As the Mets enter the crunch-time portion of their season, they can take solace in having a relatively healthy pitching staff. They’re still without Kodai Senga, but they’ve been without him all season already. Christian Scott is on track to return before the end of the season and willing to work out of the bullpen if the Mets need him to.
Most of the bullpen is healthy as well, though it’s unclear whether or not right-handers Dedniel Nuñez (forearm tightness) and Sean Reid-Foley (shoulder impingement) will return this season. The Mets were expected to have some sort of update on Nuñez’s status this week, but it doesn’t look like he underwent any extra imaging. He’s received treatment on his forearm and the Mets plan to reevaluate this weekend before departing for Toronto on Sunday.
“He’s feeling better,” manager Carlos Mendoza said Friday before the Mets opened a series against the Cincinnati Reds. “We want to give him the next three days and see what we’ve got at the end of the homestead.”
As of right Friday, Mendoza did not yet know whether Nuñez would make the next trip with the team. The Mets are scheduled to start a six-game, seven-day road trip through Toronto and Philadelphia on Monday night.
Reid-Foley played catch for the first time since the Mets pulled him off of his rehab assignment, one day after being transferred to the 60-day injured list. However, the move appears to be retroactive.
“That was more of a paper move,” Mendoza said. “He’s throwing, he’s playing catch. Hopefully next week he gets on the mound. We’ll see what we’ve got there.”
Right-hander Paul Blackburn is set to return Monday when the Mets open a series against the Blue Jays, which bumps David Peterson to Tuesday. The left-hander’s turn comes up Monday, but the Mets are giving him an extra day of rest.
Senga will throw another bullpen on Saturday. He typically throws about 20-25 pitches using all of his pitches at a high intensity level, and then another 25-30 to work on his mechanics. This next bullpen, his second since suffering a left calf strain in July, is expected to be similar to the last one.
The Mets will mostly be battling divisional opponents throughout the rest of the month, and with the team tied with the Atlanta Braves for the third wild card spot, they can start making tentative rotation plans for the rest of the month. Mendoza, president of baseball operations David Stearns and the coaching staff won’t look too far ahead, but with that Sept. 24 series against the Braves looming, the Mets have to start penciling in their starters.
“We’re already having those conversations, but at the same time, we can be looking that far ahead because we got to take care of business now,” Mendoza said. “With some of the guys that we have, like [Sean Manaea] and [Luis Severino] and the territory that they have, I think it comes down to how they’re feeling…
“It’s hard. I think as much as we want to put those guys in those situations, we need those guys healthy.”