Mets Notes: Why Luisangel Acuña was sent down, what Richard Lovelady brings to bullpen

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza provided some updates prior to Monday’s series opener against the Braves…

On Acuña being sent down 

The Mets made a flurry of moves ahead of Monday’s contest, the most notable of which was infielder Luisangel Acuña being sent back down to Triple-A. 

Mendoza stated that decision simply came down to the youngster's playing time. 

Acuña served a significant role for this club earlier this season, but with his production dipping off and others getting healthy, he ultimately saw his time decrease significantly. 

Prior to his demotion, Acuña logged just 18 plate appearance this month. 

“He had a good April, he was getting consistent time and helped us win a lot of games,” the skipper said. “Then it was a combination of other guys producing and he became that role guy that helped us win a lot of games with his versatility, his base-running -- he was still impacting games.

“But it got to a point now where it’s getting difficult to find him playing time, and for his development and where we’re at in the regular season, what we want to see is for him to get regular at-bats and play everyday because it’s hard for us to judge him right now.”

Welcome to Queens, Mr. Lovelady 

One of the other moves made was adding Dicky Lovelady to the active roster. 

The veteran left-hander joined the club on a major league deal earlier in the day. 

Lovelady hit the open market last week after opting out of his minor league deal with the Twins, upon finding out he wasn’t going to receive an opportunity on their big-league roster. 

While he hasn’t found much success in the majors of late, he did pitch well for Minnesota’s Triple-A affiliate, posting a 2.61 ERA and 1.06 WHIP across 19 appearances. 

Mendoza says the hope is he’ll give them a much-needed boost from the left-side. 

“I’ve seen him pitch before while with Kansas City,” he said. “He's a lefty from the low-slot with the sinker, the slider, and he’s got a sweeper too. He's very tough left-on-left -- you just add another weapon out of the bullpen there so we can mix and match.”

Lovelady's held lefties to a .239 average over the course of his big-league career.

Expectations for Montas

Frankie Montas is officially set to make his Mets debut on Tuesday night. 

The veteran right-hander has been sidelined since early in spring training due to a lat injury.

Things didn't quite go well for him during his minor league rehab assignment. He allowed eight homers and pitched to a 12.05 ERA and 2.14 WHIP over six appearances between High-A and Triple-A. 

Still, Mendoza is confident that Montas can find his form and help this team. 

“He’s someone when we signed him, we thought he’s going to be a big part of this rotation,” he said. “I remember when we faced him in the Wild Card series last year, he was pretty nasty, the way the ball was coming out and the way he was using all of his pitches.

“I’ve seen him pitch for a lot of years at this level and have a lot of success. So the expectation is for him to go out there and to compete and to give us a chance to win a baseball game each and every time he takes the ball, starting tomorrow.”