The Mets' bullpen carousel was stubborn and brilliantly refused to start the month. The club enjoys a stable run with the same eight relief pitchers.
It's finished then and the carousel is turning over on overdrive.
For a month, the Mets rolled alongside the same eight relief pitchers from opening day on March 27 until they reached the list of injured on Sunday, April 27 (except Max Kranick's one-day option and one-game summons of Justin Hagenman, who served as bulk pitcher after the opener.
“I was kind of like, 'What?'” manager Carlos Mendoza said of bullpen homeostasis. “I don't know I've seen this before.”
He knew the group would ultimately need reinforcements, but he didn't know that the injury would attack almost at the same time.
The mine could be lost during the season due to LAT tensions that could require surgery (and took him to the 60-day injury list on Thursday). Their other left-handed savior, Danny Young, landed in IL on Wednesday with Tommy John's surgery on an elbow sprain on the table.
Among the 26-game stretches in 27 days, the Scrambled Mets called Jose Ureña by Tuesday and called the veteran by DFA. This week they have already called and sent Kevin Hellgett, Chris Devenski and Brandon Waddell.
The latter two were selected ahead of the finale against the Diamondbacks at Citifield against Thursday's series finale as the Mets trained left-handed Genesis Cabrera and correct Tie Adcock.
Cabrera, a six-year veterinarian, has at least become the only left-handed bailout on the team, so he could at least work on the mix. He “threw the ball well” and has five “weapons” to retire from hitter, Triple A Syracuse manager Dickscott said this week that Cabrera has struggled with results (7.88 ERA in 7 games), but there were no many bats (12 strikeouts in 8 innings).
Ultimately, the Mets are hoping that left-handed Brooks Rayleigh will become an option. Even sooner, Mendoza believes that right Dedniel Nuñez will be recalled for his season debut “Soon.”
Last year's revelation was carefully built first in spring training, and now with Syracuse, after concerns about his forearms that shortened the 2024 season. His stuff is unharmed with Syracuse, and the Mets don't want it to be one of the interchangeable arms that Nunez called this week.
“We want to make sure he appears when he shows up, and we want to keep him for a long time,” Mendoza said.
Another possible option is Waddell, who was impressed as Wednesday's bulk pitcher with an additional 4° scoreless innings, and will continue to be stretched as a lower-level starter.
“But we could see a scenario where he might need to go from the bullpen to another left-handed,” Mendoza said.
