After Jose Valverde was released today, Sandy Alderson announced that Vic Black will be flying back from Las Vegas to join the Mets bullpen in his place.
Valverde was released after a disastrous outing that saw him give up four runs in the Mets 5-3 loss to the Pirates on Monday. He ends his Mets tenure with a 5.66 ERA and more bad memories than good.
The 36-year old righthander was picked up off the scrapheap in February, and then was awarded a guaranteed $1 million dollars just for being named to the roster.
One day after the season opener, he was named the closer of the Mets when Bobby Parnell was lost for the season.
That experiment lasted for about five appearances before he was eventually yanked from the role and relegated to mopup duty until yesterday, when Terry Collins decided he would be the closer for the series opener against the Pirates with Jenrry Mejia unavailable.
As for Black, don’t look for him to come into any high leverage situations until he can instill some confidence in his manager that his control won’t be a problem.
Black was still struggling with his control in Vegas, and had walked seven batters in his last five appearances while striking out three.
The potential is certainly there for Black who can ratchet it up to triple digits on occasion, but you need to throw strikes at this level if you want to succeed. You can;t get by on gas alone.
May 25
As expected, Vic Black is heading back to Las Vegas after joining the Mets as the 26th man for today’s doubleheader. GM Sandy Alderson made the announcement after Sunday’s nightcap.
Black did not appear in either game
May 24
The team announced that reliever Vic Black is joining the Mets to be a 26th player for their doubleheader on Sunday.
Black was expected to make the the Mets bullpen out of spring camp, but struggled with his control and was assigned to Triple-A.
He has seven saves for Las Vegas and a 1.45 ERA in 17 games spanning 18.2 innings. He’s allowed 12 hits and 17 walks, while striking out 18.
Black is still struggling with his control, walking seven in his last five appearances while striking out three.
He’ll likely return to Triple-A on Monday.
