Craig Kimbrel promotion sends a signal to already demoted NY Mets player

The New York Mets left fans hanging for most of Saturday. Early news of Craig Kimbrel getting promoted had fans all wondering the same thing: who would he replace on the roster?

Only a handful of scenarios made sense. Clay Holmes to the IL was one possibility. A demotion for Tobias Myers was a more outside possibility. Then there was the DFA of Richard Lovelady or maybe early rip cord pulled on Luis Garcia. The Mets went with DFA’ing Lovelady for the 100th time.

Lovelady will hit the waiver wire with a 3.68 ERA but a pair of unearned runs not showing up there. We know what he is. So do the Mets. They’ll hope he passes through or at least becomes a candidate to return at some point in a time of need. In the meantime, the Kimbrel promotion is probably not the greatest news for Sean Manaea who just became the team’s second lefty in the bullpen.

Sean Manaea has suddenly become more necessary as a lefty reliever than a long man

So far, the Mets haven’t needed Manaea for anything other than mop-up duty. His 9 innings and 3 earned runs allowed aren’t bad. The true red flags come from his continued lower than desired velocity, 10 hits allowed, and an even 6 walks vs. 6 strikeouts. He isn’t showing all of the signs of becoming a starter again. While it’s not necessarily an official declaration that he’ll remain in the bullpen forever, this move seems to guarantee he’ll remain in relief for quite a bit more.

Carrying Myers and Manaea on the roster together in relief was already a questionable call, but there really wasn’t anything the team could have done instead. Manaea wasn’t going to go anywhere. Myers pitched too well in spring training and has shown his value as a higher-leverage multi-inning reliever. Manaea’s real purpose in the bullpen was to piggyback behind struggling starters. Their worst performer has been David Peterson who’d be the last one they’d ideally like to pair Manaea with as a fellow southpaw.

Manaea remains the ideal choice in a blowout game with the Mets behind even with Kimbrel coming up. As badly as Garcia has pitched, he’s a one inning pitcher. What he needs to worry about is what the Mets do when A.J. Minter, who has begun his rehab assignment, comes back.

Most Mets fans had Lovelady listed as the first player to get executed from the roster with a DFA. It came true at a weird time with Lovelady going 1.2 and 0.2 scoreless in his last two appearances. Unneeded in early innings to face lefties, the Mets will gamble on Kimbrel next and see if he can outperform Garcia whose job is in more jeopardy than Manaea right now.