Mets Notes: Dedniel Nunez expected to be activated from IL on Friday; Harrison Bader's playing time

The Mets are starting a brutal 10-game road trip on Thursday, with the first seven being against the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks.

How well the Mets perform in this stretch could determine if they make the postseason or not. Fortunately for the team, they should be getting reinforcements to the bullpen and potentially the starting rotation.

Manager Carlos Mendoza fielded questions about the health of certain players from the media before Thursday’s game against the Padres and here’s what he said…

Why Dedniel Nunez wasn’t activated from IL

Right-handed reliever Dedniel Nunez was likely to be activated from the IL (right pronator strain) on Thursday but was not ahead of the start of their series in San Diego.

Mendoza revealed that Nunez missed his flight to New York and the team flew him direct to San Diego to meet them there. 

The first-year skipper said the trainers and coaches wanted to see him, have him test out his arm and speak to him before he was activated. While they didn’t get to in time to be activated on Thursday, they did get to speak to him once he arrived.

“Everything’s fine, he should be good to go tomorrow,” Mendoza said. 

Nunez was placed on the IL in late July but before he went down with the elbow injury, he was one of Mendoza’s best bullpen arms. In 24 appearances this season, the 28-year-old pitched to a 2.43 ERA and a 0.93 WHIP. 

In his last five appearances (5.0 IP), Nunez allowed just one run on three hits and two walks. 

“The way he was throwing the ball before he went down he was one our high-leverage guys,” Mendoza said of Nunez. “You add an arm like that…it puts our team in a better position.”

Harrison Bader and the outfield rotation

Bader is not in the starting lineup for Thursday’s series opener with the Padres and has been in and out of it the past few games. 

Mendoza was asked about Bader’s exclusion from the starting lineup and whether it had to do with his offensive production or anything else. The Mets skipper reassured it was just how they are deploying their bevy of outfielders since Starling Marte’s return from the IL.

“Part of the rotation. Matchup based,” Mendoza explained. “I talked to them about the playing time and if your name is not in the lineup that doesn’t mean they’ll not be part of the game. They’ll be ready to go. They understand where we are and they are all on board.”

In his first year in Flushing, Bader is slashing .255/.302/.683 with eight home runs and 41 RBI. However, he’s 0-for-his-last-16 with five strikeouts.

Latest on Kodai Senga and Christian Scott

There was a report early Thursday that the Mets think “there’s a chance” that Senga could rejoin the team before the end of the regular season.

Mendoza was asked about Senga’s progress and he said the ace was “very limited” in his workouts.

“He’s standing and doing some flyballs and things like that,” Mendoza said. “We’ll have a better understanding in the next five days or so.”

As for Scott, the young right-hander continues to progress as he recovers from a right UCL sprain that landed him on the IL in July. 

Mendoza said Scott is “throwing with intensity,” hitting up to 110 mph with his fastball on Wednesday and threw some changeups. 

“He’s letting it lose,” Mendoza added. “He’s progressing well and we’ll see where we are in the coming days.”