Desperation is the only play for the New York Mets heading into the final two days of the regular season.
After a long, painful second-half collapse this season, the Mets entered Saturday tied with the Cincinnati Reds at 82-78 for the third and final National League wild card spot. Because Cincinnati owns the tiebreaker, the Mets will either have to gain a game on the Reds before Sunday’s action ends, or they’ll be going home early this year.
So, before Saturday’s 4:10 p.m. ET first pitch against the Miami Marlins, it was only right for the Mets to pull out all the stops. There’s a major-league debut, there’s injury news, and there’s a pitcher being cut loose after just two days on the active roster.
The Mets announced a series of six roster moves on Saturday, which included designating veteran right-hander Kevin Herget for assignment. That created space on the active roster for Dylan Ross to be selected for his major league debut — though he didn’t enter Saturday’s game, a 5-0 win in Miami.
Meanwhile, the Mets also placed infielder Brett Baty on the 10-day injured list with a right oblique strain, recalled infielder Jared Young from Triple-A Syracuse, and outrighted center fielder Jose Siri and left-handed pitcher Richard Lovelady to Triple-A.
Herget, 34, has pitched 12 innings for the Mets this season, allowing four earned runs, striking out six batters, and walking three. The four-year veteran journeyman has appeared for five major league teams, but never made more than 14 appearances for a single team.
Herget was recalled to the active roster on Thursday, threw a scoreless inning in the loss on Friday, and promptly got dumped, as the Mets have been turning over their pitching staff at an alarming rate. It’s the third time Herget has been DFA’d this season — twice by New York, once by the Atlanta Braves.
At this point, the Mets just need innings, and they don’t care how many players they have to shift off the 40-man roster to keep their bullpen fresh. Ross is a fairly legitimate prospect, so he wouldn’t seem to be in danger of being DFA’d even if he struggles, but expendable veterans like Herget aren’t as lucky.
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