As Matt Harvey becomes the latest Met that falls to injury, landing on the disabled list with right shoulder discomfort, Adam Rubin of ESPN wonders if we will ever see all five young starters ever pitch together in the Mets rotation.
It is quite a fair question to ask as we have yet to see the fab five come together all at once and show what they can do. As one gets healthy, another always seems to go down. They just have not been able to stay healthy as a unit. Rubin looks at the current status of the staff.
“By the time Syndergaard debuted in May 2015, Wheeler had undergone Tommy John surgery two months earlier. Now, with Wheeler still more than a month away from returning from that elbow procedure because of a pair of setbacks, Harvey is experiencing shoulder discomfort and has been placed on the disabled list. Will he require season-ending surgery? It’s too soon to know. But it’s entirely possible that whenever Wheeler returns in August or beyond, Harvey will still be on the shelf.”
Of course Steven Matz and Noah Syndergaard, although currently pitching, are doing so with bone spurs. Matz’s bone spur will require surgery, most likely at season’s end if he is able to make it through all of the current campaign.
It shows just how important having solid depth and a pipeline of pitchers can be. In a day where pitch counts are religiously looked at, innings are capped, injuries still occur no matter how much precaution a team may take.
The most alarming fact as Rubin points out is that the time for this staff to perform together is dwindling fast. Free Agency looms just after next season for the original anchor of the much heralded rotation.
“Make no mistake: The shelf life for this group as a unit is ticking. Even if Harvey is retained and not traded this offseason — and it is getting harder to envision him getting dealt considering this season’s subpar production and current shoulder woes — his free agency nonetheless does not seem so distant anymore. Harvey is eligible for free agency after the 2018 season.”
The time truly is ticking and this could potentially be the only season where this rotation takes a full turn in good health if Harvey is able to come back from whatever may be nagging him. The Mets could just as soon look to trade Harvey this offseason, especially if he is able to come back form injury and show he is the dominant pitcher he once was.
Only time will tell if we ever get to see this rotation ever achieve the distinction as one of the greatest of all-time. Seeing how things have progressed over the past three seasons, do you believe the Mets rotation will ever get healthy and live up to expectations?
