Mets' Brooks Raley facing potential long-term absence due to elbow injury

Mets reliever Brooks Raley is facing a possible long-term absence after testing revealed “at least fraying” in an elbow ligament, reports Joel Sherman of the New York Post. Sherman writes that Raley and the team are currently weighing whether he’ll need to undergo surgery.

Raley landed on the 15-day injured list with what the team called elbow inflammation two weeks ago. Manager Carlos Mendoza was initially optimistic that the left-hander would return around the time he was first eligible. Subsequent imaging has evidently revealed the issue to be more serious than the team first believed. 

Mendoza told reporters Thursday afternoon that Raley’s recovery timeline was being pushed back, albeit without providing much in the way of specifics (via the MLB.com injury tracker).

Acquired from the Rays over the 2022-23 offseason, Raley has been a quality bullpen piece in Queens. He turned in a 2.80 ERA over a career-high 54 2/3 innings last season. He punched out more than a quarter of opposing hitters and found success against batters of either handedness. 

The Mets fielded some trade interest on Raley last summer but elected to hold him and trigger a $6.5M option for this season.

The first three weeks could hardly have gone much better. Raley rattled off seven scoreless innings with nine strikeouts and only five baserunners allowed (two hits and three walks). He was credited with four holds in eight appearances and was among the club’s highest-leverage arms. Depending on the results of upcoming testing, he could be out for an extended stretch — perhaps the entire season.

That would leave the Mets rather short on experienced left-handed bullpen depth. Free agent pickup Jake Diekman is their top healthy option. The veteran has huge swing-and-miss ability, though his results have been somewhat inconsistent throughout his career thanks to well below-average control. 

Josh Walker and Tyler Jay have seen limited action, while recent call-up Danny Young made his team debut in this afternoon’s win. Walker was recently optioned to Triple-A Syracuse, while Jay was outrighted off the 40-man roster and is back in the minors as well.

Depth starter Joey Lucchesi has fared better against left-handed hitters and could theoretically work out of the bullpen. The same is true of David Peterson once he returns from hip surgery that will shelve him at least into late May. (Peterson’s overall platoon splits are neutral, but his strikeout and walk rates have been much better against southpaws.) 

Still, this looks like an area the Mets could look to upgrade from outside the organization if Raley misses a significant amount of time.

A long-term absence would be particularly unfortunate for Raley as well. He turns 36 next month and will be a free agent next winter. With a 2.58 ERA and 27.3% strikeout rate since the start of 2022, he has a good chance at a solid two-year deal if he’s fully healthy. 

It’s too soon to tell how his market might be affected by this injury, but any kind of surgery (particularly if he’s out into 2025) would be a tough blow.