John Lannan Gone, Daisuke Matsuzaka Back

The Mets announced on Twitter Wednesday afternoon that John Lannan has been outrighted to the minors and Daisuke Matsuzaka has been brought up.

The news should not be a shock. Lannan has been awful in his first ever attempt to be a reliever. In four innings over five games, Lannan has allowed seven runs for a whopping ERA of 15.75. Of the seven hits he allowed, three went for home runs. He did win a game in his only effective outing; two scoreless innings in Anaheim last Saturday.

Mets Blog reports that Matsuzaka will pitch out of the bullpen. That should be interesting because just like John Lannan, Dice-K has never been a reliever before. He did make one relief appearance in 2011 for Boston; it did not go well. He allowed two runs and was the losing pitcher in a 13-inning game. Although that appeared to be one of those emergency situations in which a starter was needed in an extra inning game, so it is impossible to judge his performance.

Matsuzaka has been pitching well as a starter out in Vegas with a 2.25 ERA in two games, with 12 strikeouts over 12 innings.

The move also leaves the Mets with just one lefty in the bullpen. That would be Scott Rice, owner of a 13.50 ERA.