Tobias Myers optioned to Triple-A Syracuse, could return to Mets rotation

Tobias Myers left the New York Mets as a reliever. Whether he comes back as one is, per Yahoo Sports, very much an open question.

The right-hander was optioned to Triple-A Syracuse after Friday's game, a move that allowed the Mets to add a fresh arm to their bullpen. But according to Yahoo Sports, manager Carlos Mendoza indicated before New York's 6-1 victory over the Miami Marlins that Myers will follow a "scripted" program in the minors over the next two weeks — one designed to build him out for length and preserve the club's flexibility on how he is eventually deployed.

What happened

Myers was optioned to Syracuse to create a roster spot for a fresh bullpen arm, per Yahoo Sports. Under general roster mechanics, a 26-man active roster requires clubs to make room whenever a new arm is added, and an option sends a player to the minors while keeping him on the 40-man roster — a clean, reversible transaction that preserves future flexibility.

What makes this more than a routine shuffle, per Yahoo Sports, is the program attached to it. Mendoza described a deliberate two-week plan in which Myers will be lengthened out in Syracuse rather than simply maintaining his current workload. The framing is explicitly forward-looking: the Mets are not just parking a reliever, they are reportedly running a quiet audition for a different role.

Why it matters

The Mets have been using Myers as a reliever, but the "scripted" program Mendoza described — per Yahoo Sports — is the language of a starting-pitcher development arc. Starters need to build pitch counts across multiple innings in a way that bullpen appearances simply do not allow. A structured plan in Triple-A, rather than an open-ended assignment, suggests the organization has a specific outcome in mind, even if the final decision has not been made.

Mendoza was direct about the timeline and the uncertainty, per Yahoo Sports: "Once these 15 days are up, then we will make that decision." He added that Myers could either continue stretching out or return to the relief role the club has been using him in, calling him "very versatile." That is not a commitment to a rotation spot — it is a deliberate preservation of options, which is its own kind of organizational signal.

The versatility framing matters operationally. A pitcher who can credibly start or relieve gives a roster construction team something genuinely useful: the ability to respond to injury, schedule compression, or a bullpen that has been overworked without having to make a trade or call up someone unprepared. Myers, per Yahoo Sports, is being positioned as exactly that kind of asset.

Is Myers coming back as a starter?

Per Yahoo Sports, that has not been decided. Mendoza's framing — "once these 15 days are up, then we will make that decision" — is the clearest statement of where things stand. The program in Syracuse is designed to give the Mets the option to insert Myers into the starting rotation, but Yahoo Sports does not characterize that outcome as settled. He could return as a starter, or he could return to the bullpen role he has been filling. The program creates the possibility; it does not guarantee the result.

Where the club stands

The Mets enter Sunday sitting at 74-88 (.457), fifth in the NL East and 20 games back in the division. Their Wild Card standing ranks 10th, 14.0 relative to the cut line, and the club has been eliminated from both the division race and the Wild Card race. They carry a one-game losing streak into the weekend finale.

Those numbers provide the backdrop against which the Myers decision eventually gets made. A club in a pennant race might feel urgency about the rotation question; a club in this position has the runway to let a 15-day program play out without forcing a premature answer. In a strange way, the standings create the conditions for patience.

The Mets close out their home series against the Miami Marlins on Sunday, May 31, at Citi Field, with Nolan McLean projected against John King. The road then opens: Monday, June 1 brings the first of back-to-back games at T-Mobile Park in Seattle, with Austin Warren projected to face Emerson Hancock. Tuesday, June 2 keeps the club in Seattle, where Huascar Brazobán is projected to start opposite Logan Gilbert.

That upcoming schedule — a home finale followed by a cross-country trip to face the Mariners — is the immediate context in which the bullpen addition that displaced Myers will be asked to perform. It also means the rotation picture for the next week is already taking shape without Myers in it, which is precisely the point of the two-week program: by the time it concludes, the club will have a clearer read on what the back of the rotation needs.

What we don't know yet

Yahoo Sports does not specify what "scripted" means in terms of inning targets, pitch counts, or the number of appearances Myers will make in Syracuse during the two-week window. The report does not indicate whether there is a specific rotation opening the Mets are trying to fill, or whether this is purely contingency planning. Mendoza's quote, per Yahoo Sports, leaves both paths open, and the report does not resolve which is more likely.

It is also worth noting that this is a manager's pregame comment attributed to Mendoza by Yahoo Sports, not a club announcement — which means the details of the program and the eventual decision remain subject to change.

What to watch

The 15-day window Mendoza referenced is the natural clock on this story. When it expires, the Mets will face the decision he described: stretch Myers out further, or return him to the bullpen. The Syracuse box scores over that stretch are worth monitoring for signs of how the program is progressing — multi-inning outings would suggest the starting-pitcher track is advancing. The Mets' rotation construction over the same period is equally worth watching for any openings that might accelerate the timeline or render it beside the point.

Myers's versatility, as Mendoza framed it per Yahoo Sports, is the asset the organization is trying to preserve. The next two weeks are about making sure that asset is as useful as possible whenever the call comes.