The Mets provided an update on injured reliever Trevor May on Wednesday morning.
It sounds ominous.
The imaging tests done on May revealed a stress reaction on the lower portion of his right humerus, the upper arm bone between the shoulder and elbow joints, per general manager Billy Eppler. The stress reaction has caused inflammation in the area, and the immediate plan is for May to discontinue throwing for approximately four weeks.
The team will do more imaging at that point and re-evaluate his plan of care.
“I’m not feeling 100% healthy,” May said after his most recent outing on Monday, which will be his last for the foreseeable future. “It’s hard to compete when you’re worried about whether or not something is going to hurt to throw. It’s to the point where I’m not very comfortable throwing my best pitches.”
The root of that problem has now been identified, but it’s unclear where May will fit into the Mets’ bullpen when he returns, just as anything in Major League Baseball is hard to predict four weeks in advance.
“By the end, I was just hoping that the ball was hit at somebody,” May said of his one inning, two-run performance on Monday. “That’s no way to throw in a major league game. I don’t deserve it, but my teammates definitely don’t deserve that.”
In his absence, the Mets will likely look for Adam Ottavino, Seth Lugo and Trevor Williams — all veteran, right-handed, middle relief/setup guys like May — to shoulder a bigger load. May’s injury also makes the early season emergence of Drew Smith and Chasen Shreve (who, by Wins Above Replacement, are currently the best relievers on the team) all the more important. Smith, a righty, and Shreve, a lefty, are likely both headed for higher-leverage situations as long as they keep missing barrels and May is still on the shelf.
“It’s as frustrating as anything in my life right now,” said May, who estimated that the last time he felt this crummy was five years ago. “I’m just trying to feel good. I’ve been doing everything under the sun, every day, to get ready.”
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