As if things couldn't get any worse for the New York Mets beleaguered pitching staff, staff ace and reigning Cy Young Champion Jacob deGrom is heading back to New York to have an MRI on his right elbow, which was apparently "barking" after a throwing session on Thursday.
“We’re not sure exactly what it is so we wanted to get it checked out,” Mets Manager Mickey Callaway said in St. Louis. “Just a little tender in the elbow. We don’t know if it’s from general fatigue, so we’re just being overly cautious at this point and making sure we take care of him.”
The Mets are going to be cautiously optimistic. deGrom was already pushed back a day on this road trip due to strep throat, and was to pitch Saturday in St. Louis. Instead he won't pitch at all. The Mets say they are not seriously concerned at this point, and there was no report of a potential IL stint.
Still, just the idea of the staff ace heading to New York to check on his elbow is a huge red flag.
deGrom has been very un-deGrom-like his past two starts where he has a combined ERA of 9.00, and has surrendered five home runs, including three to the Minnesota Twins at the end of the last Mets home-stand. Last Sunday night in Atlanta, deGrom couldn't find the strike zone as he walked four and gave up two homers to the Braves in a 7-3 loss in front of a national audience.
It is hard to believe that deGrom would even have such struggles, especially coming off a year where he was practically lights out every single night he was on the mound. But he is human after all. Nobody with reasonable expectations expected deGrom to be as on-point every single night.
Of course, it is an understatement to say the Mets can ill afford to lose deGrom for an extended period of time.
Outside of deGrom, the Mets have only one reliable starter - Noah Syndergaard -- and even Thor can be erratic at times. While Syndergaard has walked only five this year, he has given up 13 runs in 24 innings, and is susceptible to getting hit. Zach Wheeler and Steven Matz are too up and down for Mets fans to know what to expect from either one of them on a regular basis. Jason Vargas ... I won't even go there. As a whole the Mets have a team ERA of 5.54, ranked 27th in Major League Baseball. They are also 29th in the league in OBP with teams hitting .273 against them. The team's WHIP registers at 1.53, tied with Baltimore for dead last.
Were it not for a Mets offense that has been hitting extremely well, even with Robinson Cano mired in a slump, and the solid efforts of Edwin Diaz at the back-end of the bullpen, who knows where the Mets would be right now. They need their pitching staff to stand up and deliver.
If deGrom is to miss any time, the Mets need to get serious about getting help, and I am not talking about recalling Corey Oswalt. If the Mets think they have a shot at the Phillies, they need to give free agent starter Dallas Keuchel serious consideration.
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