4 Mets players most likely to be off the roster by September 1

2) Adam Ottavino

This year hasn’t been a great one for Adam Ottavino. A 4.43 ERA in 42.2 innings, he has continued the trend of seeing his ERA jump up a full 1.20 runs per 9. From 2.06 in 2022 to 3.21 last season, we’ve seen a version of Ottavino that could’ve probably stayed on SNY talking baseball rather than playing it.

The tricky thing with Ottavino is that other than his horrific May, every other month for him has been decent if not magnificent. He began with a 1.69 ERA heading into May when his ERA exploded at 9.28. ERAs of 3.18, 3.86, and now 3.00 so far in August helped lower it to where it stands now. Because of how bad he was in May—tagged for a pair of losses, too—Ottavino has been in the fans’ doghouse for quite a while.

Ottavino isn’t getting as many high-leverage situations either. It’s understandable. Batters are hitting .280/.379/.440 against him this year in those spots. A 5.87 ERA in the 8th inning and even worse 6.75 in the 9th, Ottavino has been relegated to earlier frames where he has done well.

It could be a numbers game that bumps Ottavino out. The team doesn’t have a lot of optional relievers and with him not even getting into the most important innings regularly any longer, he seems much more replaceable.

3) Reed Garrett

Welcome back, now here’s a ticket to Syracuse. Don’t underestimate the eject button getting hit on Reed Garrett. He began the year in the minors. Striking out all 3 batters he faced in his return on Saturday bodes well for staying put on the roster. Let’s not strap him in too quickly.

We saw two sides of Garrett regularly this year. While he does get to sleep inside at night, several blowups on the mound do have fans a little more timid to put a lot of trust in him. After missing a full month of action, Garrett is now on a Mets team that has restocked itself with Phil Maton and Ryne Stanek to take over innings Garrett would’ve otherwise gotten.

A demotion for him could come out of a temporary necessity or the far worse scenario, he isn’t playing well.

Fans previously took note of what has allowed Garrett to perform at a high-level. It’s rest. A 4.76 ERA when pitching back-to-back and an even worse 9.00 ERA with one day of rest, it’s everything beyond that has turned up the dial for Garrett. He has ERAs in the 1.50s with 2-4 days of rest with an identical .200 batting average against him in those games, too. 

So far, so good for Garrett upon his return. How else will the Mets clear a spot for Reid-Foley?

4) Huascar Brazoban

Sending trade deadline addition Huascar Brazoban to the minors instead of Danny Young makes more sense simply because the loss of the latter removes all lefties from the bullpen. Although Brazoban has pitched well aside from his second appearance, a first-time visit to Syracuse could always take place due to the roster crunch.

This wouldn’t be anything more than the Mets trying to sort themselves out. The one awful outing might still ache, but he has thrown 4 hitless innings and struck out just as many ever since.

The beauty of adding Brazoban, along with his talent and ability to throw more than an inning at a time, is the 3 minor league options he has left. The latest of bloomers who at 34 suddenly looks like he can have more than a pit stop with this club, sending him down wouldn’t be popular with the fans. It would, however, be a necessary move if the team isn’t ready to cut ties with Ottavino.

The Mets will need all of the pitching help they can get and unfortunately this could involve allowing Ottavino to remain. He hasn’t been as bad as his ERA says and with few satisfying choices in the minor leagues, letting him at least get to September isn’t such a bad plan. Will Brazoban suffer because of it?