The New York Mets have had an injury-riddled week with the losses of Jared Hughes and Brad Brach earlier for undisclosed reasons and a flurry of other arms going down.
Robert Gsellman went down with tricep tightness, Walker Lockett is dealing with lower back tightness, and Marcus Stroman has a torn calf muscle. New York was already without Noah Syndergaard who had Tommy John surgery early in spring.
Additionally, the Mets lost Jed Lowrie yet again with the same undisclosed left leg injury. Wilson Ramos also missed time for undisclosed reasons earlier this week with the Mets electing to add catcher Rene Rivera to help create more depth.
The Mets also shifted some of their depth around, releasing Gordon Beckham and Melky Cabrera while Juan Lagares and Brian Dozier. Lagares provides more speed and versatility over Cabrera and Dozier is a better option over Beckham after Lowrie went down.
With all of this in mind, the Mets have to fill several voids on their roster.
Here’s the latest chatter from an anonymous league source:
With the Marcus Stroman void in the rotation, the Mets can look to David Peterson and Corey Oswalt to help fill that opening with Peterson being more likely over Oswalt. The only reason Peterson would not be the front-runner is for service time considerations, but that likely won’t be an issue in this case.
Should the Mets elect not to use Peterson and Oswalt, the source indicated that lefty prospect Kevin Smith would be the next man up with an unlikely possibility of other rehabbing prospects like Franklyn Kilome and Thomas Szapucki going as a piggyback due to the expanded roster. It would be a low-risk, high-reward for the Mets and they would carry a backup starter in case the youngsters appear to unravel.
Outside the organization, the options are slim. The source did not mention any specific names but mentioned that there is a possibility that some rehabbing (or recently healthy) players who are free agents could be options for the team.
The source mentioned that there were very few trade options but later in the season there may be reason to explore.
With regard to the bullpen, Hunter Strickland and Drew Smith are the likely candidates to fill some voids in relief with Ryley Gilliam, Ermaso Ramirez, and Matt Blackham also options.
