In his Sunday column for North Jersey, Bob Klapisch reported that the Mets do not know what is really wrong with Steven Matz.

Matz recently got diagnosed with a flexor strain by a non-Mets doctor he said. However, the two Mets doctors, Dr. Altchek and Dr. Coleman, didn’t find anything structurally wrong with Matz’s elbow.

Klapisch questions Matz’s ability to pitch with discomfort. Matz has gotten a reputation as someone who has been very cautious or scared to pitch when hurt.

I personally do not agree with that idea. While Steven is not baseball’s most durable pitcher, he managed to pitch through a bone spur for a good portion of his rookie year. A rather sizable bone spur, which certainly did not feel amazing on his arm. My biggest worry is Matz getting wind of all these articles and then really pitching through a major injury because he is worried of telling the Mets about it. Teams and players should be transparent to one another.

The Mets and Matz are clearly not on the same page for this injury. While they feel Matz might have had some discomfort, they did not believe his injury required him to miss time.

Klapisch said, “The team is both frustrated and flummoxed.” Klapisch noted the Mets still value Matz very highly and believe in the talent that carried him to the big leagues with the hype of being another front-line starter.

Matz has shown the ability to dominate like his fellow rotation mates, he just hasn’t had the full MLB season yet. Matz is an electric arm who would often go 7-8 innings last May and still rack up his share of strikeouts. Matz also had a 2.19 ERA in Las Vegas and posted a 0.6 HR/9 ratio there. The same league that Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard needed a full year to harness.

While there has been a bump in the road, the Mets have not given up on the young southpaw and hope he will be back contributing to the big league team by next month. Still, the Mets are forced to look at other options outside the organization to help bolster their pitching depth.

With the injuries to Matz and Seth Lugo, the Mets looked into Doug Fister. The veteran righty likely represents a better option than current 6th starter, Rafael Montero, but having Matz back before using a Fister-type pitcher would be ideal.

Even though he is already slated to miss a month, Matz will have a huge role in the Mets ultimate goal of getting to the playoffs and going deep in it. Fellow Mets, Zack Wheeler and Matt Harvey, are both coming off a major injury and will likely have some sort of innings limit this season. Matz will play a big role in the Mets being able to manage their innings.