ATLANTA — Dillon Gee is expected to remain in a St. Louis hospital for the next 3-4 days after yesterday undergoing surgery to repair a damaged artery in his right shoulder.
Gee, who had a blood clot dissolved in the shoulder earlier in the week, is expected to miss the remainder of the season. But the Mets said in a release it remains undetermined when the right-hander can return to baseball activity.
As for Gee’s spot in the rotation, Miguel Batista remains the likely candidate, but stud righty Matt Harvey hasn’t been ruled out. Manager Terry Collins said he hopes to use Chris Young, who allowed five runs in three innings in last night’s 7-5 loss to the Braves, on normal rest on Wednesday in Washington and have the fifth starter pitch a week from today against the Dodgers at Citi Field.
Batista, who needed 44 pitches to get through 1 1/3 innings of relief last night, has said he need to stretch out to 65-70 pitches before a potential start, but Collins said that shouldn’t be an issue.
“Last year he pitched a pretty stinking good ballgame without being stretched out very far,” Collins said, referring to Batista’s complete-game shutout against the Reds in the season finale. “If he can’t start, we might have to make a determination who it might be if it’s not going to be him.”
* Frank Francisco had soreness in his oblique and accordingly will be shut down today instead of pitching in a minor league rehab game for Single-A St. Lucie. Francisco will be reevaluated tomorrow.
* Collins said there isn’t a set number of at-bats Jason Bay needs in the minor leagues before rejoining the Mets after his concussion. The manager plans to speak with Bay in the next two days to get an assessment on his progress. Bay, who went 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikout and hit into a double play last night for Single-A St. Lucie, could rejoin the Mets in Washington this week.
“I’m going to tell him to be honest and tell me how he’s swinging, because right now the one thing we don’t want to do is go through an 0-for-17,” Collins said. “Not that we won’t — it’s part of the game, we all know that and it’s going to happen to anybody — but we don’t want that to happen.”
* A major league source confirmed lefty reliever C.J. Nitkowski has a minor league deal in place with the Mets and will be joining Double-A Binghamton. Nitkowski announced the deal on Twitter.
The 39-year-old had a tryout with the Mets this spring and has recently been involved with a baseball movie, helping to keep him in shape.