NEW YORK – The rebuilt Bullpen of the Mets had a significant blow on Saturday, when the team announced that Seth Lugo will undergo surgery to remove a free body from his right elbow. The Mets plan to shut down Lugo from the throw-in for six weeks, which will take him out of the opening list.
In a telephone interview, Lugo said he did not feel anything abnormal in his arm until last week, when his elbow began to swell and it will not disappear. A few days later, Lugo called someone from the Mets training staff who scheduled an MRI. The test, performed on Friday, revealed a bony spur that broke his right elbow.
Lugo will undergo surgery on Tuesday, but the right-back – who has played with a partially torn UCL in his elbow for at least the last four seasons – has called his fate much better than the worst-case scenario.
“I have been optimistic ever since [Friday]”, Said Lugo. “Last week, I was sitting there thinking, ‘If I broke up [a ligament], my career may have ended, so it’s devastating. ‘But I feel really good now that he’s alone [the bone spur]. … The worst case scenario was, I’m not launching again, so I’m pretty happy. ”
However, it is a difficult blow for the Mets, given that Lugo has been their best clear savior in most of the last three seasons, recording an ERA of 2.68 with 207 hits over 181 1/3 innings in 2018 -19. Last summer, the Mets tried to stretch Lugo as a starting player with mixed results; he allowed two runs over the first 11 innings of 2/3, before finishing the season with 9.82 ERA in four starts.
After the season, Lugo started throwing earlier than usual in October, due to how strong he felt after the shortened program of 60 games. Only in February did he feel any discomfort that comes entirely from the bone spur – not from UCL.
“I was just happy [the diagnosis]”Said Lugo, who opted to rehabilitate his UCL, rather than undergo Tommy John surgery in 2017.” That was good news for me, minus the lack of time. … This is the first thing that has happened since then – I don’t mean UCL. I don’t want to bring him up. With MRI [on Friday], look great. The doctor was very impressed with the way it ended. ”
The bony spur is of more immediate concern. A six-week closure will take Lugo to the last week of March, just days before opening day. Although Lugo declined to comment on his timeline, he remained optimistic about his overall prognosis. If he is able to start throwing in time, Lugo would need another month or more to work on the shape of the game, making May a realistic scenario for the best case for his return.
“I just want to have surgery and get out of there,” Lugo said.
Meanwhile, the Mets will have to find someone else to play Lugo’s unique role in the back of their bullpen. He had become a true “firefighter” for the Mets in recent seasons, often playing in the places with the biggest leverage in the middle to ninth half. In this way, Lugo was a candidate to continue to take rescue opportunities from Edwin Díaz, while remaining active in the middle halves until the end of the year.
The Mets have added two pitchers, Trevor May and Aaron Loup, to major league deals this winter, as well as a swingman, Sam McWilliams, who could conceivably play a part in Lugo’s role. Díaz, May and Loup are locks for the Opening Day bullpen, as are Jeurys Familia and Dellin Betances – provided the Mets do not trade either of them in salary contracts. Miguel Castro and Drew Smith are also considering playing prominent roles, but Lugo’s injury increases the Mets’ chances of him continuing to seek help outside the organization. The team has been linked with free agents Trevor Rosenthal and Justin Wilson, among others, in recent days.
In the first part of this off-season, Mets officials debated whether Lugo would be a better fit in rotation or bullpen – a debate that essentially ended when they added more tracks to the starting mix. Now, the Mets are simply hoping that Lugo can make a significant contribution in the last two-thirds of 2021.
“It’s a professional group there,” Lugo said. “With the boys returning from last year, I have no doubt that they will be able to maintain the games. I look forward to meeting the new guys we signed and hopefully when I return, we will be in a good position in the standings. Better now than in August, right? ”