Blackburn may be ready for spring training.
The Mets announced today that on October 11, Paul Blackburn underwent a cerebrospinal fluid leak repair. The very specific language used by the Mets was as follows: “the return to play for this type of procedure is 4-5 months.” Blackburn, acquired from the Athletics at the trade deadline for prospect Kade Morris, made just five appearances for the Mets before hitting the injured list.
Blackburn initially hit the IL due to a right hand contusion caused by a comebacker that hit him on his pitching hand on August 25. However, on September 15, Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns told the press that Blackburn had a spinal fluid leak. This sidelined Blackburn through the end of the season.
Blackburn started five games for the Mets, three of which were quite good, going six innings with an earned run in each start. However, against his old club and against the Padres, Blackburn had worse results, giving up eleven runs between the six and a third innings.
The Mets were working with Blackburn to adjust his six-pitch repertoire, specifically asking him to throw fewer four-seam fastballs and sinkers, relying more on his breaking stuff. The sample size is too small to see if the adjustments were effective.
Blackburn is under team control for 2025, and is arbitration eligible. Considering the four to five month timetable, Blackburn should be ready to pitch sometime during Spring Training, where he will be fighting for a rotation spot. He is out of options, but would make a nice back-end starter for a Mets rotation that will include Kodai Senga and David Peterson.