Mets Send Schwinden To Buffalo, Call Up Rottino, Move Batista To Rotation

The Mets have sent Chris Schwinden back to the Buffalo Bisons and called up utility-man Vinny Rottino to take his place on the roster. Rather than call up another starting pitcher from the minors, the Mets have opted to move Miguel Batista from the bullpen to the spot in the rotation that used to belong to Mike Pelfrey.

In two starts with the Mets since he joined the team to replace Pelfrey, Schwinden really struggled. With just one strikeout in eight innings over two starts, Schwinden had an 11.25 ERA and 10.34 FIP.

Rottino looked fairly good in spring training and can play quite a few positions. The 32-year-old journeyman has only 39 plate appearances in the big leagues to his name, but he was hitting a respectable .313/.348/.444 with Buffalo through 109 plate appearances this year.

Finally, Batista has been dreadful in 13.0 innings spanning nine relief appearances and one spot start. The strikeouts are there, but Batista has walked a batter per inning and given up more than his fair share of home runs.

While Batista is certainly an undesirable option for the starting rotation, it's good to see that Sandy Alderson's front office will let Matt Harvey continue his development rather than call him up to fill an immediate need.