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.
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