The Mets have placed Dedniel Nunez on the IL and DFA'd Adrian Houser amid a flurry of roster moves.
In the corresponding moves, Kodai Senga was activated from the IL, Shintaro Fujinami was reinstated from the IL and DFA'd, and Eric Orze was called up from Triple-A Syracuse.
Nunez, who has emerged as one of the Mets' best and most reliable relievers, is dealing with a right pronator strain.
"Obviously we put him on the IL, but we got good news there," Mendoza said. "So it started in Miami after the back-to-back when he felt some tightness there. We gave him a couple of days. Got to New York, faced the Yankees on that first day, he said on that day that he was feeling good. He ended up pitching that day, but then the following day he felt something on the forearm as well.
"Gave him an extra day and then yesterday before the game when he went out there and played catch he was still feeling some tightness there so we decided to go and send him for an MRI which showed a minor strain of the flexor... But the ligament, the elbow, everything’s fine so this should be a short stint here."
Losing him for any period of time is suboptimal for a bullpen still in need of reinforcements, but the emergence of Jose Butto has provided a huge lift to that unit.
The Mets could soon have both Sean Reid-Foley and Reed Garrett back, and they are expected to bolster the bullpen via trade in advance of the July 30 deadline.
The DFA of Houser was not surprising.
Houser was solid in a relief role earlier this season after being shifted from the starting rotation, but had been struggling lately -- allowing runs in each of his last five appearances while pitching to a 9.00 ERA in nine innings during that span.
"[This season] was hard for him," Mendoza said. "Out of the gate pitching out of the rotation and struggling, but he was such a professional for us. Even when we put him in the bullpen he was always willing to take the baseball and do whatever the team needed... I got nothing but respect because he did a lot for us."
Fujinami, who landed on the IL at the beginning of the season and had been pitching for Triple-A Syracuse while on a rehab assignment, was a low-risk, high-reward signing this past offseason who didn't pan out.
As far as Senga, his activation came in advance of his season debut, which will come on Friday night against the Braves.
Orze made his big league debut for the Mets a few weeks ago, and struggled in his only appearance -- allowing three runs on two hits and one walk while failing to record an out.