oswalt, 25, pitched each of the next three innings in which he allowed four runs, three hits, and two walks while striking out three batters.
The right-hander threw 49 pitches, almost making it certain that he is not available to be used in the next few days making it likely the team will simply option him.
Furthermore, because the team decided to go about this process the way they did, Luis Guillorme is not eligible to be added to the Mets roster again for another nine days since he was optioned to Triple-A Syracuse.
That will force the team to either continue to play with four bench players or add another position player to the team. However, the only position players on the 40-man roster that are not currently active other than Guillorme are Tomas Nido, Jed Lowrie, and Yoenis Cespedes.
While the team does have some options to open spots on the 40-man roster, it certainly isn’t a great idea to have to purchase someone’s minor league contract in order to fill a need that will evaporate in nine days temporarily and possibly permanently once Jed Lowrie is activated from the 10-day IL.
Some options that could take the fifth bench spot in the meantime could be Adeiny Hechavarria, Dilson Herrera, and Gavin Cecchini.
Whatever the case, the decision to let their team’s ace that they just invested in long-term certainly is questionable at best and exemplifies roster mismanagement that needs to be addressed properly in the future.
