Mets Designate Dan Hammer For Assignment

The Mets have designated right-hander Dan Hammer for assignment, reports Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. That will open a spot on both the active and 40-man rosters. It’s not yet clear what other moves the Mets will make in conjunction with this one.

The club has been cycling arms through the final spots of the roster on an almost-daily basis of late. They selected Guillo Zuñiga on Sunday and optioned Joey Gerber. On Tuesday, they added Matt Seelinger to the roster and designated Zuñiga for assignment. They also designated Alex Carrillo for assignment to open a 40-man spot for Jorge Polanco‘s return from the 60-day injured list. Wednesday, they selected Xzavion Curry and recalled Tobias Myers, with Austin Warren placed on the 15-day IL and Seelinger DFA’d as corresponding moves.

Yesterday, they added Hammer to the roster, optioning Myers. Outfielder Jared Oliva was designated for assignment to open a 40-man spot. Sean Manaea started yesterday and went seven strong. The Mets closed the game out with Huascar Brazobán and Devin Williams. Hammer wasn’t needed but it seems the Mets only planned for him to be around temporarily, perhaps for mop-up work, as he’s now bumped off the roster without pitching in a game.

He now heads into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Mets can take as long as five days to explore trade interest, though they could also put him on waivers sooner if they would like. He has no major league track record to go on but perhaps some clubs would be interested based on his minor league work. He was a free agent in the offseason and settled for a minor league deal but has been having a good season on the farm.

Between Double-A and Triple-A, he has thrown 33 1/3 innings this year, allowing 2.16 earned runs per nine. His 26.4% strikeout rate and 44% ground ball rate are strong figures but he has walked 14.6% of opponents. He has had some help from a .244 batting average on balls in play and 83.7% strand rate, which is why his 4.40 FIP is more than double his ERA.