Just Mets

The Mets got some bad news regarding their key left-handed reliever on Thursday.

The club announced Jerry Blevins will likely undergo season ending surgery in Boston next week on the distal radius bone in his left arm.

This is the same bone he broke fielding a comebacker on April 19 against the Marlins at Citi Field.

But Blevins did not suffer a setback during his rehab, the team said on Thursday. Rather, he slipped off a curb and fell on Monday night, re-fracturing the same bone in the same arm.

In seven games with the Mets earlier this season, Blevins was 1-0 and had not allowed a run in five innings pitched.

The Mets did acquire LHP Eric O’Flaherty from the A’s late Tuesday, and assistant GM John Ricco did say the Mets were really not sure when Blevins might return, despite starting a throwing program at the team’s minor league complex in Port St. Lucie. He had spent virtually the entire summer rehabbing in Florida from this injury and it seemed he was getting closer to a return.

It’s just unfortunate, but the Mets obviously knew they’d need to get another arm in the bullpen and not count on Blevins, which explains why they quickly put together a deal for O’Flaherty. He was presumable going to pair with Blevins once the injured left-hander returned, but that will now not be the case.

The Mets will still need another left-handed reliever who can get left-handed hitters out, so its possible the Mets could begin to take a look at someone like Josh Smoker, who throws hard and is dominating the Eastern League with the Binghamton Mets. But he hasn’t really been a real lefty killer down there, so he doesn’t come with any level of certainty.

They could also take another look at Dario Alvarez, who is already on the 40-man roster and has held left-handed hitters to a .121 average with the Binghamton Mets in 2015.

There’s also Scott Rice, who has held left-handed hitters to a .184 average with Triple-A Las Vegas, although he is no longer on the 40-man roster.

Of course, they could always make another acquisition, but in either case O’Flaherty is going to have to hit the reset button fast and step up his game as the manager’s top weapon against left-handers.

Blevins was acquired for Matt den Dekker from the Nationals before the conclusion of spring training. He can be a free agent at the end of the season.