Don’t look now, but that Mets starting pitch depth is evaporating before our very eyes.
We knew that both Steven Matz and Seth Lugo were going to be out to start the year, as they were both put on the disabled list over the weekend. But we didn’t know they’d both be missing significant time.
While Matz’s issue is now somewhat clear, Lugo’s arm troubles aren’t quite as known.
After Monday’s Opening Day win against the Atlanta Braves, manager Terry Collins dropped a bomb on reporters about a problem with Lugo’s elbow. The Mets skipper didn’t go into detail, and pretty much left his post-game press conference right after. Thankfully, some news is starting to come out about what’s going on with Lugo.
According to the New York Post’s Mike Puma, the Mets are thinking they’ll be without Lugo for some time.
Newsday’s Laura Albanese reported on Twitter that Lugo will be looking for a second opinion on his elbow.
All signs point to Lugo getting some bad news in his latest MRI. We had heard that Lugo’s tests had come back clean, showing no structural issues or damage in his elbow, but maybe the problems lie somewhere else.
For the time being, the Mets are setup to keep rolling with their starting pitching. Their rotation is set with Zack Wheeler and Robert Gsellman filling in the backend, but if another one of these guys goes down, we’ll start having some problems.
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The next in line to fill in would more than likely be Rafael Montero. The 26-year-old made the 25-man roster out of camp, and is currently considered the Mets long man in the bullpen. Montero can definitely make a spot start here and there, but although he had a fantastic Spring Training, if we see him consistently throughout the season, something has gone terribly wrong.
The Mets should have an update about Lugo on Wednesday. Until then, we’ll have to wait and hope it’s not as bad as the team currently believes.