PORT ST. LUCIE — Adam Ottavino was in the bullpen for Team USA’s game in the World Baseball Classic when he started receiving the news from teammates who had trickled out in the early innings after watching the scene unfold on TV.
Edwin Diaz was not only injured, but had been carried off the field with some kind of leg injury that occurred in Team Puerto Rico’s postgame celebration after defeating the Dominican Republic.
“I had a pit in my stomach for the rest of the night because I love Edwin and I love the Mets,” Ottavino told The Post on Sunday.
Diaz is likely lost for the season after tearing the patellar tendon in his right knee and undergoing subsequent surgery, leaving a hole in the Mets bullpen, but one that Ottavino fully expects others to fill.
Ottavino intends to be part of the solution after serving as the primary setup man for Diaz last season. Now he will team with David Robertson, who figures to receive most of the ninth-inning work in save situations.
“We still have a lot of capable guys,” Ottavino said. “David has more experience than I do, and I am going to draw from his experience, but really try to make this a collective thing. Everybody is going to have to step up throughout the whole bullpen roster and we still think we have a real good chance out there. We still think we have really good guys, so we just have to go out there and show it.”
He added: “We have too many guys. We don’t have enough spots for all the guys we think are major league quality so that is a good place to be. There will be a lot of hands in it this year and then we’ll see what our needs are as we go.”
On Sunday, the Mets closed in on finalizing that bullpen for Opening Day by reassigning T.J. McFarland and Jimmy Yacabonis to minor league camp and Jeff Brigham to Triple-A Syracuse. It left the Mets with nine relievers for what Buck Showalter says will be eight spots, but Showalter conceded that Elieser Hernandez — who belongs to the group of nine — is viewed more as a starter than a reliever.
It leaves the Mets with Robertson, Ottavino, Drew Smith, Brooks Raley, Tommy Hunter, John Curtiss, Dennis Santana and Stephen Nogosek as the likely bullpen to begin the season.
“There is always that dynamic of somebody who takes that next step and they become the dominant guy,” Ottavino said. “It happened in my career, it happened in Robertson’s career, it happened in Edwin’s career. At some point you go from being a middle guy to a late guy. Maybe we can have some guys step up in that role this year and take the pressure off everybody.”
Ottavino, who returned to the Mets on a two-year contract worth $14.5 million over the winter, pitched to a 2.06 ERA in 66 appearances for the Mets last season with three saves. Over his 12-year major league career, he owns 33 saves.
“I have gotten plenty of chances, even last year I got some chances, so I don’t think about it much different,” Ottavino said, referring to potentially closing games. “You just play the scoreboard a little more in the ninth knowing what kind of cushion you have or you don’t have and you try to take advantage of the fact that usually they need base runners and that sort of stuff. There are little nuances, but at the end of the day you are trying to get out every hitter in front of you so it’s the same deal.”
