The Mets optioned right-hander Max Kranick to Triple-A Syracuse on Wednesday morning, a move necessitated by calling up Justin Hagenman to pitch against the Minnesota Twins.
While that move may be surprising on the surface, it makes sense considering that the 27-year-old Kranick still had options, so the Mets could send him down without having to try to sneak a player through waivers.
“This is something that we’ve talked to them [about],” Carlos Mendoza said. “Guys that have options, sometimes it has nothing to do with performance. It’s just things that happen through a major league season that are out of their control. It’s not their fault, but it’s just the nature of the business, so here we are.”
Kranick has been terrific in the early going for the Mets, pitching to a 1.54 ERA in seven appearances, combining to pitch 11.2 innings of relief.
And while Mendoza didn’t flat out say it, there’s a decent chance that Kranick is back in the very near future. The Mets have not yet placed outfielder Jose Siri on the IL, and when they do, they’d be able to bring Kranick back right away instead of having to wait 15 days before being able to call him back up, per MLB rules.
“We’ve got to get through today first,” Mendoza said. “Let’s win a series today and we’ll see what happens after the game.”
Hagenman, 28, will make his major league debut at some point during Wednesday’s rubber match against the Twins, with Huascar Brazoban getting the start as an opener. Hagenman was called up to make his debut because starter Griffin Canning had to be scratched because of an illness.
Mendoza was asked when Canning might return to the mound, and while he didn’t want to fully commit, he does anticipate Canning being able to pitch on either Thursday or Friday against St. Louis.
“We gotta see how he responds, Mendoza said. “It’s still early, but he could be tomorrow, he could be the next day, but it’s too early. I don’t want to sit here and speculate. It could be as early as tomorrow, but I could be misspoken here too.”
“As I’m sitting here, yes,” the skipper responded when asked he was confident in Canning pitching one of the next two days. “But again, we’ve got to wait.”
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