The Mets placed right-hander Carlos Carrasco on the injured list earlier this week due to inflammation in his throwing elbow. The diagnosis got a little more clarity yesterday when the club announced to reporters, including Will Sammon of The Athletic, that Carrasco has a bone spur in his right elbow. He’ll be shut down for three to five days and then reevaluated. Manager Buck Showalter had previously informed reporters, including Sammon, that Carrasco would get an injection of some kind to try to alleviate the situation. Mike Puma of The New York Post reports that the hope is for the injection to allow Carrasco to continue pitching in two weeks, but he could be facing surgery otherwise.
This isn’t the first time Carrasco has been down this road, as he had surgery to remove a bone fragment from his pitching elbow in October of 2021. That was a different situation in terms of timing, however, as he then had an entire offseason to recover. Now that the 2023 campaign is in its early stages, the impacts of a surgery would be larger. It seems that he and the club are still hoping he can avoid going under the knife, but it would be a concerning development if he does ultimately require the procedure, given the overall state of the club’s rotation.
On paper, the Mets came into the year with a strong rotation, but one without certainty. It was set to be headlined by Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander, who are 38 and 40 years old, respectively. Then there was 34-year-old José Quintana and 36-year-old Carrasco, as well as Kodai Senga, who is only 30 but making the adjustment from Japan’s once-a-week pitching schedule to the more arduous North American system. There was plenty of talent there but also plenty of reasons to expect bumpy sections on the road to October.
Now just a few weeks into the season, there’s been plenty of wobbles already. Verlander has yet to debut due to a teres major strain while Quintana is out until July due to rib surgery. Carrasco made three starts before landing on the shelf but wasn’t very effective. Now Scherzer is facing a potential suspension after yesterday’s controversial sticky stuff ejection. He’s planning to appeal a suspension if he’s ultimately given one, but if it’s upheld or he ultimately drops the appeal, the Mets will have to play shorthanded for the duration of his absence as players suspended for on-field violations aren’t allowed to be replaced on the roster.
Despite all of this turmoil, the Mets are holding their own with a 12-7 record so far. For now, the rotation consists of Scherzer, Senga, Tylor Megill and David Peterson, leaving them one short of a typical five-man mix. Senga is starting today but it’s not currently known who’s taking the ball tomorrow. José Butto made a spot start this week but was optioned after, meaning he can’t come back for 15 days unless someone else gets placed on the injured list. Elieser Hernández hasn’t pitched yet in the majors or minors this year due to a shoulder strain. Dylan Bundy was signed to a minor league deal a few weeks ago and made his first Triple-A start this week, though he was torched for nine runs in 4 1/3 innings.
Joey Lucchesi might get a call at some point since he’s on the 40-man roster and stretched out, tossing 6 2/3 scoreless innings in his most recent Triple-A start. He missed all of 2022 recovering from Tommy John surgery but has been an effective starter in the past. He made 56 starts for the Padres in 2018 and 2019, posting a 4.14 ERA with a 24.6% strikeout rate, 8% walk rate and 46% ground ball rate. Injuries have limited him to a few ineffective outings in the years since, but he has a 2.30 ERA through three Triple-A starts so far this year.
With the club blasting through their depth options in the early going, they’ve decided to stretch out Denyi Reyes, per Sammon. He had been pitching well out of the bullpen for the big league club, throwing 6 1/3 scoreless innings so far, but he was optioned yesterday to get some work as a starter in Triple-A and provide the Mets with another depth option. He had some success as a starter as a prospect in the lower levels of the minors but didn’t really thrive when he reached higher levels, gradually getting push to more bullpen work. His only Triple-A action came in the Orioles’ system last year, where he posted a 7.17 ERA over 10 starts and five relief appearances.
Given all of these moving parts, the Mets would surely prefer Carrasco can return after a brief rest period, as opposed to needing surgery and requiring a longer absence. He’s dealt with various injuries throughout his career but generally returns to effectiveness when healthy. Last year, he made 29 starts for the Mets and posted a 3.97 ERA with a 23.6% strikeout rate, 6.4% walk rate and 46% ground ball rate. The Mets had to decide between $14MM club option to keep him around and a $3MM buyout, ultimately deciding to trigger the option. He’s set to become a free agent for the first time at the end of this year, having twice signed extensions with Cleveland before getting traded to the Mets alongside Francisco Lindor.
Three of the Mets original 5 starters now on the IL. That’s going to leave a mark at some point.
And Max needing to cheat like yesterday look for the 10 game suspension which makes 4/5 of the rotation out.
Scherzer did not cheat. Not enough time and forethought are spent on these new rules before they’re implemented. And dare I say, they’re implemented by umpires who can’t make sensible decisions most of the time. Therein lies the reason he was suspended. Let’s not make this into a big lolmets scandal issue. If you want to do that, go work for CNN.
NYMetsFanatic,
Scherzer was the lead Union representative who negotiated this rule change through collective bargaining process. He was warned twice to clean up his act and came back a third time with stickier hands playing the fool. Lol
They are 12-7 still. What happens when Verlander returns. Megil and Peterson are better than Carrasco and Quintana anyway. Don’t hold your breath on the Mets collapse.
Mets6986,
3 Wins vs. the Athletics and wins vs. the Marlins mostly
Bullpen has been solid but won’t hold up with the SP issue and the offense hasn’t been good enough
The beat the Padres and Dodgers. What are you talking about? The Marlins are 8-4 against everyone but the Mets.
I’m a Braves fan and I think wins are wins. Had they handled the Pirates and other bad teams better last season they would have won the division.
Of course they are.
If the Mets LOST to any of those teams, these same guys would be lololing and peeing in their diapers.
Again, I’m neutral, but I’ll take a 12-7 start anytime. And the Braves are also good! This is just getting started.
Lol Mets,
The Mets roster was put together with Steve Cohen spending like a drunken sailor and the Mets FO decision making like a 4 year old with the over the hill 40 yo SP and running the same offensive unit back from last season that choked down the stretch run.
And there were times in the playoffs, where the Astros won in SPITE of Verlander, not because of him.
Good thing those drunken sailors created starting pitching depth better than anyone in the league. Megil and Peterson are good enough to be most teams number threes and now they are in the rotation. Your team obviously isn’t very good since the only thing you ever post is lol Mets.
Peterson and Megil aren’t as good as you think they are look for Butto et al
And they are way better than you think they are. Are you seriously saying they aren’t major league capable pitchers? Keep lolmets all year while they win another 100 games this year. It makes you look foolish.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/NYM/2023.shtml
Peterson 6.10 ERA 8 BBs in 20.2 IP 14 ERs 5 HRs 26 Hits
Megill 3.00 ERA 11BBs in 21 IP 7 ERs 4 HRs 19 Hits
That’s just a few games. Same can be said for Nola and Wheeler if you want to take that approach.
He’s also 36 years old so who knows what his goal is as far as retiring from the game. He’s already dealt with cancer and may prefer not to go under the knife.
Peterson pitched yesterday so his updated line is as follows:
7.36 ERA 9 BBs in 25.2 IP 21 ERs 7 HRs 33 Hits Yowza
@ Rob Bro your obsession with the Mets is so unhealthy lol
Cohen’s_Wallet,
I have probably watched more Mets baseball and more baseball in general than anyone. I am always right about baseball.
The Mets old SP are struggling with the new pitch clock rules.
They don’t have the endurance to work quick and it is not working teaching old dogs new tricks. They are gassed by the 5th inning lol.
What are you talking about? Verlander hasn’t pitched yet. Scherzer had one bad start. It’s April. Real foolish to talk crap about 2 of the best three pitchers in the last twenty years. Especially when one had a 1.75 ERA and c y young award and the other had a 2.29 era last year. I guess you have them completely washed up.
Hey I hear Bumgarner is now available. Mets need to jump on him
Troll muted
@john good for you, I did it a while ago. Anybody that has nothing else to do with their time other than just hate or talk negativity over n over is seen as toxic in my eyes and need to be cast away. The internet is fair, they can talk, but you can also mute.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Eppler make that move.
Yep, I muted the troll as well. I expect better commentation here on MLBTR than his nonsense.
Better than everyone else in the league? Now you need to stop.
So what SP would you have signed. Look at how the P we let walk are doing. deGrom has a winning record but on the ir and left a previous game too. I like both Bassett and Walker but neither is pitching good. Rondon? IR!
Putting a team together is different in real life than in rotisserie league or The Show video game.
He should get the Spurs removed because it can ruin a career look at Mike Foltynewicz who refused to get his Spurs removed and went from being a potential ace throwing 101 mph to throwing 90 mph and out of baseball.
I would have kept the spurs and let the rest of Foltynewicz go.
Foltynewicz went in for brain scan while with Atlanta. What came back was a picture of a t.v. test pattern saying “Off the Air”.
Your comments/jokes are moronic.
Not completely farfetched. Folty was a head case. wasnt mentally tough enough to stay in the big leagues.
And how about the trade the FO made last deadline where they gave up J D Davys ( who is showing tremendous gold glove caliber defense plays at 3b and leads the team with 4 HRS and OPS of over .900 and batting average of .333 playing ever day with 3rd hardest hit rate in mlb ) and 3 good young pitchers for nothing as Darin Ruf is not on the Mets but back on the Giants!!
Yeah, that’s probably the worst trade Eppler ever made. I’d fire him for that alone.
@Rich Stevens JD Davis’s defense with the Mets was unplayable. With that being said, I said at the deadline that this trade was gonna turn out to be terrible. JD Davis was a better hitter than Ruf and a lot younger. I don’t really care about the prospects given up, they arent any good. I would have been in favor of trading Davis if they got a great controllable reliever. Last years trade deadline was the worst I’ve ever seen. Its all thanks to one man, Billy Eppler, the worst GM in baseball
I agree with you. And that’s what I like about most of you here on MLBTR, whether or not you like the Mets (sans trolls), you all think rationally and speak logically. Thank you for that. If I wanted one-sided commentary, I’d read Reddit.
@NYMetsFanatic the Mets reddit is awful. It’s all positive stuff about the team, anything negative gets downvoted
Time to sign Bumgarner.
No
At this point Frank the tank might make an appearance
I’m a lifetime Yankees fan. But all the nimrods laughing at the 12-7 mets are far funnier than anything the mets themselves are doing.
Best comment on here
His injury actually improves the team. He might be the worst starting pitcher in baseball. Don’t be fooled by his stats from last year. He got the highest run support out of every pitcher on the staff and got obliterated by .500 teams or better. I’d rather have Corbin and Bumgarner over him. He might be the luckiest pitcher I have ever seen. Makes an excuse after every loss. First it was the pitch clock, then he complained about having a rookie catch for him, then after hitting 3 guys in his last start + four walks he complained about elbow inflamation. I’m tired of his act
Maybe they should check his elbow to see if it has any outs left in it.
I too cringed when I heard that they re-signed Carrasco for another year. I was hoping that they just did that as a knee-jerk reaction to losing almost their entire pitching staff to free agency. After they rebuilt it, I was hoping that they would not think to use Carrasco initially in the five-man rotation. When I saw otherwise, I had that sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, and for very good reason. Honestly, I hope he opts for the elbow surgery and effectively removes himself from the rest of the season so that we can get on with the season without him in it.
That said, this better be a 110% better trade deadline this August, considering we need both hitting and pitching. I’m hoping for one or two young reliable arms. I think our days of acqiring aging free agent pitchers are mostly over. Verlander was necessary this year considering his Cy Young performance and the loss of deGrom.