The New York Mets have dealt with countless injuries up and down their roster during the 2024 campaign. Despite all of the squad’s injury misfortunes, the blue and orange still find themselves in playoff contention as they currently sit just 1.5 games back of the final wild-card spot with a 59-54 record.
Reinforcements are inbound, with plenty of crucial contributors set to come off the injured list over the next couple of weeks, including a breakout relief pitcher who bounced back in a potential final rehab appearance.
Reed Garrett responds in Triple-A Syracuse
After struggling in his initial rehab appearance for Double-A Binghamton, Reed Garrett bounced back in his first appearance for Triple-A Syracuse.
On Tuesday, Garrett struck out three batters after working a scoreless sixth inning. The Virginia native also allowed a walk and a hit while throwing 14 out of his 23 pitches for strikes.
The 31-year-old has been working his way back since exiting an appearance against the Washington Nationals in early July with tightness in the forearm and elbow area that turned out to be elbow inflammation. Garrett has been speculated to rejoin the bullpen at the end of the week, and after a confidence-building outing like this one, he could find himself on a flight to Seattle.
The Mets bullpen has certainly missed Garrett. Before the injury, the Virginia native had operated as one of the high-leverage situation arms, pitching 42 innings across 36 appearances this season to a 3.64 ERA and 1.429 WHIP, registering 63 strikeouts and four saves.
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Who is Garrett going to replace?
The Mets bullpen that Garrett will be returning to is much stronger than the one he left. President of baseball operations David Stearns made that his priority at this year’s trade deadline, so there is not a clear and obvious candidate to lose their spot to the 31-year-old.
A potential move could be to send down Danny Young. Young has pitched stellarly at the major league level this season and has not allowed a run in his nine appearances since returning to the major leagues on July 11. Still, he has a minor league option, which would be the only way to keep the entire bullpen in the organization for now.
Regardless, Stearns is set to have a difficult decision to make over the next couple of days.
