By Darragh McDonald | August 25, 2025 at 2:45pm CDT

The Mets announced today that right-hander Reed Garrett has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to right elbow inflammation, retroactive to August 23rd. They have selected left-hander José Castillo to take Garrett’s place on the active roster. Righty Frankie Montas has been transferred to the 60-day IL to open a 40-man spot.

Garrett, 32, has been a key part of the Mets bullpen for about two years now. He broke out with a strong performance in 2024, tossing 57 1/3 innings with a 3.77 earned run average. His 12.1% walk rate was high but he struck out 33.6% of batters faced and got grounders on 44.3% of balls in play. He moved up the club’s pecking order, earning four saves and 14 holds.

He has largely kept that kind of performance going here in 2025. He has thrown another 52 1/3 innings with a 3.61 ERA, 28.3% strikeout rate, 11% walk rate and 39.1% ground ball rate. He has added another three saves and 20 more holds.

To this point, the Mets haven’t provided any details about his injury or how long they expect him to be out of action, but it’s a concerning development regardless. It’s always somewhat worrisome when a pitcher’s throwing elbow isn’t 100%. For the Mets, they have been hit hard by the injury bug this year, with a number of relievers requiring season-ending surgeries in the first half. The club bolstered the group ahead of the deadline by acquiring Ryan Helsley, Tyler Rogers and Gregory Soto.

Despite adding those reinforcements, the club has been struggling this summer. They have gone 7-14 in the month of August and are barely clinging to a playoff spot. They are holding the third and final Wild Card slot in the National League but are just 1.5 games ahead of the Reds.

Part of that is due to Garrett himself. He had a 2.87 ERA in the first half but that has been up to 5.52 so far in the second half. A lot of that seems to be luck. He had a 25.5% strikeout rate and 12.4% walk rate in the first half, with those figures improving to 36.2% and 6.9% respectively in the second half. However, his strand rate went from a fairly average 74.2% to 51% while his home run to fly ball rate went from 5.9% to 27.3%. Though his ERA almost doubled in the second half, his FIP had a far more modest jump from 3.22 to 3.73 while his SIERA actually made a significant improvement, going from 3.92 to 2.16.

Even if the recent struggles aren’t entirely due to misfortunate, the Mets surely don’t want to be losing more pitchers to the injured list, especially after the deadline when it’s harder to find external solutions. For Garrett personally, it’s also less than ideal as he’s just about to qualify for arbitration for the first time.

For now, the Mets will add Castillo to the roster. He started the season with the Diamondbacks but was designated for assignment in May. The Mets sent some cash to Arizona to bring him aboard. Since then, he has bounced on and off the roster. They have twice designated him for assignment and sent him through waivers. Each time, he has accepted an assignment to Triple-A Syracuse and later been added back to the roster.

Overall, he has thrown 18 2/3 innings in the big leagues this year with a 5.30 ERA. His 21.5% strikeout rate and 9.7% walk rate have been close to average. His 53.3% ground ball rate is quite good but perhaps a lot of those grounders have found holes, as his .421 batting average on balls in play is quite high. His 3.76 SIERA suggests he has deserved far better than the ERA would indicate. He has also thrown 16 Triple-A innings this year with a 1.69 ERA, 35.9% strikeout rate, 9.4% walk rate and 50% ground ball rate. He is out of options, which has contributed to his many roster moves this year, so it’s possible his grip on a spot will again be tenuous this time around.

As for Montas, his transfer to the 60-day IL is not a surprise. It was reported a few days ago that he has a “pretty significant” injury to the ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow. It’s unclear how his 2026 will be impacted but he won’t return in 2025, so this move was inevitable.

Photo courtesy of Brad Penner, Imagn Images