It’s official…
Moments ago Sandy Alderson announced that Dillon Gee was being placed on the DL with a strained groin, and that Noah Syndergaard will be promoted and make his major league debut on Tuesday against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. Bartolo Colon will start in Gee’s place on Sunday on regular rest.
Sandy Alderson called Steven Matz “an equally deserving candidate.”
“This is a year plus at Class AAA, and he’s certainly done a nice job there to date,” Alderson said of Syndergaard.
“His last three starts were overpowering. So from that standpoint he’s deserving.”
Wow, the Syndergaard era begins…
6:00 PM
After a team source told reporter Kristie Ackert of the Daily News that Dillon Gee may need to miss his next scheduled start, Twitter ran amok and soon the story warped into Steven Matz was being called up to start on Sunday. Wow.
Of course, that’s not actually the case, at least not now, and certainly not officially.
According to Newsday’s Marc Carig, the team is more likely to push Bartolo Colon up a day and have him pitch Sunday instead of Monday.
Because of the day off on Thursday, Colon would be on his regular rest. So we’re merely talking about a minor reshuffling. And if need be, Carlos Torres could get a spot start.
Gee is dealing with a groin issue according to Adam Rubin of ESPN New York. However Carig was told the issue is not a big deal.
The team was reportedly targeting May 20 or May 21 to call up a spot starter anyway, but when news leaked about Gee, things spiraled out of control. One minute you had Noah Syndergaard getting called up, the next one Matz.
There was even evidence of many cheering for Gee to be hurt more significantly than was being reported, as some became hysterical with the possibility of more than just a spot start. Grown men were acting like 14 year old girls at a Beatles concert.
Pretty sad actually when you consider how much Gee has meant to this team and what a class act and decent person he is.
Anyway, with groin injuries being what they are, the chance does exist that Gee could miss more than just a start or even land on the DL.
As a precaution Matz is being held from his start for Las Vegas until the team has more information to work with.
The word is team brass is discussing their options right now at CBP and Sandy Alderson will address the media at 7:00 PM.
Stay tuned…
