Jeurys Familia underwent surgery for arterial clot

Mets closer Jeurys Familia underwent surgery to remove an arterial clot in his right shoulder earlier today. Mets general manager Sandy Alderson stated that Familia will be out “several months” and may not return by the end of the year.

The Mets had already spent some time without Familia, as he began the year serving a 15-game suspension for a domestic violence incident that occurred during the offseason. With Familia out, the Mets will again turn to Addison Reed as their closer going forward.

Reed has been mostly good this year, but home runs have been his Achilles heel. Despite pitching 18 innings without walking a single batter and allowing only 16 hits, Reed currently sports a still-decent 3.00 ERA due to the four home runs he’s allowed, which account for five of the six earned runs he has given up. Given his stellar season last year, Reed figures to be at least a serviceable closer moving forward.

The larger problem for the Mets is depth. Outside of Reed, Jerry Blevins is the only fully-reliable reliever the Mets have right now. According Matt Ehalt, Alderson intends to replace Familia internally, but doing so means relying on unknown quantities in Fernando Salas, Josh Edgin, Hansel Robles, Paul Sewald, and Rafael Montero. The bullpen could still be reasonably effective, but there’s a lot more risk there now.