Right off the heels of the news that the Mets have lost shortstop Francisco Lindor for a while due to a strained oblique, there's more big-name injury news. Jacob deGrom has been shut down and won't make his scheduled start on Monday, manager Luis Rojas told reporters, including Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News, on Saturday.
Rojas relayed that deGrom felt forearm tightness in his side throwing session on Friday. Hearing anything forearm-related with an injury is pretty scary, but fortunately the Mets said his MRI came back clean and he'll resume throwing once the tightness goes away.
This season, deGrom has dealt with shoulder and side injuries, but he's only missed a few starts. The baseball world will hold out hope that's the case again. deGrom is the best pitcher in the world right now. He's 7-2 with a 1.08 ERA, 0.55 WHIP and 146 strikeouts against 11 walks in 92 innings. He last took the mound on July 7.
The Mets right-hander also chose to skip this year's All-Star Game at Coors Field. "For me, I don't think it's smart to go pitch in the All-Star Game," deGrom said. "I've been a little beat up this first half and obviously missed a few starts that I wish I wouldn't have missed, so I don't think it makes sense for me to throw in it."
Aside from deGrom, the Mets have Taijuan Walker, Marcus Stroman and Tylor Megill in their rotation at present. Carlos Carrasco (elbow and hamstring injuries) has thrown a two-inning rehab start, so he'll likely be back on the mound soon. In his long road back from Tommy John surgery, the Mets are eyeing September 1 for Noah Syndergaard's return. David Peterson (oblique) has started "light throwing," so he'll be a few more weeks.
Despite the rash of injuries, the Mets entered Saturday's action with a three game lead in the NL East. If they can get all their pitchers healthy come September, that's a pretty scary rotation, but it's also, obviously, full of injury concerns.
