Manny Acosta Back with Mets

In an attempt to bolster the bullpen, the Mets have brought up righthander Manny Acosta. Can he stop the bleeding in the late innings?

From the Mets PR office:

The New York Mets today announced the team has selected the contract of righthanded pitcher Manny Acosta from Buffalo (AAA) of the International League. Acosta will wear uniform #36 and will be available for tonight’s game vs. Atlanta. After yesterday’s game, the Mets optioned lefthanded pitcher Mike O’Connor to Buffalo. In order to make room on the 40-man roster, the Mets transferred righthanded pitcher Chris Young to the 60-Day Disabled List.

Acosta, 30, was 1-0 with four saves and a 1.77 ERA (four earned runs/20.1 innings) in 20 games with Buffalo this season. He allowed 13 hits, issued 17 walks, recorded 27 strikeouts and held opponents to a .186 batting average against. The righthander had allowed one run over his last 13 appearances (0.6384 ERA), spanning 14.1 innings.

O’Connor just wasn’t cutting it as a LOOGY and it was time to make a change. Acosta has always had a live arm and can miss bats, but he generally throws one speed and struggles with staying consistent. He’ll suit up for the weekend series against the Braves — his former team and one for which he pitched in over 100 games. Unfortunately, his performance against his former club has not been great — a 6.35 ERA and .847 OPS against in 5 appearances. Granted, it’s a small sample size, but for relievers, nearly all samples are small. The thing with Acosta is he’ll look lights-out for two or three appearances, then get lit up for two or three appearances, and then follow a similar pattern of inconsistency. He mixes in just enough impressive performances for you to think, “ah, he’s finally figured it out”, and then, for whatever reason, he falls right back toward mediocrity.