The New York Mets announced a couple of roster moves on Tuesday. Walker Lockett and Brad Brach were reinstated from the injured list, while Paul Sewald and Ali Sanchez were optioned.
The activation of Lockett would put him in line as a candidate to take Michael Wacha’s spot in a suddenly thinned out rotation after the latest blows with Wacha’s injury and Marcus Stroman’s decision to opt out of the rest of the season.
It’s no surprise that Sewald was optioned after taking the brunt of Monday’s 16-4 loss out of the pen. Paul threw 38 pitches in his appearance against the Nationals.
Brach gives the Mets a fresh arm in a beleaguered bullpen that has not been able to piece it all together yet. After a tough start to his 2019 campaign in Chicago, Brach showed noticeable improvement in his numbers across the board in a shorter span with the Mets.
The biggest story continues to be the rotation. The Mets need Lockett or whoever winds up being the starter to at least provide some quality innings. In four starts last year, Lockett’s deepest run in a game was 5.1 innings against Philadelphia. The 26-year old, should he get the call, would be making his 2020 debut and his first ever appearance against Washington.
Anthony DiComo of MLB.com did go on to report the Mets have not formally announced Lockett as a starter for Wednesday’s game because they want him available out of the pen. If that is indeed the case, we could either see Franklyn Kilome get his first start of the season or recently acquired Ariel Jurado. Another possibility would be Corey Oswalt.
