Reese Kaplan -- Unknown Injury Recoveries Affect Mets Roster

While the casual fan, blogger and professional sportswriter are all obsessed with who the Mets will be adding to their 40-man roster, the fact is that there’s another group already there that deserve some focused attention.  I’m not talking about the star players who will start and have major impact on the success or failure of the club nor am I concerned with the folks not ready to make it back to Citifield.  Then there’s another group of underachievers who make more money and have a great deal of experience but may not be a part of the team’s overall future either once the trade discussions begin with the other 29 teams.

No, today we’re instead looking at the walking wounded if walking well at all.  The Mets, like any other team, have a group of players under contract recovering from illnesses and injuries which leads folks to question just how soon and for how long can they be considered assets for the upcoming 2025 season.  As it stands right now the Mets have a rather open 40-man roster with only 32 people on it, but a number of them would be migrrated to an IL stint once the season begins.  Let’s have a look.

• Paul Blackburn — It’s not been a good year physically for the trade acquisition from the former Oakland A’s.  He missed time while there with injury, came to New Yor and in August was hit by a David Peralta line drive during a game vs. the Padres that the team hoped was not too bad.  Unfortunately he was placed on the IL as it got worse shortly thereafter where he remained for the rest of the 2024 season.  His lingering tenderness and swelling were not improving.  Then during the off-season he was revealed to have a spinal injury called a cerebrospinal fluid leak.  It required mid October surgery and the normal recovery time for that procedure is 4-5 months.  That recuperation would bring him to the middle of Spring Training if nothing slows it down.  Counting on him to be ready for Opening Day is more optimistic than realistic.
• Dedniel Nunez — A proud graduate of the New York Mets pitching academy, he got clued into some things to change to morph from another warm body on the roster into a highly effective middle reliever when summoned up to the majors for his debut last season.  Unfortunately he fought off injuries all year, including early season right pronator strain which shelved him, then came the flexor tendon issue which seemed to have been minimized and he was brought back on August 23rd.  Unfortunately that return to regular pitching lasted less than a week and he was shut down for the rest of the 2025 season.  He received platelet iplasma njection treatment which theoretically will allow him to avoid surgery.  Right now he’s an unknown for how soon into the 2025 season he can handle a regular pitching load.
• Sean Reid-Foley — Wow, if there’s a guy who has spent his whole career pitching around injuries, Foley is your man.  He was spectacular when available in 2024 and it was heartening to see them retain him for 2025.  Whatever you can get from the man is gravy, but don’t pencil him in to appear in 40-50 games.
• Kodai Senga — Which version of the 2023 stellar rookie from Japan will folks see?  He missed virtually all of 2024 and when he appeared he did not resemble the ghost fork magician he showed the previous year.  Perhaps the additional time will allow him to dominate once again.  Right now the club is expecting him to pitch a full season without real restriction, though there is some talk about moving to a 6-man rotation which would benefit him as it resembled his workload in Japan.
• Christian Scott — Count the man down and out after receiving Tommy John Surgery.  The recovery period is typically about 18 months so that would coincide with him missing all of 2025.
• Ronny Mauricio — The lone position player on this list is formerly near-the-top prospect Ronny Mauricio.  With a slow healing knee injury that forced him to miss all of 2024, no one really knows what to expect.  How rusty is he?  Is his swing back to normal?  Is he fielding effectively?  The biggest question, of course, is can he run on his repaired knee?  The club likely doesn’t want him to press too hard until they’re convinced he’s fully recovered.  Even without speed, if he provided .280 hitting with 20+ HR power he would be a welcome addition on the infield.  With speed he’s even deadlier to opponents.