Mets ace Noah Syndergaard seeks second opinion on torn lat

Conservative timetable for return to the mound reported to be three months for Mets’ ace.

In what could be a devastating blow for the New York Mets, a timetable has been floated out for his torn lat and it’s cringe worthy. According to Joel Sherman, Syndergaard is flying to Los Angeles for a second opinion on his injury and reported conservative estimates are that he will miss three months.

The injuries have continued to stack up for the Mets, but this seemed like a situation that could have been avoidable, especially with how it played out. Nevertheless, the Mets will be without their ace through at least July if these estimates hold true. That obviously doesn’t account for any setbacks, which would put Syndergaard closer to an end of season return.

After Tuesday’s loss to Atlanta, the Mets have drifted back to four games under .500 at 11-15. They have played exclusively against divisional competition in a division where they were expected to at least place second. There’s still a lot of baseball left, but the Mets are without their best pitcher for a substantial amount of time and are still missing their best hitter in Yoenis Cespedes.

This is just projecting into the future, but if this season doesn’t improve then we may not see Syndergaard at all the rest of the year especially if he falls on the back end of the timetable. If the team is out of contention at that point then there’s no incentive to bring him back.

It’s a tough break individually as well. Syndergaard came in as a prime contender for the Cy Young after winning 14 games and posting a 2.60 ERA in 2016, his first full season. Syndergaard posted a 32:2 strikeout-to-walk ratio in his five starts this season.

Next: Was Syndergaard's off-season regimen too strong?

Now that there is potentially a better idea of how much time Syndergaard will miss, how will the Mets respond? Rafael Montero will take the ball on Friday, but he’s a long shot to stick in the rotation. Seth Lugo and Steven Matz won’t be back for at least another three weeks. The Mets need an innings eater somewhere. The bullpen is already taxed and hasn’t performed well this season — to put things in perspective for you: 23^rd in ERA, tied for 28^th in home runs allowed, 29^th in walks, and 30^th in opponent batting average.