Josh Edgin will undergo Tommy John surgery on Tuesday at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, the team announced. Edgin chose surgery over rest and rehab and will miss all of the 2015 season.
“It was the best decision for my future and my family. The Mets stood behind me 100 percent,” Edgin said in a statement.
“I’m disappointed, because we have a heck of a team. My mindset is to be ready to go on Opening Day, 2016.”
Mets general manager Sandy Alderson expects Edgin to return on a schedule similar to Bobby Parnell.
The Mets have Scott Rice, Dario Alvarez, Sean Gilmartin and Jack Leathersich all vying for the lefthanded relief job for now but they are monitoring the market.
Combined, Gilmartin, Alvarez, Leathersich, Rice have allowed 18 runs on 14 hits and 14 walks in 12.0 innings pitched this Spring.
“We’ll continue to look at all options,” Alderson said. “We know what we have internally at this point. We’ll hope that those options improve over the next couple of weeks, become more attractive and continue to look externally as well.”
March 13
Mets GM Sandy Alderson briefed reporters this morning and said reliever Josh Edgin has a stretched out ligament in his left elbow which may eventually require season ending surgery.
Edgin can choose to undergo surgery or rest and rehab.
If he chooses surgery, it would put him out for the year. If he chooses rehab, general manager Sandy Alderson says it would be a 2-3 week process.
“It’s disappointing, yes,” Edgin said. “Really disappointing. We’re going to have a great year this year, whether it’s with me or without me.”
The Mets will have to rely on Sean Gilmartin,Jack Leathersich, Scott Rice and Dario Alvarez for now, none of whom have distinguished themselves yet this Spring.
March 11
A source with knowledge of the situation told Adam Rubin of ESPN New York that reliever Josh Edgin may escape his current elbow issue with “rest and rehab.”
“A second source added that surgery — either Tommy John, or something more benign like the removal of the bone spur that Edgin was diagnosed as having last August — did not seem necessary.”
Officially, the team remains tight-lipped Wednesday evening, Rubin says, with one official saying the organization would have no comment until Thursday morning.
Earlier today the Mets confirmed that Edgin was headed to New York to meet with Dr. David Altchek and team doctors at Hospital for Special Surgery.
March 10
Adam Rubin of ESPN New York is now reporting that reliever Josh Edgin is getting an MRI today after telling the team he had discomfort in his left arm.
“It’s elbow. It’s everything. Arm. It’s discomfort,” Edgin said.
Edgin’s fastball velocity has declined and he gave up consecutive-run scoring triples to lefty batters in Monday’s Grapefruit League game against the Marlins reaching only 88 to 91 mph with his fastball.
Pitching coach Dan Warthen told Rubin that last year’s issue is different from the current one. A year ago, “we felt like he was out of shape,” Warthen said.
Warthen said the Mets will back Edgin off pitching in games for an undetermined period. Edgin said the entire forearm is uncomfortable.
The Mets have no proven safety net if Edgin were to miss any significant time.
They opted to bring in a couple of low-cost lefty-relief options and passed on an established complement for Edgin.
March 9
According to a report by Adam Rubin of ESPN New York, Terry Collins is worried about LHP Josh Edgin, whose velocity sat between 88-91 MPH during his outing on Monday when he allowed back to back hard hit triples to left-handed batters in his 1/3 inning of work.
“What you look for right now is not necessarily anything more than making sure his velocity gets up, Collins said. “That would be right now a concern — the fact that his velocity is not there yet.”
“That’s going to be something we’ve got to certainly work on long-toss-wise, arm-speed-wise, because that sets the tone for everything.”
“When Josh Edgin is pitching good, he’s throwing 93 mph. And that’s enough to throw it by somebody. And now his slider becomes more effective. If the hitter doesn’t worry about you getting your fastball by him, they settle on his offspeed stuff.”
The Mets have been banking on Edgin to be their primary lefty in the bullpen this year. In fact, confidence in him has been so high, that on three occasions Sandy Alderson said he may go with Edgin as the lone lefty in the bullpen if someone else doesn’t emerge in Spring Training.
And so far, nobody seems to be stepping up.
Jack Leathersich has a 33.75 ERA and 5.25 WHIP after two appearances with 5 walks in 1.1 innings. I love Leathersich… If he could just throw more strikes he could become another Billy Wagner. But I digress…
The Mets selected Sean Gilmartin in the Rule 5 draft believing he could be that second lefty. The knock on him is that he doesn’t really have outstanding stuff. On Monday he allowed a walk and 2 hits in an inning of work, unfortunately one of those hits was was a three run homer off Avery Romero. (Did you just scratch your head and say, who?)
Scott Rice could put himself into the conversation and has two scoreless innings this Spring. But coming off major reconstruction surgery on his elbow, and a 5.93 ERA in 2014 he’s a significant risk. And that was before he admitted yesterday, that sensation in his pinky and ring finger only returned late November, but that he is still waiting for it to come back on his elbow. Really?
So here’s the real kicker. After Mondays 13-2 loss Fred Wilpon met with Terry Collins and among other things, he expressed concern with our lefthanded relievers. Of course, he could have done something about it as over a dozen lefty relievers in free agency signed MLB deals with other teams one by one. Gee thanks Fred, for being such a sport.
Getting back to Edgin, he’s had these velocity issues before and what we know is when he’s throwing 94-95 he’s an incredible reliever. However when he’s throwing 89-91 he’s as dangerous (in a bad way) as a Bouncing Betty. One false move and… Well, you know.
Let’s just hope things straighten out and he gets that velocity where it needs to be. It’s only March 10, plenty of time for the situation to improve.
