Even though it was expected at this point, the news still hurts: The New York Mets will be without Jacob deGrom for the rest of the season, another of the pitching injuries that have plagued the team this season.
The Mets made it official on Tuesday. DeGrom needs elbow surgery that will sideline him at least three months, which obviously ends his season. The silver lining is deGrom doesn’t need Tommy John surgery, rather he requires surgery to fix his ulnar nerve, which runs from the elbow to the hand. Worst-case scenario, the surgery will sideline deGrom for six months, which is still half as long as best-case Tommy John recovery time.
DeGrom hasn’t pitched since Sept. 1 and hasn’t been himself since mid-August, when he was lit up for eight runs in five innings by the Giants, his worst outing of the season.
Now the Mets rotation, which looked so stacked at the start of the season, has lost deGrom and Matt Harvey (to shoulder surgery). Zack Wheeler also hasn’t been able to return from Tommy John surgery as expected. Noah Syndergaard has emerged as the team’s ace, but he’s been pitching through bone spurs in his elbow, as has Stephen Matz. Matz has also been rehabbing a shoulder injury, but plans to return to the Mets’ rotation Friday.
The Mets, remarkably, are still in position to play in a wild-card game. They’ve got a one-game lead in the race and would have Syndergaard lined up to pitch in such a scenario. After that, though? It’s definitely not the Mets’ rotation of April. If Matz is healthy, he’s their No. 2 starter, followed by Bartolo Colon. From there, they have a trio of rookies they could look to: Seth Lugo, Robert Gsellman and Gabriel Ynoa.
But that group needs to get the Mets to postseason first.
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