Jenrry Mejia on DL; Bullpen Unrecognizable

The Mets placed reliever Jenrry Mejia on the disabled list Tuesday, leaving the team with a far different bullpen than they planned just a few weeks ago.

Mejia experienced elbow pain warming up on Monday and could not enter the game. He was diagnosed with elbow inflammation and will be treated with a cortisone shot. All things considered, it is the best case scenario.

The bullpen has undergone an unwanted transformation. In the off-season, the Mets assumed this would be their pen:

Mejia
Bobby Parnell
Jeurys Familia
Carlos Torres
Vic Black
Josh Edgin
Dillon Gee

Parnell was not ready for Opening Day (which was not really a surprise). Neither was Black. Edgin needed season-ending Tommy John surgery, as did Zack Wheeler, which bumped Gee to the rotation. And now Mejia.

So now this is the Mets bullpen:

Familia
Torres
Rafael Montero
Buddy Carlyle
Sean Gilmartin
Jerry Blevins
Alex Torres
Erik Goedell

Considering how different the bullpen is, it is still pretty good. The Mets would have been in terrible shape had Sandy Alderson not pulled off the Blevins and Alex Torres trades. So he deserves credit for responding to the arms shortage, when in the past he probably would have done nothing.

Of course, we’ll have to see if this crew can perform. They looked awfully good closing out the game on Opening Day. Let’s hope they can keep it up.