With the John Mayberry Jr. signing official, the Mets have designated reliever Gonzalez Germen for assignment. This move creates space on the 40-man roster for Mayberry.
After signing outifelder John Mayberry Jr. to a one-year, major league contract last week, the Mets have designated right-handed reliever Gonzalez Germen for assignment, according to Marc Carig of Newsday. The move allows Mayberry to join the 40-man roster.
Germen showed flashes of being an effective major league reliever in 2013, posting a 3.93 ERA and 2.90 FIP over 34.1 innings pitched. However, he struggled with both injuries and poor pitching in 2014, posting a 4.75 ERA and 5.57 FIP in the majors and spending significant time with Triple-A Las Vegas. Germen's inflated numbers in 2014 can be explained by a significant increase in his home runs allowed. The 27-year-old gave up just 0.26 home runs per nine innings in 2013. In 2014, that number jumped to 2.08, an eightfold increase. His K/9, BB/9, and BABIP all remained very similar to the previous year.
In our 2014 review series we speculated that Germen would get another chance to play a significant role in the Mets bullpen this year. It appears the Mets may have other ideas.