Mets designate Paul Blackburn for assignment
Mets' Paul Blackburn leaves a game against Atlanta during the fifth inning at Citi Field on June 23. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Paul Blackburn said he just wanted to pitch “somewhere” when he was reinstated from the injured list Thursday. It seemed pretty clear then that the “somewhere” might not be in Flushing.
The Mets Saturday designated Blackburn for assignment to make room for righthander Nolan McLean, making his major league debut against the Mariners. Blackburn, whom the Mets traded for at the deadline last year, saw that campaign cut short by a spinal fluid leak, and was re-signed to a one-year contract this offseason before battling through knee and shoulder injuries that landed him on the IL two times this season.
“I had conversations internally, just about everything,” the nine-year veteran said Thursday, seemingly aware of what was to come. “I felt everyone kind of knew where each other kind of stood.”
Blackburn was on a one-year, $4.05 million contract, and is the latest of president of baseball operation David Stearns’ offseason signings not to pan out as originally imagined. Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas both missed half the season to injury, with the latter being banished to the bullpen due to poor performance. Jesse Winker (oblique, then back) has only played in 26 games this year, while Nick Madrigal (shoulder), Griffin Canning (Achilles), and A.J. Minter (lat) are all done for the year.
Blackburn is 0-3 this year with a 6.85 ERA and last appeared for the Mets in mop-up duty in their 11-6 loss to Atlanta Wednesday. After the tandem of David Peterson and Reed Garrett let up nine runs, erasing a six-run lead, Blackburn was more than serviceable, allowing two runs over five innings with a walk and three strikeouts to close out the game.
“It wasn’t an easy one,” manager Carlos Mendoza said of the decision to part ways with the righthander. “We needed to make a move.”
Lindor in a groove
After a stretch that saw Francisco Lindor hitting just .192 over a stretch of 30 games, the shortstop is finally heating up — riding a five-game hit streak that Saturday extended to four straight multi-hit games. Lindor went 2-for-4 in their 3-1 win over the Mariners, with a double, an RBI and his 20th stolen base of the season. He’s the first player with a minimum of 60% playing time at shortstop to record 20 homers and 20 stolen bases in at least five seasons.
“I’m riding a good wave right now for sure,” Lindor said. “I’m sure at some point, I’m going to go down but as long as I limit how long it is [it’ll be OK], because what was happening was it was 0-for-20, 0-for-30. That’s not the standard that we have here, so hopefully, when I do go through it again, it’s not as long . . . Hopefully [I can ride this wave] until the end of the year.”
Added Mendoza: “I feel like the past four or five games, it’s just different. He’s pulling the ball with authority, going the other way, staying short, using the whole field, good takes, controlling the strike zone. It looks like Francisco Lindor is getting locked in right now.”
Extra bases
The Mets and Mariners Sunday will play at Journey Bank Ballpark at Bowman Field in Williamsport, Pa. as part of the MLB Little League Classic. Luisangel Acuna will serve as the Mets’ 27th man, Mendoza said . . . With steals from Brett Baty and Lindor Saturday, the Mets have successfully stolen 39 straight bases without getting caught, one short of tying the major-league record held by the 2014 Red Sox. They have 98 stolen bases and have only been caught 10 times, an MLB-high 90.8% success rate.
Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.
