After the Mets bullpen had to pitch 7.1 innings on Monday with Steven Matz‘s terrible start, and Logan Verrett having to come out of the bullpen to start in place of Jacob deGrom, the Mets were forced to make a move to add a pitcher to the roster. 

There were plenty of good options available to them. 

The Mets could’ve utilized deGrom’s paternity leave and called up Rafael Montero. However, the Mets didn’t want to do that because they then couldn’t backdate a potential deGrom DL stint to last Saturday. The Mets could’ve just placed deGrom on the DL, but for some reason they do not appear ready to do that. Apparently, that April 19th game against the Phillies is a must win, and you need deGrom to pitch in that game if at all possible. 

No, the Mets decided to demote a player. Looking over the roster, the only pitcher who realistically could be demoted is Hansel Robles. He seems like a natural choice as he pitched 2.2 innings on Monday, and he could use an extra day or two. If Montero falters, the Mets could recall Erik Goeddel or Sean Gilmartin to take his place on the roster. 

In this scenario, Robles would have to stay in the minors for 10 days unless the Mets put deGrom (or someone else) on the DL. Given Robles’ current role, losing him for 10 days would be palatable. Montero, Goeddel, or Gilmartin could easily be the long man and/or last man in the bullpen. 

Instead of the Mets following the reasonable course of action, they determined it was in their best interests to demote Eric Campbell. In essence, the Mets decided to go with the worst possible choice. 

Now,there is nothing wrong per se with demoting Campbell. He’s a career .230/.315/.325 hitter. He has good attributes as a player, but nothing that Campbell has done in his career would ever prevent him from being demoted. However, if he’s being demoted, it should be because the Mets are calling up another position player like Matt Reynolds, not because they are adding a pitcher to the roster. 

The Mets demoting Campbell for Montero shortens the Mets bench. In a world where you have David Wright on your team, you should never shorten your bench.  On any given day, Wright can wake up sore and not be ready to play. If that happens, not only are you down another player, but you also have no infielders on your bench. 

By the way, the Mets are playing a day game after a night game. Terry Collins has said there’s no hard-and-fast rule stating Wright must sit a day game after a night game. However, it’s also true that the Mets have so far refrained from playing Wright in a day game after a night game. No one knows how his back will respond to it. No one knows if he will be able to get loose in time to play a full nine innings. 

Instead of taking this into account, the Mets thought it would be best to potentially have no infielders on the bench. The Mets thought it would be best to realistically only have two options on the bench for Wednesday’s game (Collins is loathe to pinch hit with his catcher). Also, apparently, the Mets do not foresee the need to have more than two pinch hitters available in a game where the starting pitcher hasn’t pitched in almost a month and wasn’t stretched out in Spring Training. No, the Mets are setting forth a gameplan where they will have Verrett go deep in the game, and they will be alright with just two bench players. What could go wrong?

The Mets are in the midst of a four game losing streak and would rather potentially sacrifice the the last game of the homestand to give themselves the best possible shot of winning a game against a terrible Phillies team in Philadelphia. The Mets apparently didn’t learn their lesson on Monday about the perils of having a shortened roster. 

Overall, the Mets put themselves in a tough position all because they’ve deemed an April game in Philadelphia a must win. Why else wouldn’t you put an injured pitcher who is already missing a start and bullpen sessions on the DL?