Morning Mets Notes: Shaun Marcum Gets Cortisone Shot For Right Shoulder

There have been quite a few injury updates coming out of Port St. Lucie over the past couple weeks. Johan Santana‘s impending trip to the disabled list is nearing an official announcement, as Terry Collins is expected to announce his rotation for the first week or two of the season. Daniel Murphy could be joining the southpaw on the shelf, but David Wright‘s goal is to be playing on Opening Day. So, those are more injuries than we’d like to see this spring, but it could be worse, right? Well, things may be getting a lot more interesting within the next few days thanks to Shaun Marcum‘s shoulder.

Marcum was scheduled to start today against the St. Louis Cardinals at Tradition Field, but he was scratched in favor of Jeremy Hefner. Why, you ask? An impingement in his right shoulderwas found, and the Mets had him discretely flown up to the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan to receive a cortisone shot. He’ll now rest for a couple days before starting to throw again.

Mar 10, 2013; Jupiter, FL, USA; New York Mets starting pitcher Shaun Marcum (38) warms up against the St. Louis Cardinals at Roger Dean Stadium. The Mets defeated the Cardinals 3-0. Mandatory Credit: Scott Rovak-USA TODAY Sports

Hearing this news is a little disheartening; Marcum missed time last season with tightness in his elbow and was already pushed back once this spring to build up his arm strength. With Santana spending the start of the year on the DL, I think it’s important for Marcum to be healthy and right in the thick of that young rotation, stabilizing it with his veteran presence. Let’s hope this truly only ends up being a precaution, and he’s throwing again by the end of the week.

There were some other news and notes to come out of Spring Training yesterday, as both Justin Turner and Kirk Nieuwenhuis are on the comeback trail. Turner has been cleared for all baseball activity, but was left off the bus for New York’s trip to Kissimmee to play the Astros. Nieuwenhuis played in a minors game, and although he was expected to play three innings in the outfield, he was the DH and went 1-for-5.

Turner wasn’t allowed to make the trip to Kissimmee, but New York came out on top with a 7-5 victory over Houston. It wasn’t easy, though, as the Amazins immediately fell to a 5-0 deficit due to another rough start from Dillon Gee. Once the right-hander settled down, the New York bats came alive, as Collin Cowgill, Matt den Dekker, and Zach Lutz all provided big hits while scoring seven unanswered runs for the win. You can get your Rising Apple recap right here.

We continued our 2013 MLB preview series here at Rising Apple yesterday, as we provided the second half of our 25-man roster predictions for our beloved Metsies. Most of us had New York going north with two lefties, and that looks to be what will actually come to pass in less than two weeks. The Rising Apple Report returned for Episode #12, as Sam Maxwell, Michael Lecolant, and Rich Sparago talked about the latest Mets news, while also bringing two other FanSided writers to talk about some of New York’s NL East rivals. Jeff Schafer from Tomahawk Take chatted about the Braves, while Justin Klugh from That Ball’s Outta Here covered the Phillies. If you missed the live show, you can listen to the recording right here.

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