Chris Schwinden Placed on Waivers

The news broke about an hour ago on MLB Trade Rumors that Mets reliever Chris Schwinden was placed on waivers by the club. Josh Thole is making his return to the New York lineup after recovering from a concussion, and Elvin Ramirez kept him company on the plane ride from Buffalo to Flushing, receiving a call up. In order to officially activate these two players, some roster moves needed to be made, and Schwinden didn’t make the cut.

Like Jordany Valdespin, Schwinden was in this midst of his third cup of coffee with the Mets in this young season, but those cups of Joe weren’t able to wake him up at the Major League level. When Mike Pelfreywent down for the year with his injury, Collins and

Alderson called upon the 25-year-old rookie to try and take his spot in the rotation, but after two lackluster starts, he was pulled from that duty and sent back down to the minors. His next appearance came against the Phillies on Wednesday, and he capped the dreadful performance by the bullpen, giving up the last two runs of nine given up after Dillon Gee made his exit with the game well in reach.

Schwinden has spent most of his time in Triple-A Buffalo this season, and had put together a nice year so far in his first nine starts; he threw 48.2 innings and compiled a 2.59 ERA and a 7.6 K/9 rate. However, that success didn’t translate in the Big Leagues and earned him his ticket out of town. Although Manny Acosta appeared in 16 more games than Schwinden, he has overtaken Manny for the highest ERA on the staff, sporting a 12.46 mark, giving up four homers in 8.2 innings pitched, and the opposition is hitting .357 against him. It’s nice to see Alderson and Collins making the necessary moves instead of holding onto them, like they did with Acosta.

It’s always sad to see players get DFA’d or put on waivers because baseball is their livelihood, but it’s tough to keep a job when you’re not performing and there are plenty of players behind you playing well and ready to jump at the first chance they get to make an impression. As Aaron Leibowitz said in his article, Elvin Ramirez is ready and deserving of that chance.