The Mets traded for Adrian Houser expecting him to bolster the back end of the rotation and eat innings. But he never met those expectations, at least not as a starter, so the Mets cut ties with the starter-turned-reliever in a Friday roster shakeup.
The Mets activated ace Kodai Senga from the 60-day injured list Friday and designated Houser for assignment. In addition, they placed right-hander Dedniel Núñez on the 15-day injured list with a right pronator strain (retroactive to June 24), called up right-hander Eric Orze from Triple-A Syracuse to take his spot on the roster, as well as reinstated right-hander Shintaro Fujinami from the IL and designated him for assignment.
Houser, a 31-year-old right-hander, came over in a trade with outfielder Tyrone Taylor from the Milwaukee Brewers in the offseason. He was familiar with president of baseball operations David Stearns and pitching coach Jeremy Hefner, who he knew from a pitching facility in Oklahoma where they both grew up. But the familiarity never translated.
Houser lost his ability to repeat his delivery and struggled from the start of the season, going winless in seven tries before the Mets moved him to the bullpen (0-4).
“It was hard for him,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said Friday at Citi Field. “Out of the gate, he was pitching out of the rotation and he struggled. But he was such a professional for us, even when we put him in the bullpen. He was always willing to take the baseball and do whatever the team needed.”
A ground-ball pitcher who works off a sinker-slider combo, Houser wasn’t getting outs on the ground and was giving up hard contact repeatedly. The Mets have had a hard time with home run suppression over the last month and with limiting walks all season, and Houser was no different. He allowed 1.0 home run per nine innings and walked 4.2 hitters per nine.
“It was just hard for him to find that consistency,” Mendoza said.
He was solid out of the bullpen in a long relief role, going 1-1 with a 3.28 ERA in 16 appearances. However, the Mets have right-hander Jose Butto in a long relief role and didn’t have a need for both of them. Butto has been fantastic since being recalled from Syracuse to work out of the bullpen.
“At the beginning, when he first got [moved to the bullpen, he was really good for us,” Mendoza said. “Giving us multiple innings, keeping us in games. He was very effective.
“That wasn’t the case lately.”
Moving from a starting role to a relief role isn’t an easy transition. Luis Severino hated it when the Yankees moved him into the bullpen in 2016.
“It was the worst thing,” Severino said Thursday night after the Mets walked off over the Atlanta Braves. “I didn’t like it at all. I like being a starting pitcher. Those times, I don’t even want to remember at all.”
The writing was probably on the wall for Houser a long time ago, but the Mets got what they could out of him before ultimately deciding they didn’t need him and Butto.
Núñez’s rise seemingly came out of nowhere. A late bloomer at 28, the right-hander quickly emerged as a high-leverage option with the ability to go multiple innings. He took on a role similar to that of another Mets right-hander that emerged as a strong relief option this season, Reed Garett, and has gone 2-0 with a 2.43 ERA, one save and nine holds since being called up at the end of May.
Núñez now joins Garrett on the IL, as well as Drew Smith and Brooks Raley, who are out for the season.
All imaging came back clean and Núñez is expected to return soon after he’s eligible. He experienced tightness after throwing back-to-back outings in Miami and felt it again after pitching against the Yankees on Monday.
“The ligament and the elbow — everything is fine,” Mendoza said. “This should be a short stint here.”
Fujinami never threw a pitch for the Major League team. A flame-throwing right-hander who came from Japan in 2023, he pitched for the Oakland A’s and the Baltimore Orioles last season with mixed results. He went down with a shoulder injury this season and recently completed a rehab assignment.
The Mets now have seven days to either trade Houser and Fujinami or place them on outright release waivers. Should they clear waivers, the Mets can assign them to a minor league affiliate.
As a veteran with more than five years of MLB service time, Houser can reject a minor league assignment and elect free agency. He’s been vocal about his desire to move back into a starting role and thinks he can still compete as a starter, so he may opt to try and catch on with another team as a free agent if he isn’t picked up on waivers.
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