The Mets' bullpen carousel has been spinning so fast lately that some guys don't even get a ticket punched. Dan Hammer, a 28-year-old righty who spent this season bouncing between Double-A Binghamton and Triple-A Syracuse, got his contract selected on July 9 for what looked like a well-earned MLB debut. He never threw a pitch in a big-league game. One day later, he was designated for assignment.
MLB Trade Rumors confirmed the move that ended Hammer's Mets tenure before it really started.
It's a brutal way to find out how unsentimental roster math can be. Hammer wasn't cut because he pitched badly, he was cut because he never got the chance to pitch at all. The corresponding moves tell the real story: New York called up Tobias Myers and Zack Short and placed Mark Vientos on the injured list with a fractured right hand, and something had to give on the 40-man. That something was Hammer, who got squeezed out roughly 24 hours after arriving.
This is the fifth DFA of its kind for the Mets in a span of just a few days, part of a stretch that also saw outfielder Jared Oliva designated after never appearing in a game following his own waiver claim. New York's roster has basically become a revolving door this month, with names cycling through so quickly that some players barely get to unpack. For a team trying to hold a playoff spot down the stretch, that kind of churn usually means the pitching staff and bench aren't getting the job done.
Vientos' injury adds another layer to why the Mets needed the extra body. He's been one of the least productive everyday players in baseball this season, hitting .211 with an underwater WAR, so losing him to a hand fracture forces New York to reshuffle even as they scramble for length in the bullpen. Myers, acquired over the winter in the Freddy Peralta trade, has struggled to find his footing in Queens too, which is part of why the front office keeps shuffling arms in and out looking for anything that works.
For Hammer, this isn't necessarily the end. If he clears waivers, he heads back to Syracuse, where he'd been having a strong run in relief. The bigger picture here is what it says about the Mets: a front office in full tinker mode heading toward the trade deadline, burning through fringe roster spots trying to patch a pitching staff and lineup that both need real answers, not just names cycling in and out of a 40-man.