ATLANTA — Questions continue to swirl about the future of struggling reliever Tim Redding.
A published report quoting an anonymous source said the Mets were ready to release Redding and eat the rest of his one-year, $2.25 million contract after he posted a 7.72 ERA in his first 12 appearances and was recently demoted to long relief.
But the veteran right-hander was still a member of the bullpen and was still being talked about in the present tense by Jerry Manuel and team management before today’s game here with the Braves. “We haven’t spoken internally about that [possibility],” Mets vice president of development Tony Bernazard said when asked about releasing Redding.
Manuel added that, at least from his perspective as manager, Redding was still in the team’s plans.
“Redding is a guy that has pitched at this level, had some success at this level and is probably in a little different role than he’s been in,” Manuel said. “You can probably anticipate the bumps. At the same time, you have to hope that he adapts to that.
“[Long relief] is a tough role, because you’re not really on a schedule. So there are some adjustments he has to make, and we definitely need him to be adaptable to that.”
Manuel, though, left him some wiggle room if the Mets decide to cut Redding loose in the next few days and maintain their interest in shortstop Julio Lugo after Lugo was DFA’d by the Red Sox on Friday.
“We need him to be adaptable to that [long-relief role] unfortunately in order for us to take that position and say it’s worthy of a position player,” Manuel said.
Redding was upset with the report but said he wouldn’t be surprised at being let go based on his shoddy performance.
“I’m not an idiot,” he said.