Abbey Mastracco: Paul Blackburn deserved better from the Mets

Abbey Mastracco, New York Daily News on Aug 16, 2025

Published in Baseball

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NEW YORK — Right-hander Paul Blackburn turned in the best pitching performance the Mets have received all week. He was rewarded by being designated for assignment Saturday. The Mets didn’t have much of a choice, and with little roster flexibility they had to make a move to clear a roster spot for Nolan McLean, Saturday’s starter.

His tenure in New York didn’t exactly work out the way he or the Mets had hoped. Traded from the Athletics at the deadline last summer to bolster their starting pitching depth, Blackburn spent most of his time with the Mets on the injured list. In between, his performance was wildly inconsistent, with good starts and some downright awful performances, going 1-5 with a 6.00 ERA in 12 appearances (nine starts).

Still, the Mets could have handled the situation differently.

For all of the goodwill the club has gained for treating the players and families with the utmost respect and gratitude, they didn’t exactly extend that same courtesy to Blackburn this season. It’s been clear for a while the Mets are done with him, and they even tried to trade him at the deadline. Unable to do so, they seemed content to run out his rehab clock and stash him in the minor leagues.

But then they needed a pitcher Wednesday. Clay Holmes couldn’t make it through even four innings, and Justin Hagenman, a right-hander with minor league options, came in to do what Holmes couldn’t by pitching four innings. The Mets optioned him to Triple-A Syracuse the following day to be able to get a fresh arm in the bullpen, and instead of calling up another reliever with options, they decided to activate Blackburn.

The 31-year-old was set to make yet another rehab start in Syracuse. He woke up in a hotel room to a messenger banging on the door and a missed call from pitching coach Jeremy Hefner. Expecting to make his 13th rehab start of the season, instead, he was informed he was needed in Queens that night.

Blackburn seemed frustrated with being on a plane nearly every other day this season to make rehab starts or face minor league hitters at various levels.

“I just want to be in a place and pitch, really,” Blackburn said. “I just want to be somewhere and pitch.”

Still, he gave the Mets five innings to save the bullpen.

The injury that ended his 2024 season was freak in nature, a spinal fluid leak in his mid-back. Knowing his spot in the rotation wasn’t guaranteed out of spring training this year, Blackburn worked hard to show up to camp in shape and ended up ahead of schedule after the offseason procedure to repair the leak. But then he woke up with a swollen knee shortly before Opening Day, and the Mets placed him on the injured list for what they initially said would only be two weeks.

A stomach virus reset his rehab clock, keeping him out until June, when the Mets decided to insert a sixth starter into the rotation. Blackburn gave them five scoreless innings at Dodger Stadium, then moved him into the bullpen, where he was far less effective. Pitching in relief wasn’t really what a career starter wanted, but he wanted to contribute to the team.

A shoulder impingement landed him on the IL again only a few weeks later. Several times, the Mets appeared ready to activate him saying he was making his final rehab start, only for them to schedule another for him.

They wanted to maximize their roster, and with Blackburn being a veteran of nearly nine years, he understands the business aspect of what the Mets needed to do. But they did trade for him, presumably to use him, and they traded for him knowing he had an injury history. Tylor Megill has a lengthy injury history as well, but the Mets have shown him far more favor despite having had less overall career success on the mound.

What Megill has, however, is options and team control. Blackburn is set to become a free agent at the end of the season and eating the rest of his $4.05 million is more palatable than eating the money for Frankie Montas, a similarly underperforming right-hander who is making $17 million this season and has a player option for $17 million next season. He’s become an expensive long reliever, with the Mets unable to trust him in a starting role at the moment.

President of baseball operations David Stearns built a rotation around project pitchers with injury histories. It worked out last season with Luis Severino and Sean Manaea, it hasn’t worked this year with injuries to Blackburn, Manaea, Montas, Megill and Kodai Senga.

If you’re going to acquire pitchers with injury histories, you can’t be surprised when they get injured.

Notes

Luisangel Acuña is with the Mets in Queens and will travel with them to Williamsport, Penn., for the Little League Classic on Sunday to serve as the 27th player.

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