The New York Mets have gotten bitten by the injury bug time and time again throughout their 2024 campaign.
From losing stars like Edwin Díaz and Kodai Senga for significant chunks of time to depth pieces such as Grant Hartwig and Tylor Megil, no player donning the blue and orange has been safe from getting injured.
Recently, the Mets lost a breakout reliever to the 15-day injured list, but he has seemingly dodged an even more significant injury.
Reed Garrett doesn’t have structural damage
Following the Mets’ 7-0 victory over the Washington Nationals on Thursday, manager Carlos Mendoza revealed the results of relief pitcher Reed Garrett’s MRI and revealed a timeline for his return.
“[The MRI] just showed inflammation of the nerve, so the [UCL] is good,” Mendoza said. “We wanted to make sure that multiple people took a look at him, so that’s why it took a little bit longer to deliver the news. But that’s a good sign, so we’re looking at somewhere between two to four weeks before he’s pitching for us again.”
Mets Receive Good News on High-Leverage Reliever After MRI (si.com)
The 31-year-old initially complained about tightness in his forearm and elbow after his outing on Tuesday, which resulted in Garrett’s diagnosis of elbow inflammation before undergoing additional testing.
Garrett has been a revelation in 2024, pitching 42 innings across 36 appearances this season to a 3.64 ERA and 1.429 WHIP while registering 63 strikeouts and recording four saves.
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What does this mean for the Mets?
This is a massive break for the Mets, as the bullpen can hardly deal with any more long-term losses.
The blue and orange have already lost Drew Smith and Brooks Raley to season-ending elbow surgery and can hardly afford to lose another critical piece in the bullpen.
With the timeline being two to four weeks, if Garrett could recover on the earlier side of the timeline, he may only miss a handful of games with the all-star break occurring next week.
Now that Garrett has a timeline, president of baseball operations David Stearns can work with that knowledge when determining what relief help he targets in the upcoming weeks.
