What Does Christian Scott's UCL Sprain Mean For This Mets Wildcard Push?

Mets rookie right hander Christian Scott will be out for at least 15 days (retroactive to July 22nd) following the discovery of a right UCL sprain. For a Mets team that was already going to need pitching at the deadline, and one that wants to transition to a 6 man rotation with the return of Kodai Senga this coming Friday, what place does this put them in going towards the deadline? This is far from an injury that makes you reconsider being buyers at the deadline, and with some good fortune Scott may not be out for long. The question however is how do you adjust to this injury both in organization, and possibly by making a trade.

The main candidates to replace Scott in the rotation would presumably be Tylor Megil and Jose Butto, neither of which are my ideal choices. Butto deserves a shot in the rotation, and perhaps post deadline this will be possible. However in the meantime he is far too valuable in what has been a struggling bullpen and to put an even larger load on Dedniel Nunez would just be unfair. Megil on the other hand is just not capable of being the guy for a team with playoff aspirations. He can’t control the strike zone, rarely escapes the 5th inning, and the last thing the Mets need is a heavier load on their bullpen.

I was already very clear in my 5 Realistic Mets Deadline Deals that I believe the Mets needed another starter, and now the pressure becomes larger on Stearns to get that done. However that’s not necessarily true, like I said I wouldn’t mind seeing Butto back in the rotation for another shot, my biggest problem is filling his place in the bullpen. If the Mets could go out and get a few bullpen arms like Law, Brebbia, or Rogers, it opens up the opportunity for Butto to fall back into the rotation. I’d still personally like an established starter to be added at the deadline, I’m not sure how confident I am in this happening unless something happens to fall into the Mets lap, but there is no reason not to add bullpen help.

At the end of the day the Mets have been relatively luckier than past years when it comes to injuries, and this is one that I believe they’ll be able to overcome. I am curious though just how Stearns will decide to play things at the deadline. The Mets are reportedly signing Jackie Bradley Jr. as outfield depth, and while I would like to hope that isn’t the only outfield help they’re going to bring in, this is what Stearns does. There’s not going to be a ton of flash and headline grabbers from the Mets at this deadline and there still doesn’t have to be, but Stearns does need to solidify this bullpen in order to truly give the Mets a shot at contending for a postseason spot.

Thank you all for reading, I wanted to get this out in a timely manner and thus my “6 Off The Wall Mets Deadline Deals” article will be out tomorrow instead of this evening. I would also love to cover the deadline as it relates to the entire league, but I’m having to do quite a bit of research so I wouldn’t expect that article until the weekend. Thank you as always, please consider subscribing and have a wonderful evening.