WASHINGTON — A.J. Minter‘s triceps soreness did, in fact, land him on the injured list, as the left-hander predicted. After getting checked out by the trainers Saturday night following his removal from the Mets‘ 2-0 win over the Washington Nationals, Minter was diagnosed with a lat strain. The grade of the strain is not yet known since the Mets couldn’t send him for imaging until Sunday morning, but the trainers were able to determine the injury relatively quickly.
There is no timeline for a return at the moment, but depending on the severity, lat strains typically require a rehab period ranging from 6-10 weeks. The Mets estimated 6-8 weeks for right-hander Frankie Montas, plus time to go through his full spring training progression since the injury occurred so early in camp.
As a reliever who started the season healthy, Minter might not need that much time to build up. Still, he won’t be back anytime soon.
The Mets selected right-hander Jose Ureña to the roster Sunday morning. The swingman was chosen to eat some innings for a bullpen that has had a heavy workload of late, and will be available Sunday. The Mets can also insert him as a sixth starter next week.
“We’re still a few days away before we have to make that decision,” manager Carlos Mendoza said Sunday at Nationals Park. “In the meantime, he’s available out of the bullpen. We’ll go day by day.”
Ureña, a veteran starter who has pitched out of the bullpen periodically over the last few years, is 0-1 with a 2.89 ERA over three starts with Triple-A Syracuse. If the Mets choose to insert him into the rotation, the soonest they would do so is Wednesday against the Arizona Diamondbacks at home. Griffin Canning and David Peterson make their starts Monday in Washington, and Tuesday at Citi Field.
“He’s done it before,” Mendoza said. “He’s a guy that starts and comes out of the bullpen. He’s built up to almost 75 pitches. So he gives us a little bit of length out of the bullpen based on a day like today.”
Right-hander Dedniel Nuñez was considered, but the Mets wanted someone who is built up to throw more pitches than Nuñez currently is. This also gives the club some flexibility with the roster spot. The Mets can designate Ureña to get another starter like Justin Hagenman without having to option Max Kranick or Huascar Brazobán, both of whom have been extremely effective in long relief outings.
For now, Ureña allows the Mets to protect those two right-handers, who have been needed often in recent days.
“That’s part of our process here,” Mendoza said “Knowing when to use them, for how long, how many days of recovery. Then just kind of be mindful of, if this guy’s going two innings he’s got two days off, and then you use him for another two innings, how many pitches? Were they stressful pitches? So there’s a lot that goes into it when we’re making these decisions.”
