Why does God hate the Mets?
Another injury for cursed team
Closer Jeurys Familia was diagnosed with a blood clot yesterday, the 10th injury of a key Mets player (or 11th if you count Matt Harvey’s broken heart).
Jeurys Familia, walking off the field after blowing a save Wednesday, was diagnosed with an arterial clot in his right shoulder and could need surgery. His is the latest in a parade of Amazin’ injuries, including Yoenis Cespedes (top left) and Noah Syndergaard (top right).
Suddenly, the blown save Jeurys Familia suffered in his latest appearance is the least of his problems.
The Mets closer was diagnosed with an arterial clot in his right shoulder on Thursday by team doctors, according to the club, and could be headed for surgery.
Familia is scheduled to be examined Friday in St. Louis by Dr. Robert Thompson, who specializes in vascular issues and last year performed surgery on Matt Harvey for thoracic outlet syndrome.
Familia’s clot was detected a day after he suffered his first blown save of the season, allowing four runs in the ninth inning of the Mets’ 6-5 loss to the Giants at Citi Field. So a team already without its top starting pitcher (Noah Syndergaard) and position player (Yoenis Cespedes) is now bracing for the possibility of losing its closer for an extended period.
Syndergaard has a partially torn right lat muscle that is expected to keep him sidelined past the All-Star break and Cespedes is on the disabled list with a left hamstring strain, but could be nearing a return to baseball activity.
Steven Matz and Seth Lugo, both of whom have been sidelined with elbow issues, are two other starting pitchers on the disabled list and David Wright has been sidelined since early in spring training with an impingement in his right shoulder.
For the short-term, the Mets are expected to slide Addison Reed into the closer’s role and use a combination of Hansel Robles and Jerry Blevins to handle eighthinning duties. Reed was the closer for the Mets’ first 15 games of the season, during which Familia served a suspension for violating MLB’s domestic violence policy. The veteran Reed has converted all four of his save opportunities this season.
Familia is 1-1 with a 3.86 ERA and three saves in 11 appearances this season. Last year he set a club record with 51 saves.
In 2012, Dillon Gee was diagnosed with a blood clot in his shoulder and underwent surgery that cost him the final 2 ½ months of the Mets’ season.
But according to Dr. Todd Berland, a vascular surgeon and assistant professor of surgery at NYU Langone Medical Center, it’s likely Familia has thoracic outlet syndrome.
“When you have a young, healthy person — and presumably he’s healthy, you don’t know about his medical history — he fits the picture of thoracic outlet,” said Berland, who has not examined Familia.
“If there is indeed no thoracic outlet, you can remove the clot and then you have to start a medical workup and wonder where the clot came from. Is there a clot in his heart that broke off and traveled to his arm? It’s pretty scary, because it could have gone to his leg, brain, his intestine. It could have gone anywhere and just picked the arm, that is one possibility. It could be that his blood is thicker than the average person and he just developed a clot, which might mean he needs to be on life-long blood thinners.”
But Berland said he suspects Familia has thoracic outlet syndrome.
“We see this in pitchers all the time and gymnasts,” he said. “If I was a betting man and had to place a wager on this, it would be on arterial thoracic outlet syndrome.”
Harvey underwent surgery in July for thoracic outlet syndrome (a procedure that involves the removal of a rib) and was shut down for the remainder of the season — he resumed throwing within five months.
If Familia is sidelined for an extended period, the Mets could explore a trade for bullpen help, but it’s likely that market won’t begin developing for at least another month.
David Robertson, Nate Jones, Kelvin Herrera and Alex Colome are among the relievers who could be available heading to the trade deadline, but the Mets’ appetite to swing a deal would correspond with the team’s position in the playoff race.