After Saturday’s 10-2 win, the Mets re-assigned reliever Scott Rice to minor league camp. The move now leaves just Dario Alvarez and Sean Gilmartin as the only lefthanded relievers in big league camp.
Adam Rubin wrote in his briefing this morning that the Mets’ left-handed relief answer may very well come from outside the organization in the next week.
Additionally, Joel Sherman of the NY Post reports that the Mets may have set their sights on Nationals southpaw reliever, Jerry Blevins.
Blevins came on to strike out Granderson looking to end the fifth, but gave up a one-out pulled triple to Duda before being removed in the sixth.
Sherman spoke to manager Matt Williams who said the Nationals will settle on two lefthanded relievers from among Blevins, Matt Thornton and Xavier Cedeno, all of whom are out of options and cannot be sent to the minors without first passing through waivers.
Mets officials told Sherman they remain confident they can find a lefty reliever in the next week before Opening Day, but that the Nationals are more of a fallback position in case other stuff does not materialize.
The Mets also have been looking at Orioles lefty Brian Matusz, as well as lefty relief options from the Braves, Dodgers, Rockies and others.
March 28
Here are four things we learned today about the Mets bullpen and relievers, followed by my opening day projection.
1. Adam Rubin of ESPN New York reports that closer Bobby Parnell could return as soon as mid-April.
The Mets initially estimated a May 1 return so this indicates that Parnell is progressing well and ahead of schedule. Parnell is slated to pitch on the minor league side on Sunday and is working on ramping up his velocity gradually.
2. Jenrry Mejia is having a rough go of it lately. After he allowed what proved to be a decisive home run to Rafael Ortega on Friday in a three run outburst, manager Terry Collins suggested Mejia may be going through a dead arm period.
“I think a couple of those guys, they’re in that dead arm stage with them that’s starting to take place,” he said. “But you gotta go through it. You gotta go through it now because you don’t want to have it happen during the season.”
3. Vic Black threw 24 pitches off a mound on Saturday and expressed hope the team will let him begin the season on the Opening Day roster, writes Adam Rubin who cautions, “Still, days are dwindling for Black to be ready.”
Black hasn’t appeared in a game since March 9 and while he hopes the Mets will let him pitch in big league games as soon as Wednesday, that probably won’t happen so the Mets would want to keep open the possibility of backdating any DL stint.
Pitching coach Dan Warthen said he wouldn’t discount Rafael Montero as the Mets 7th-inning guy if Black can’t go.
4. Here comes Sean Gilmartin. The Mets Rule 5 selection struck the one left-handed batter he faced on Friday as he continues to build his scoreless innings streak.
“He’s doing a nice job,” Collins said. “We talked today about being a left-handed reliever and he’s done a very, very good job. He really mixes speeds up, he uses all his pitches against lefties. It’s a big change from starting, which it is, but he’s done a good job adjusting.”
