Before Sunday’s finale against the Padres, the Mets announced that left-hander Jon Niese will return from the disabled list to start Monday’s series opener in Seattle.
The news meant that right-hander Daisuke Matsuzaka would officially return to the bullpen after six weeks in the starting rotation.
“I don’t have a crystal ball to tell you what’s going to happen in the next five or six days,” Terry Collins said. “I really don’t know. But as of right now, he’s going to go to the bullpen. He did a great job for us there. He pitched very well as a starter. I said, ‘You fill a lot of holes for us.'”
“Right now, he’s going to go back and pitch in that bullpen,” manager Collins said, “and hopefully he pitches as well as he did earlier this year.”
After this afternoon’s 2-1 loss to the Padres, the team announced that they would designate reliever Buddy Carlyle for assignment to make room for Niese on the roster.
Niese threw a successful pregame bullpen session Friday at Petco Park and has been on the DL with a strained left hamstring since June 22. He was having a solid season for the Mets before being sidelined, posting a 2.96 ERA and in 17 starts.
