A three-week stretch without throwing means Matz would not return until August at the earliest, and his loss is a tough blow for a team that has been ravaged with injuries.
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Rose will take anything • Hits king Pete Rose says he’s “open to nearly anything” that Commissioner Rob Manfred might have in mind for reinstatement when they discuss his lifetime ban for betting on baseball. Now the Mets don’t know when they will see him on the mound again. He received a platelet-rich plasma injection and won’t throw for three weeks before getting examined again. Matz had complained of a sore back after his last start and tests would later reveal the partial tear. Matz began to feel a pulling in the area following his major league debut on June 28 but made his second start as scheduled against the Dodgers on July 6, when he threw six shutout innings against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Literally minutes later, though, we found out Matz had a partial tear.
Alderson suggested it’s possible the injury existed before and “was just asymptomatic”. Hey eventually we’ll have that dream rotation of Harvey- deGrom- Syndergaard- Wheeler-Matz right? hopefully? maybe? yeah who am I kidding this is the Mets. However, we can assume the Mets will be extra careful with the 24-year-old, as they have been with many of their pitching prospects.
LF Michael Cuddyer (left knee) returned to the lineup Friday, when he went 2-for-4 with a solo homer in the Mets’ 4-2 win over the Diamondbacks. The Mets could use their five healthy starters until Matz gets back, use a spot starter occasionally or recall Dillon Gee from the minors to keep using a six-man unit. That may be an option the Mets stay away from, however, since Gee is not on the 40-man roster and because in three starts for Triple-A Las Vegas he has an 8.82 ERA.
What’s worse is that the Mets and Matz downplayed the stiffness after his first start, with manager Terry Collins saying, “After his last start, he was a little stiffer than we liked”.
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On the day the Mets addressed Matz’s injury, another rookie pitcher put together a dazzling performance. That’s why teams have a medical staff and players, you know.
