Familia Latest Met to Hit DL with Blood Clot

Mets closer Jeurys Familia is going to be out for a while. How long is anyone's guess right now, after word came down Thursday that Familia has been diagnosed with an arterial clot in his right shoulder.

The prognosis for such an injury usually isn't good. A couple years ago when Dillion Gee was pitching for the Mets, he suffered a blood clot in his shoulder and would miss the remainder of the season after undergoing surgery. Last season, Matt Harvey had a thoracic outlet syndrome, and required surgery in July and missed the remainder of the season.

According to Dr. Todd Breland, while speaking to the New York Post, it is likely that Familia has thoracic Outlet Syndrome. AKA it doesn't look good for the Mets closer.

Familia has had a rough year. He was suspended the first 15 games of the season for his involvement in a domestic abuse case, which involved the closer firing a gun in his own garage. Since returning, Familia has been inconsistent at best. He's struggled with walks, but has only given up four earned runs in nine-plus innings, and there is reason to believe he suffered the injury on Wednesday afternoon when he blew a 3-2 lead against the Giants, a game the Mets lost 6-5.

With Familia likely out for the longterm, the Mets find themselves in dire need of a closer. The Mets could tap Addison Reed for the job, since he was the closer the first two weeks of the year. He has been great in the BB-K department, walking none, while striking out 22. Yet, he is a guy who probably best suited for the eighth inning roll. Hansel Robles and Jerry Blevins have both had fine starts to their seasons, but neither is a trustworthy candidate for the job.

The Mets have no choice but to improve a bullpen that needed an upgrade anyway. Names like David Robertson, Nate Jones and Kelvin Herrera are names that are starting to float around as possible trade pieces for the Mets. Robertson has five saves and a 2.31 ERA for the White Sox this season. But, the White Sox have yet to fall out of it -- they probably won't want to trade him, at least right now.

31-year old Nate Jones, is one of Robertson's teammates on the White Sox. He has also had a fine year as a middle reliever, but again, until the White Sox fall out of it, its hard to see Chicago wanting to make any deals at this point.

Herrera might be interesting. He is closing right now for the Kansas City Royals and owns five saves. The Mets might be able to get him, since Kansas City is having a horrific season, but the pitching starved Royals will want a lot of young pitchers in return, and considering all the Mets injuries, I'm not sure if KC views the Mets as a good system to pick off from.

So Sandy Alderson has his work cut out for him. He needs a reliever, (maybe two) to truly solidify this pitching staff on the back end. Will he do it is the only question. The Mets are notorious under Alderson for not making deals in-season. Before any deal is complete look for the Mets to try to fill the void of Familia in house.