NEW YORK -- Cesar Puello cannot get healthy enough for the New York Mets to dump him.
Puello, who has spent the entire season on the disabled list with what is being labeled as a stress reaction in his back, appeared in a rehab game on Monday in the Gulf Coast League. However, Puello complained of renewed back discomfort after that game and has been pulled off the rehab assignment.
The Mets thought they had successfully placed Puello through waivers, removed him from the 40-man roster and outrighted him to Triple-A Las Vegas on the eve of the regular season. However, that sequence of events was annulled because of the back issue and Puello instead landed on the major league disabled list, where he has spent the entire season.
Puello, 24, is earning major league pay and service time, but he does not presently count against the 40-man roster because he is on the 60-day DL.
He hit .252 with seven homers, 37 RBIs and 13 steals in 318 at-bats with Las Vegas in 2014.
