The New York Mets got the worst news possible late on Thursday night when it was revealed that their ace Jacob deGrom was dealing with right shoulder tightness.
Add that to the list of ailments deGrom has dealt with over the past year.
As such, manager Buck Showalter scratched the ace from his scheduled spring training start today against the St. Louis Cardinals at Roger Dean Stadium.
deGrom went for an MRI on his shoulder this morning to determine the severity of the injury.
MLB Network insider Jon Heyman has an update on the situation, basically confirming what we already know by now.
No word on deGrom yet but with shoulder tightness reported this close to the season the belief is he is unlikely to start the Mets opener
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) April 1, 2022
A Tough Break
This is a major blow for the Mets, who banked a lot on their one-two punch of deGrom and Max Scherzer.
While still a deep rotation, losing deGrom weakens it a great deal.
deGrom was shut down last season due to elbow troubles, and now appears unlikely to start the Mets’ opener.
The most likely candidate to step up and take the No. 1 spot in the rotation would be Scherzer.
Now, the losses of Marcus Stroman and Noah Syndergaard are actually coming back to haunt the Mets a little.
While they still have Chris Bassitt, Taijuan Walker, and Carlos Carrasco to go behind Scherzer, the rotation is not as deep as it would be with deGrom available.
If there was one concern with the Mets’ rotation entering 2022, health was at the top of the list.
Scherzer also dealt with arm troubles late last season, which caused him to be scratched from his final NLCS start.
This is the first true test for the Mets, and we’ll see how well they can respond to the challenge.
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