After almost two months of a pitching carousel, the Mets are finally positioned to shut the ride down, or least slow it down. The Mets have a decision they’ll need to make soon on right-hander Paul Blackburn, and right-hander Tylor Megill took a big step in his recovery Sunday morning, but the latter is still a few weeks away from a return.
Blackburn made his final rehab start Saturday with Triple-A Syracuse, pitching into the seventh inning and allowing only one earned run. He walked only one and struck out six over 6 1/3 innings, needing only 87 pitches. However, there isn’t really a spot for Blackburn at the moment in the rotation or in the bullpen. Right-handed reliever Austin Warren was called up Sunday and right-hander Rico Garcia was designated for assignment, so the Mets could use that spot for Blackburn in the bullpen, but that gives them little flexibility since Blackburn doesn’t have minor league options.
Since they failed to find a trade partner, they’ll have to figure out a way to use Blackburn after he returns from his rehab assignment.
The Mets don’t appear to want to use Blackburn again. The 31-year-old has been mostly injured since he was traded from the Oakland A’s a year ago at the deadline. While the spinal fluid leak in his mid-back was undoubtedly a freak injury, the knee injury and the shoulder impingement that have sidelined him this season have the Mets feeling sympathy for Blackburn, but also have them wondering where he fits into their pitching plans the rest of the season.
Despite having said Saturday’s rehab start was his last, the Mets still haven’t committed to activating him this week, saying he needs to throw a bullpen first. The club sought trade partners for Blackburn, but ultimately he remained with the Mets after Thursday’s trade deadline.
When president of baseball operations David Stearns was asked about Blackburn shortly after the deadline, he said they’d have to wait until after the next rehab outing.
“We’ll see how he gets through that, and we’ll go from there,” Stearns said. “We’ll talk it over with Paul to see what makes the most sense after that.”
Manager Carlos Mendoza said nearly the same thing Sunday morning, the day after his rehab outing.
“We’ll see him today,” Mendoza said. “We’ve still got a couple of days before we decide what’s next for him. We’ve got to make sure that he threw the ball well again, so now it’s just how he’s feeling today, tomorrow, he’s got to throw a bullpen, and then we’ll go from there.”
Blackburn has been limited to only six outings this season, throwing five scoreless innings in a start against the Los Angeles Dodgers in June, before two disastrous outings in relief. Moved back to the rotation after Megill was injured, he lost his last three decisions before a shoulder impingement landed him on the IL again.
Megill threw about 22 pitches in live BP on Sunday at Citi Field. Two hitters from High-A Brooklyn came over to stand in against the big righty, who faced hitters for the first time since spraining his right elbow. He’ll throw another two-inning simulated bullpen Thursday.
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