Jack Egbert Promoted, Robert Carson Demoted, D.J. Carrasco Released

Well, so much for Tim Byrdak not being the only lefty in the Mets bullpen; New York made a few roster moves today, one of them sending left-handed reliever Robert Carson back to Double-A Binghamton and promoting Jack Egbert from Triple-A to the Majors. Also, D.J. Carrasco was given his release, only a couple of weeks after he was sent back down to the minors following a poor performance against the Brewers.
Carson only appeared in two games, with his most recent appearance coming last night against the Padres, and it wasn’t exactly a pretty one. He threw a scoreless inning against Toronto last weekend, but gave up three runs in two innings on three hits and a walk to
the Friars, which apparently made him expendable. No details have surfaced as to why Carson was sent back down in favor of Egbert, but it could be for a couple of reasons; Collins and the coaching staff may have seen something and felt that he’s not ready to be up on the Big League level, or this was a test to see if having two lefties in the ‘pen would be helpful, and they felt it wasn’t needed.
Either way, the promotion of Egbert is a worthy one for him, who has been performing well at Triple-A Buffalo so far this season. The right-handed reliever has appeared in 17 games for the Bisons, compiling a 2-3 record and 2.08 ERA. In his 26 innings of work, Egbert has struck out 17 hitters, surrendered 22 hits and 5 walks, while holding the opposition to a .234 batting average and inducing 1.23 ground outs for every fly out. Collins will undoubtedly try to put Egbert into a low-stress situation to get his feet underneath him this weekend.
As for D.J. Carrasco, his up-and-down relationship with the Mets is officially over as the organization announced that they have released the reliever after parts of two seasons with the team. In 53 innings pitched, Carrasco went 1-3 with a 6.11 ERA. Also, Adam Ruben tweeted today that he had a private conversation with Terry Collins about him hitting Ryan Braun with a pitch. Apparently, Carrasco swore to his manager that it was not intentional, but Collins wasn’t buying what he was selling. He told Rubin that he missed the catcher’s target by two feet, and isn’t ready to be in the Majors if that’s the case.
I had a feeling that the beaning of Braun had something to do with Carrasco’s demotion, and I was surprised when nothing was said about it the next day when he was sent back down to the minors. Even though I don’t like seeing people lose their jobs, this had to happen. That hit by pitch certainly looked intentional, and he needs to be punished for it. The Mets don’t need to carry a pitcher with that type of reputation, and as we can see today, they don’t plan to either.