News broke this afternoon, via the Mets' official Twitter feed, that Shaun Marcum has been placed on waivers for the purpose of granting him his unconditional release. From the Twitter:
...The #Mets initiated this release when it was confirmed that Marcum was unlikely to pitch competitively again this season.
— New York Mets (@Mets) July 23, 2013
Marcum, who the team signed to a one-year, $4 million free agent contract this offseason, has been off-and-on this season for the Mets. While Shaun has been battling arm issues all season long, he was recently diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome -- the same injury that shelved Chris Carpenter recently -- and was due to miss the rest of the season after surgery.
Injury issues have been the one consistent factor for Marcum ... well, that and a propensity to take a loss. His record on the season is a dismal one win to 10 losses, and he sports a seasonal ERA of 5.29 over 78 and one-third innings of work.
At the same time, his peripheral numbers tell a slightly different, slightly more hopeful story. Marcum was the victim of a surprisingly low strand rate (61.9%), a high batting average on balls in play (.322), and posted a Fielding Independent Pitching mark of 3.63 -- a number that is usually more associated with a much more effective starter.
Nevertheless, Marcum won't have a chance to see an improvement in a Mets uniform -- even if he were to make a quick recovery from surgery.