The Mets’ rotation addition has, at least for the time being, led to a bullpen addition.
With Paul Blackburn expected to join the rotation to begin Friday’s series in Anaheim, Calif., Tylor Megill has been bumped to a relief role for the moment.
Megill pitched two innings out of the bullpen Wednesday, when the Mets lost, 8-3 to the Twins at Citi Field, with the club opting for a five-man rotation at this time likely in part because they have an off day Thursday.
They play 10 straight days beginning Friday, all on the road.
“We’ve got a decision to make [in the days coming up], whether we’re going to go to six-man,” Mendoza said before Megill allowed one run on three hits and a walk in his two frames. “We’ve got to get through today and then see what we got there.”
On Tuesday the Mets traded for the A’s Blackburn, a veteran who returned from the injured list Friday and allowed four runs in five innings to the Angels.
The 30-year-old will join the team in California and slot into a rotation that has lost Kodai Senga and Christian Scott.
It might be losing Megill, too, depending upon the rotation’s health and Megill’s effectiveness out of the bullpen.
The 29-year-old has again tantalized with his stuff this season and again not turned that stuff into consistent results, with a 5.20 ERA in nine starts.
His 10th game was “fine,” Mendoza said. “He used all his pitches. I thought the fastball was good.”
The big righty has occasionally been used out of the pen in the past and always has seemed like a good candidate to see an uptick in success and stuff when used in shorter bursts.
He did not see a velocity boost in his first game as a reliever this year.
The plan, at least for the moment, is to keep Megill stretched out so he still could slot back into the rotation.
“We see him as a starter, but then we also can see him going in the bullpen for now,” Mendoza said. “He might throw 100 [mph] there, the velo is there and he’s got so many pitches and weapons. So if you’re shooting for an inning or two, I think it comes down to how well he bounces back after an outing or two.
“But big picture, we see him as a starter.”
Reed Garrett, who has been out since July 9 with nerve inflammation in his throwing elbow, threw a live session to a couple High-A Brooklyn hitters before the game.
Plenty around the team and the clubhouse, including David Stearns and Mendoza, watched the right-hander touch 97 mph.
“Really good,” Mendoza said of Garrett, who will begin a rehab assignment Saturday with Triple-A Syracuse. “We’ll have a decision after that.”
Francisco Alvarez, who missed the two previous games with a sore shoulder, returned to the lineup and went 0-for-4.
Mark Vientos smoked a two-run home run to right in the second inning and has recorded an extra-base hit in four consecutive games.
Righties Adrian Houser and Ty Adcock, who were designated for assignment last week, went unclaimed and were released.
The Mets announced they have signed 18 of the 20 players they drafted in addition to signing six players who went undrafted.
Unsigned are ninth-round pick Jaxon Jelkin, a righty from the University of Houston, and 20th-round pick Adam Haight, a high school shortstop committed to Oregon State.
Thursday is the deadline to come to terms with draft picks.
All six of the undrafted free agents are right-handed college pitchers: Hayden Cooper from West Virginia, Hoss Brewer from Little Rock, Channing Austin from USC, Chandler Marsh from Georgia, Hunter Hodges from TCU and Eldridge Armstrong from Texas A&M.