Nationals reunite with LHP Lovelady in trade with Mets for cash

LOS ANGELES -- Richard Lovelady's whirlwind tour of the Majors continued on Thursday, when the Mets traded him back to the very team that designated him for assignment last month.

The Mets dealt Lovelady, whom they had DFA'd themselves earlier this week, to the Nationals for cash. That move came less than a month after the Mets claimed Lovelady off waivers from ... the Nationals.

That's the way things have gone over the past year for Lovelady, a 30-year-old whom the Mets initially acquired as a Minor League free agent last June. The team DFA'd Lovelady days later, then re-signed him only to DFA him again. At that point, Lovelady accepted an assignment to Triple-A Syracuse, where he spent the rest of last season.

After the campaign, Lovelady elected free agency only to sign back with the Mets again. Yet again, they DFA'd him two months later, at which point the Nationals claimed him. Still following? Two months after that, the Nationals DFA'd Lovelady and the Mets claimed him back, acquiring the left-hander for the fourth time in nine months.

Now, he's back with the Nationals after spending two weeks serving as a rubber arm in New York's bullpen. Often pitching in lopsided games to help the Mets avoid using other relievers, Lovelady put up a 3.68 ERA in what was, at the time of his latest DFA, a team-high six appearances. The left-hander owns a 5.25 career ERA over parts of seven seasons with the Royals, A's, Cubs, Rays, Blue Jays and Mets.