Mets place Travis d’Arnaud on 15-day disabled list

The Mets have placed catcher Travis d’Arnaud on the 15-day disabled list due to a hyperextended left elbow, the team announced on Tuesday.

To replace d’Arnaud on the roster, Johnny Monell was called up from Triple-A Las Vegas.

D’Arnaud suffered the elbow injury during a play at the plate in Atlanta on Saturday, was removed from the game early, and did not play on Sunday.

However, both d’Arnaud and manager Terry Collins said that he should be able to return to the lineup on Tuesday. Instead, d’Arnaud underwent an MRI on Monday in Milwaukee before being sent back to New York for further tests.

Mets assistant GM John Ricco said before Tuesday’s game that there has not yet been a diagnosis made regarding d’Arnaud’s elbow.

Thoughts:

Travis d’Arnaud going back to the disabled list is just about the worst thing that could’ve happened to the Mets at this juncture, so I suppose this shouldn’t come as a surprise.

With David Wright nowhere near a return, Daniel Murphy still out, and both Curtis Granderson and Michael Cuddyer under-performing, d’Arnaud — along with Lucas Duda — was a player the Mets simply couldn’t afford to lose.

Adding to the frustration is the fact that d’Arnaud was expected to return to the lineup on Tuesday, only to be placed on the disabled list instead. The extent of d’Arnaud’s injury isn’t yet known, but with the Mets often letting injured players linger on the roster for a bit, the fact that they DL’d d’Arnaud so quickly is a bit alarming.

As was the case before d’Arnaud returned to the disabled list, the Mets are in desperate need of offensive help from outside the organization. However, they have so far been content to sit idly by as a once promising season threatens to slip into the abyss.