THE LEFTOVERS
PORT ST. LUCIE — As Josh Edgin considers whether he should undergo seasonending Tommy John surgery, the Mets have hit a boiling point concerning their bullpen.
“I’m not happy where we are with our left-handed situation, so that is a work in progress,” general manager Sandy Alderson said Thursday. “We’ll continue to watch and see what we have. Losing Josh would be unfortunate.”
Tests revealed Edgin has a stretched ligament in his left elbow, and the reliever is expected to decide in the next day or so whether to have surgery or attempt two or three weeks of rehabilitation. Even if Edgin selects the latter course, he almost certainly would open the season on the disabled list, according to Alderson.
Dario Alvarez, Scott Rice, Jack Leathersich and Sean Gilmartin are the other lefty relievers in camp, all on minor league contracts.
Alvarez was the l atest of that group to have a late-inning meltdown. On Thursday, he surrendered four earned runs in the ninth inning without recording an out in the Mets’ 11-9 exhibition victory over the Nationals.
A day earlier Rice allowed five runs, four of which were earned, in two-thirds of an inning against the Marlins. The quartet of Alvarez, Rice, Leathersich and Gilmartin has posted a 15.43 ERA to open the exhibition season.
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lefthanded pitching, there really only were a couple that signed for very large dollars,” Alderson said, referring to Andrew Miller and Zach Duke. “Everybody else is more or less in the same category.
“Through the offseason ... there just wasn’t anybody in which we were prepared to invest a major league contract. It’s not the financial issue — it’s the commitment to the player.”
Lefty relief is at a premium throughout the game, so the Mets can’t count on finding an answer on the waiver wire later in spring training. Dillon Gee is a trade chip, but finding a match between a team in need of rotation help that is willing to sacrifice lefty relief in return won’t be easy.