LOS ANGELES — With Carlos Carrasco on the injured list, the Mets are trying to plan accordingly for future starting pitching issues that may arise. The club optioned Denyi Reyes to Triple-A Syracuse on Wednesday to stretch him out and use him as a starter.
The Mets had to send a pitcher back to Triple-A to make room for Tommy Hunter on the roster and they like Reyes’ prior starting experience. Justin Verlander, Jose Quintana and Carlos Carrasco are all on the injured list and Max Scherzer has already experienced soreness in his back. The Mets haven’t been able to benefit from the deep pool of starters the club thought it assembled.
“With Justin and Quintana and Carrasco, we need to increase our depth,” manager Buck Showalter said Wednesday morning at Dodger Stadium. “We think Reyes can do that.”
The Mets have decided who will fill Carrasco’s spot in the rotation Friday in San Francisco, but the team doesn’t want to release a name yet, preferring to see who is and isn’t needed from the bullpen in the series finale against the Dodgers. They could get use right-hander Jose Butto, who made a start in Oakland on Sunday. An injury would allow them to call him up again right away. The Mets could also use left-hander Joey Lucchesi.
Piecing together the rotation shows why they need to stretch out someone like Reyes in Triple-A.
“I think he can help us out, we just need to hedge our bets in case Carrasco isn’t ready,” Showalter said of Reyes.
Carrasco was sent back to New York for imaging and it sounds as though no structural damage was found in his elbow, but the Mets only said he was diagnosed with right elbow inflammation. He’ll receive an injection of some sort and be down for 3-5 days.
Inflammation is typically a symptom of a larger problem, but if there is a larger problem the Mets are not disclosing it right now.
“There’s inflammation there and we need to get it out of there,” Showalter said.
Former Mets reliever Trevor May was placed on the 15-day injured list with issues relating to anxiety, the Oakland A’s announced. He’s the third player this season to step away from the game to deal with his mental health, with Austin Meadows and Daniel Bard having done the same.
A’s general manager David Forst commended May for the decision.
“The whole A’s organization supports him fully and we are committed to giving Trevor whatever time he needs to be ready to return to playing, as well as continued resources to help all of our players tackle the physical and mental challenges they face daily,” Forst said in a statement.
()