With just over a week before the abbreviated season is set to begin, the Mets got worrisome news about their ace, when Jacob deGrom left Tuesday’s intrasquad game at Citi Field after just one inning with back tightness.
No further information was provided, but deGrom is certainly the last player the Mets can afford to lose. He’s slated to start Opening Day on July 24 against Atlanta in Queens and had looked sharp both in March in Port St. Lucie and in spring training 2.0 in Queens.
He pitched three innings in his first intrasquad outing and was expected to build up his pitch count Tuesday, followed by a start in Saturday’s exhibition game against the Yankees before the season opener.
Now those plans are in doubt, as the 32-year-old’s health is in question.
The Mets are already entering the season without Noah Syndergaard, who underwent Tommy John surgery this spring.
Any absence by deGrom would be hard for the Mets to take, but that would be especially true in a truncated season.
DeGrom didn’t show any obvious signs of discomfort during his lone inning Tuesday. He gave up a single and a walk in the scoreless frame, but didn’t come out for the second inning and was replaced by left-hander Justin Wilson.
The team announced the injury shortly after the game ended.
DeGrom also experienced lower back tightness during spring training in 2018 before he went on to win his first NL Cy Young Award. He’s pitched over 200 innings each of his last three years.
This season, the right-hander is trying to become just the third pitcher to win as many as three consecutive Cy Young awards. In each of those award-winning years, deGrom has started slowly— relatively— before getting stronger during the season.
He’ll have less time to make up for a sluggish open this season.
But more importantly for the Mets, they are expected to contend in the NL East and especially can’t afford to be without their ace for any length of time in a 60-game regular season.
Without Syndergaard, they were set to go with a rotation of deGrom, Marcus Stroman, Steven Matz, Michael Wacha and Rick Porcello.
And as much as the loss of Syndergaard stung, deGrom’s would be felt even more.
They have Seth Lugo and possibly Robert Gsellman, but both are likely to stay in the bullpen. Walker Lockett, Corey Oswalt and prospect David Peterson would also be potential candidates to start if deGrom can’t go.
No matter whom the Mets found, they wouldn’t compare to deGrom, who has delivered back-to-back tremendous seasons. He finished 2018 with a 1.70 ERA and followed that up by posting an ERA of 2.43 last season. And deGrom made 32 starts in each of those years.
Last week, he acknowledged winning a Cy Young wouldn’t be the same as the previous two, since it would come in an abbreviated season that’s been shortened first by the COVID-19 pandemic and then a labor dispute between MLB and the players association.
“I would say there definitely has to be some difference there, 12 starts versus 32 or 33,” the Mets ace said last Monday. “There is a lot that can happen in any given start, and you normally play 162 games and 200 innings. I don’t think [winning the award] would feel the same, but it’s definitely still a goal.”
Now, a lot more than hardware might be in jeopardy.
With a potentially healthy Yoenis Cespedes, the Mets have big plans heading into this odd season, with deGrom even eyeing the World Series.
“As far as the team coming together under these circumstances and figuring out a way to win, I think as a team effort that would take everybody following these guidelines and staying on the field,” deGrom said. “I think that’s something you would definitely celebrate.”