Syndergaard on the Disabled List with Hand, Foot & Mouth Disease

Remember the movie Groundhog Day? That would describe the New York Mets and injuries. As they used to say in the Peanuts cartoon, "Good Grief, Charlie Brown."

Bizarre would be an understatement when describing the recent rash of injuries that have inflicted the Mets in the past 24 hours.

First it was Yoenis Cespedes who revealed that a heel injury has contributed to his quad and hip flexor injuries, a procedure that would require surgery and 8 to 10 months of rehab. Now the Mets got another doozy on Sunday involving Noah Syndergaard.

According to interim General Manager John Ricco, Thor was placed on the disabled listed with hand, foot and mouth disease. The Mets have called up Corey Oswalt to take his place in the rotation. Ricco is hopeful that Syndergaard will miss only one start.

The virus might explain why Sydergaard was inconsistent with his velocity, which only toped 94 mph on his fastball by the fifth inning. While Syndergaard held the Yankees to only a run over five innings, he left the game after only 84 pitches. At one point during that inning, manager Mickey Callaway went out to the mound to make sure there was nothing physically wrong with his starting pitcher.

The injury is the latest in what has been a series of ill-gotten misfortune for the towering star. Last season, Syndergaard missed most of the season with a torn lat muscle in his arm.

This year, he spent seven weeks on the disabled list with a strained ligament in his right index finger.

On the mound, the 2018 season has been a frustrating one for Syndergaard. He hasn’t dominated the way he did during his first two seasons in the big leagues.  At time it appears that Syndergaard spends more time trying to muscle the ball than pitching.

While he is 6-1 with a 2.89 ERA, Syndergaard finds himself getting into deep counts way too often against hitters. Case in point, he is average 16.1 pitches per inning, which is a career high at this rate, and 3.82 pitches per plate appearance speaks to the high pitch rate.

We would be remiss to point out that hitters haven’t been fooled by Syndergaard too much this year. Teams are hitting .268 against him this year, with a .311 on base percentage. Those are all career highs against Thor.

With Syndergaard on the disabled list there seems to be a prevailing thought in Social Media, and the media in general that the Mets were interested in trading Syndergaard. This latest setback may change that.

When asked about whether the injury eliminates the possibility he would be traded, Ricco didn’t put cold water on the idea. “I don’t think so because this is a short-term issue and he’s been out there a few times and teams know what he is,” Ricco said.

With eight days to go before the non-waiver trade deadline, the Mets could still look to trade the likes of Jacob deGrom or Asdrubal Cabrera. While deGrom rumors have quieted down, there was speculation earlier in the day that the Seattle Mariners could be interested in Cabrera.

As far as the return the Mets got in the Jeurys Familia trade, New York didn’t get much in return. The Mets received prospects Will Toffey and reliever Bobby Wahl in the deal, plus cash for international signings.  Wahl pitched in Triple-A for the Athletics.