As the New York Mets set their sights on the 2020 season, they got two doses of bad news. Marcus Stroman and Robert Gsellman both landed on the injured list.
Talk about a double-whammy right before the 60-game sprint is set to start for the Mets on Friday against Atlanta. Stroman was diagnosed with a muscle tear in his calf. Gsellman has triceps tightness in his throwing arm.
The Stroman injury deals another devastating blow to a Mets’ rotation that has already suffered a major loss when Noah Syndergaard was sidelined due to injury. Luis Rojas described Stroman’s injury as one they will take a look at on a week-to-week basis, but he will not require surgery. Still, you can expect him out of the rotation for a good portion of the shortened season.
This puts the Mets in a bind as far as rotation depth. Now, Steven Matz, Rick Porcello, and Michael Wacha will all step into even larger roles.
Meanwhile the Mets will look toward Corey Oswalt, Erasmo Ramirez and David Peterson as some internal solutions to fill the final spot in their rotation. It is also fair to wonder if Seth Lugo is eventually given another look as a starter, although for now it appears they are committed to keeping him in the pen. The Mets could also look to find an external option in free agency.
Losing Gsellman puts more question marks on a bullpen that was already facing its fair share heading into the year. The Mets did bring some veteran arms in recently with Hunter Strickland and Jared Hughes but the latter is also currently on the shelf. The good news with Gsellman is he is reportedly only expected to miss a week.
The first pitch of the regular season hasn’t even been thrown and the clouds of uncertainty have already rolled in. And it has now become a bit of a juggling act for first year manager, Rojas.
