Opening Day for the Mets is already in the books and there are now 161 games to go. The Mets expected to see their share of injuries throughout the season, but these injuries are already starting to pile up one day into the season.
Steven Matz was shut down during spring training last week because of elbow tenderness. Not much else was known about the injury right away including his timetable for return. Before Monday’s game however, Matz told reporters that he has a strained flexor tendon.
“From my understanding, it’s like a flexor strain, I strained my flexor,” Matz said according to Marc Carig of Newsday. “That’s kind of what the feeling is, that the flexor tendon is kind of flaring up.”
This is the same ligament that Matz had replaced in his 2010 Tommy John surgery, but the Mets have said that there is no ligament damage according to tests. He’ll be shut down from throwing for three weeks before being re-evaluated again.
Another pitcher who will have to miss some time is Seth Lugo. Just last Monday Lugo was pitching in a spring training game in what seemed like a competition for the last spot in the rotation. One week later it appears he will miss some significant time.
“We lost Seth Lugo today for a period of time, so we know how important it is to keep our pitchers healthy,” Terry Collins said after the Mets defeated the Braves 6-0 on Opening Day. But he declined to say what the nature of the injury was.
“He’s going to miss some time with his elbow,” Collins said. “We got to make sure we keep these guys healthy. It’s going to be a couple weeks for sure.” (Newsday)
This injury to Lugo is still not entirely clear, but his MRI results came back clean on Saturday. He was going to start throwing again on Monday with the assumption that he got a positive diagnosis from Dr. David Altchek. Apparently that did not happen.
The Mets did not reveal Lugo’s diagnosis, but the young righty did not throw after meeting with team doctors and said he is seeking a second opinion on Tuesday. The Mets will address his issue on Wednesday.
Lugo’s injury comes after pitching 15 innings for Team Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic. His participation in the WBC is leading critics to believe the injury was caused from intense competition during a time where pitchers are supposed to be warming up.
Noah Syndergaard topped off the day with an injury of his own. He had to leave after six innings on Monday due to a blood blister on his finger.
“It’s a small blood blister, started probably around the second inning or so,” Syndergaard said according to Kristie Ackert of the NY Daily News. “It popped in the fifth inning and started to bother me.”
Luckily this isn’t too serious of an injury. Terry Collins said that he will push back Syndergaard’s next start one day.
The Mets came into the season with seven starters for five rotation spots. With Matz and Lugo down to start the season, the team can only hope that the remaining five starters can stay healthy at least until the others get better. If not, the next starting pitcher down the depth chart may be Rafael Montero who surprised some as he made the team out of spring training as a reliever.
