The Mets have designated reliever Hansel Robles for assignment, potentially marking an end to his rocky Mets career.
Needing to clear 40-man roster spots for Drew Smith and Kevin Kaczmarski, who arrived from Triple-A Las Vegas, the Mets chose to transfer AJ Ramos to the 60-day DL and DFA Robles.
The choice to DFA Robles was interesting, since the Mets could've simply transferred Jamie Callahan to the 60-day DL instead.
"We've seen him pitch well. We've seen him pitch less-well," Mets GM Sandy Alderson said about Robles, adding that the team wanted to see what some of their other young relievers could do.
Mets manager Mickey Callaway was also succinct in discussing Robles.
"For me, it was you kept on seeing the same thing. ... the results just weren't coming."
The 27-year-old Robles has a 5.03 ERA (7.05 FIP) and 1.57 WHIP in 19.2 innings (16 games) for the Mets this season. He has been done in by the home run ball, alllowing seven.
Robles also struggled last season, with a 4.92 ERA (5.13 FIIP) and 1.34 WHIP in 56.2 innings (46 appearances).
If the Mets don't trade Robles during the next seven days and he clears waivers, they will have the option of outrighting him to the minors or releasing him.
Michelle Ioannou, MetsBlog | Twitter | A good, surprising move by the Mets. Hansel Robles wasn't contributing and he was doing more harm than good. The Mets just couldn't keep dealing with that. And the fans couldn't keep watching it.
The thing with Robles is that there has not ever really been any improvement, where we could say that he was just having a bad stretch (as Mickey Callaway noted). He would have maybe one decent game (or inning) here or there, but that was it. The bad far outweighed the good. And all the pointing, good riddance to that.
Especially during this rough patch, the Mets need all the consistency they can get from their pitching staff, and Robles was giving them the opposite. The Mets need wins, they need to protect their starters' work, and Robles wasn't helping.
I am a very big fan of this move. Oh, and if you miss Robles' pointing for whatever reason, don't worry. Someone made a whole montage of it and it's public on YouTube. You're welcome.
*Points to sky*