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Jacob deGrom

Mets Notes: Conforto, Nimmo, deGrom

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The Mets had a rough end to their seven-game winning streak in Tampa Bay this weekend. They were handed a sweep by the Rays. They now limp into a high-stakes week of action against the Braves and Marlins facing the potential loss of more key regulars. Michael Conforto, in particular, appears heading to the injured list with a hamstring injury, per Jon Morosi of MLB Network (via Twitter). Conforto (along with Jeff McNeil) left yesterday’s game due to injury.

Brandon Nimmo, unfortunately, won’t be the answer. The Mets’ injured centerfielder is abandoning his rehab assignment and opting for further rest until he is without pain in his finger, per Tim Healey of Newsday. Nimmo hasn’t appeared in a game since May 2nd.

The Mets could use him now more than ever, especially considering his hot start. Nimmo had raked to the tune of a .318/.430/.439 triple slash line across his first 80 plate appearances. With Albert Almora also on the injured list, the Mets will turn to Jake Hager, Jose Peraza and, perhaps eventually, prospect Khalil Lee to fill in. Super-sub Jonathan Villar is already in a regular role replacing injured regular J.D. Davis at the hot corner.

The good news is that Jacob deGrom could be back in time to start Friday’s ballgame, per Bill Ladson of MLB.com. He may still go on a rehab assignment, however, pending the results of a bullpen session on Tuesday. Friday against the Marlins is the earliest Mets fans will see their all-world ace back on the hill.

Mets Place Jacob DeGrom On 10-Day Injured List

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MAY 11: The Mets have officially placed deGrom on the IL and recalled righty Sean Reid-Foley, Mike Puma of the New York Post tweets.

MAY 10: The Mets will place star right-hander Jacob deGrom on the 10-day injured list due to right side tightness, the team announced.  The placement will become official prior to tomorrow’s game with the Orioles, and the placement will be retroactive to May 10.

The news wasn’t a surprise considering that deGrom made an early exit from yesterday’s start, though an MRI didn’t reveal any structural damage.  Naturally, the Mets want to be as cautious as possible with the ace of their staff, especially since deGrom had been scratched from a previous start last Tuesday due to inflammation in his right lat.  Though it doesn’t appear as if deGrom’s injury is all that serious, getting at least 10 days off to rest and rehab is probably a wise move considering his outsized importance to New York’s rotation.

Since the Mets are off today, Thursday, and on May 20, it’s possible deGrom might only miss one start during his absence.  A return to the hill for May 21 against the Marlins certainly seems feasible if deGrom makes a quick recovery.  As MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo notes, it isn’t uncommon for deGrom to miss a start or two per season due to a minor injury, though this will mark the first time deGrom has actually been placed on the IL since 2019.  DeGrom has hit the big league IL four times in his career, returning each time in relatively short order.

DeGrom is in the midst of yet another spectacular season, with an 0.68 ERA/1.65 SIERA and (this is somehow not a typo) 567 ERA+ through 40 innings.  His 46.1% strikeout percentage leads all starting pitchers, and he also leads the majors in K/9 (14.6), hits/9 (3.8), WHIP (0.60) and FIP (1.03), not to mention high-90th percentile spots in several Statcast categories.

Mets Optimistic Jacob deGrom Will Not Have Extended Absence After MRI

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MAY 10: In what’ll surely be a sigh of relief for Mets’ fans, it seems deGrom’s MRI revealed no serious issues. Jon Morosi of MLB Network (Twitter link) reports New York is optimistic he won’t require an extended absence, although his next scheduled start may be pushed back. The Mets have off days today and Thursday, so they needn’t rearrange the rotation much to give deGrom an extra few days to recover. Morosi adds that a short-term IL stint remains a possibility, but it seems deGrom has avoided any especially worrisome injury.

MAY 9, 4:18 pm: New York is sending deGrom for an MRI “just to see what’s going on,” manager Luis Rojas told reporters (including Anthony DiComo of MLB.com). Rojas says deGrom’s current discomfort is in the right side of his lower back, not his lat.

MAY 9, 2:15 pm: The Mets announced deGrom was removed for precautionary reasons with right side tightness (via David Lennon of Newsday).

MAY 9, 1:56 pm: Mets ace Jacob deGrom left this afternoon’s start against the Diamondbacks early after a visit from the team trainer, Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News was among those to pass along (Twitter link). deGrom worked five innings before leaving during his warm-up pitches to start the sixth.

Any premature departure for the two-time NL Cy Young award winner would cause concern, but it’s especially alarming to see deGrom pulled after he was scratched from his previous start with right lat inflammation. deGrom did come out strong today, holding his typical high-90’s velocity over five frames of one-hit, one-run ball.

The 32-year-old has been nothing short of incredible this season. He’s now up to 40 innings with a 0.68 ERA and a fantastic 46.1% strikeout rate against a 5.0% walk rate. So long as he’s healthy, deGrom looks on his way to another Cy Young-caliber campaign, and he’s of upmost importance if the 15-13 Mets are to remain atop the National League East over the course of the season.

Quick Hits: deGrom, Mets, Robert, Mondesi, Cron

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Jacob deGrom is scheduled to start Sunday’s game against the Diamondbacks, as the Mets ace reported no ill effects after a bullpen session.  DeGrom was scratched from his last start on Tuesday due to inflammation in his right lat, but “as we did the due diligence and work on it, it wasn’t something that anyone thought was a major issue,” Mets GM Zack Scott told The New York Daily News’ Deesha Thosar and other reporters.

In other Mets injury news, Scott said that Seth Lugo and Noah Syndergaard will begin rehab outings “in a week or so,” with Lugo (bone spur removal surgery) expected to make his 2021 debut by the end of May, and Syndergaard (Tommy John surgery) still ticketed for sometime in June.  The news isn’t as good for infielder Luis Guillorme, as Thosar tweeted yesterday that Guillorme is still feeling discomfort in his injured right oblique when he takes swings.  Guillorme is eligible to be activated from the injured list on Sunday, but he might not return for another week.

More from around baseball…

  • Luis Robert is facing a long absence from the White Sox lineup, but the outfielder will apparently avoid surgery on his Grade 3 hip flexor strain, the team revealed in its pregame notes package (hat tip to MLB.com’s Scott Merkin).  That likely counts as a small bit of good news for Robert, though it probably won’t materially change the possibility that his season could already be over.  The Sox have already announced that Robert will need 12-to-16 weeks just to resume baseball activities.
  • Adalberto Mondesi has yet to play this season due to a right oblique strain, though Royals manager Mike Matheny provided reporters (including MLB.com’s Bill Ladson) with another positive update on the shortstop’s condition.  The switch-hitting Mondesi cannot yet hit from the left side of the plate, though he can take batting practice and swing normally as a right-handed hitter.  Mondesi will soon be working out at the Royals’ Spring Training facility, and it isn’t yet known when he might embark on a rehab assignment.
  • Rockies first baseman C.J. Cron has missed the team’s last two games due to lower back tightness, and manager Bud Black told The Denver Post’s Patrick Saunders and other reporters that it isn’t yet clear if Cron will require an IL placement.  “We’re hoping it resolves itself the next day or two, to avoid the injured list…I think tomorrow and Monday are really big days when we evaluate C.J.,” Black said.  Signed to a minor league deal during the offseason, Cron has been a huge contributor for the Rockies, hitting .290/.394/.495 with five homers over his first 109 PA in a Colorado uniform.

Jacob deGrom Dealing With Right Lat Inflammation

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6:12pm: The MRI revealed inflammation in deGrom’s right lat, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com reports. While deGrom will take a few days off from throwing, the Mets don’t plan to place him on the injured list.

4:25pm: DeGrom will undergo an MRI this afternoon, manager Luis Rojas announced (via Healey).

4:04pm: The Mets have scratched ace Jacob deGrom from his scheduled start Tuesday because of “right side tightness,” Tim Healey of Newsday was among those to tweet. Righty Miguel Castro will take the ball against the Cardinals in deGrom’s place.

A major injury to deGrom could have a crippling effect on the Mets’ chances of contending for a playoff spot, but it doesn’t appear this is an especially serious issue, Jeff Passan of ESPN hears. Rather, deGrom may miss just one start, per Passan.

After a highly active offseason, the Mets have come out flat in 2021 with an 11-12 record, but deGrom certainly isn’t to blame. The two-time National League Cy Young winner is in top form at the age of 32, having pitched to a major league-leading 0.51 ERA over five starts and 35 innings. DeGrom is also pacing all starters in strikeout rate (48 percent) and swinging-strike rate (23 percent), and his K-BB percentage (44.7) is second only to the Brewers’ Corbin Burnes.

Mets Discussed Extension With Jacob deGrom In Spring Training

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The Mets engaged in preliminary extension talks with ace Jacob deGrom during Spring Training, reports Andy Martino of SNY. Discussions did not get very far and are not expected to continue during the regular season, Martino adds.

With talks now on hold, it certainly doesn’t appear as if another long-term deal between deGrom and the Mets is coming in the near future. There’s not a whole lot of urgency, though. The two-time Cy Young award winner previously signed an extension in March 2019. That deal could keep deGrom in Queens through 2024 but affords him the opportunity to opt out after the 2022 season. The 32-year-old is slated for successive salaries of $36MM in each of the next two years (with some of that money deferred). If deGrom doesn’t opt out two years from now, he’d make $30.5MM in 2023, while the Mets would have to decide on a 2024 club option valued at $32.5MM.

While it’s certainly possible the Mets and deGrom revisit extension talks next winter, the financial picture for the organization has changed significantly in recent days. On Wednesday night, the Mets agreed to a ten-year, $341MM extension with shortstop Francisco Lindor that covers the 2022-31 seasons. That pushed the Mets’ 2022 payroll commitments over $127MM, in the estimation of Cot’s Baseball Contracts.

More meaningfully in the context of a potential deGrom extension, New York already has in excess of $100MM on the books for 2023. That takes the form of salaries for Lindor ($34.5MM), deGrom ($30.5MM), Robinson Canó ($20.25MM), James McCann ($12.125MM) and Taijuan Walker ($6MM player option), as well as a $3MM buyout on Carlos Carrasco’s $14MM club option. deGrom opting out after 2022 would remove his salary from that ledger but would obviously require the Mets to make another significant investment if they want to keep him in the fold.

The Mets have a few more pressing decisions to make in the coming months. Michael Conforto, Noah Syndergaard and Marcus Stroman are all scheduled for free agency after this season. New York discussed an extension with Conforto during Spring Training. Those talks could continue into the regular season but it seems there’s still quite the gap to close if they’re to keep the productive outfielder off the open market.

Steve Cohen is the game’s wealthiest owner and has already pushed the Mets’ player payroll well above the previous ownership group’s recent limits. It remains to be seen how much further Cohen is willing to go and how team president Sandy Alderson chooses to allocate those resources in an attempt to build a perennial contender around Lindor.

Pitching Notes: Mets, deGrom, Nationals, Ross, Twins, Happ, Cardinals, Hudson

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Mets ace Jacob deGrom likes the idea of spending his entire career with the Mets, per Mike Puma of the New York Post. Said the ace, “One thing I think that is really cool is whenever somebody spends their entire career with one team. You don’t see it happen a whole lot anymore, so it’s definitely something I have thought about and I guess we just have to see when that time comes.” DeGrom has an opt out after the 2022 season, which he could attempt to leverage into long-term security in New York. Otherwise, the Mets holds a $32.5MM team option for 2024, which would be deGrom’s age-36 season. Elsewhere in the National League…

  • The Nationals hope Joe Ross can unequivocally seize the fifth starter’s spot in their rotation, but manager Dave Martinez and pitching coach Jim Hickey are hesitant to declare the spot his after Ross sat out 2020, per Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post (via Twitter). Erick Fedde and Austin Voth could get into the starting mix if Ross isn’t quite ready to take a full workload from the jump. There’s no indication that the plans have changed much, however, as the Nats still plan on staying in-house to fill that role.
  • J.A. Happ tested positive for coronavirus upon his intake with the Twins, per the Athletic’s Dan Hayes (via Twitter). Happ is asymptomatic for now. Assuming he remains that way, Happ should still be ready in time for the start of the season. The Twins signed Happ to an $8MM deal in January, and the Twins expect him to hold down a spot in the middle of their rotation.
  • Dakota Hudson is at the Cardinals spring camp site in Jupiter, FL and ahead of schedule in his return from Tommy John surgery, per Zachary Silver of MLB.com (via Twitter). Hudson is scheduled to begin playing catch on March 15th. He is still more likely than not to miss the 2021 season after undergoing surgery late in September.

 

NL East Notes: Kingston, Phillies, Marlins, Kintzler, deGrom

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The Phillies are considering Dodgers assistant GM Jeff Kingston for their general manager position, MLB Network’s Jon Morosi reports (Twitter link).  Kingston joins a rather short list of names linked to the Phils’ front office search thus far, as former Marlins GM Michael Hill is also expected to interview for the president of baseball operations position and the Phillies will also make something of a longer-shot appeal to gauge Theo Epstein’s interest in the PoBO role.

Kingston has been the Dodgers’ AGM for the last two seasons and worked in the same role with the Mariners from 2016-18, also briefly serving as Seattle’s interim general manager before Jerry Dipoto was hired.  Most recently, Kingston was a finalist for the Angels’ GM opening before Perry Minasian was hired.  It would be somewhat unusual if the Phillies hired Kingston or anyone else as general manager before hiring a president of baseball ops, though it remains to be seen if Philadelphia is necessarily embarking on a full-fledged search, since it remains possible that current PoBO Andy MacPhail and interim GM Ned Rice could remain in their current roles through the 2021 season.

More from around the NL East…

  • As of Wednesday, the Marlins hadn’t made Brandon Kintzler a new contract offer, The Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson reports.  The Marlins declined their 2021 club option on Kintzler (worth $4MM) last month and had expressed interest in bringing him back, though no progress has yet been made on that front.  Kintzler posted a 2.22 ERA over 24 1/3 innings in his first season in Miami, with the caveat that advanced metrics and ERA predictors were much less impressed with the groundball specialist’s work.
  • Jackson also provides an update on negotiations between the Marlins and Sinclair Broadcast Group about a new TV contract, as the team’s old deal expired at the end of the season.  The Marlins are looking to more than triple the $18MM-$20MM they received annually under the terms of their old contract, though “one problem is that there’s no legitimate TV competitor to challenge Sinclair for Marlins rights.”  The club could explore such alternative broadcast options as Amazon or YouTube (which Jackson describes as “a long shot”), though barring such a development, talks with Sinclair might stretch into January or February.
  • Less than two years after signing Jacob deGrom to a contract extension, should the Mets explore another deal with their ace?  The New York Post’s Joel Sherman makes the case, noting that deGrom can opt out of his current contract following the 2022 season, if he chose to move on from the $30.5MM owed to him for 2023 and a potential $32.5MM for 2024 via a club option.  DeGrom would entering the 2022-23 free agent market as a 34-year-old, though if he kept pitching close to his current form, he would surely land more than one guaranteed year on the open market.  If deGrom has another Cy Young-caliber season in 2021, it will give him more leverage in extension talks, which is why it could behoove the Mets to discuss an extension now.  On the other hand, with deGrom’s decision still two years away, the Mets could decide to stand pat rather than commit more big money to a pitcher approaching his mid-30’s.

Mets President Sandy Alderson On Team Needs

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During Steve Cohen’s introductory press conference with the Mets, team president Sandy Alderson took questions from reporters and said a number of interesting things about the direction of the Mets.

The Mets finished in 4th place in three of the last four years, and they haven’t made the playoffs since 2016 when they lost a one-game playoff. The Mets made some win-now moves in recent years that raised expectations, but they’ve been unable to get over the hump. That said, Alderson likes the way the team has drafted, and he sees some pieces to build around, saying, “From an offensive standpoint, there are definitely some first-division championship pieces.” Speculatively speaking, masher Pete Alonso falls into this category, despite a down sophomore season in 2020. Brandon Nimmo, Jeff McNeil, Michael Conforto, Robinson Cano, and Dominic Smith put up strong seasons in 2020 as well. Smith, in particular, will be interesting to follow, because if there isn’t a DH in 2021, he may be out of a starting job.

On the pitching said, Alderson said, “Jacob deGrom is by definition an ace. He’s the definition of of Cy Young, if you will.” deGrom has been the face of the Mets for the past four seasons or so, over which time he won consecutive Cy Young awards, and he’s up for a third in a row this year.

He needs help in the rotation, however, especially with Noah Syndergaard on the mend and Marcus Stroman a free agent. On WFAN later in the day, Alderson fanned some rumor flames by speaking positively about free agent Trevor Bauer: “I actually think Bauer would be a great personality in New York. The kind of guy that fans would endorse. We’re in the entertainment business,” per New York baseball columnist John Harper (via Twitter). While Bauer would certainly fill a need in the organization, Alderson doesn’t go so far as to say he is a person of interest.

But there’s no denying the Mets as a fourth place team. Thus, Alderson covered some of their needs moving into the offseason, saying, “…There are things that we don’t do well. we need to shore up some positions. Our pitching staff is thin. Our depth at Double-A and Triple-A is thin or thinner. The bullpen has been inconsistent. We have needs behind the plate.”

In terms of specific players, he mentioned Brad Hand as someone they would have been interested in claiming on waivers if the timing had been different, per Tim Britton of the Athletic (via Twitter). He noted that the one-year, $10MM deal for Hand might be an overpay, but that sometimes the acquisition is more important than the cost itself, which speaks to his philosophy of roster-building.

Alderson even took some “credit” for the team defense, which he spoke of as an area that needs improvement. During Anderson’s run as GM from 2010 to 2018, an emphasis was put on offense. Moving forward, however, Alderson recognizes the need to address the other side of the ball. Speculatively, that could mean being open to moving one of Smith, Nimmo, or Conforto to find a more defensive-minded centerfielder. They could also start their defensive revamp by focusing on that end with whomever they bring in behind the plate.

All in all, Alderson took a measured approach in discussing the Mets’ future, recognizing some of the failures of the team in recent years. Ultimately, he landed on the side of optimism, saying, “…There is a foundation there, and I think if we can add the right pieces this year – and Steve has indicated that we’ll have the opportunity to do that – we can be pretty good pretty quickly, and that’s my goal for 2021.”

Jacob deGrom Leaves Start Early

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7:46pm: deGrom is dealing with a right hamstring spasm, the team announced.

7:06pm: Mets ace Jacob deGrom left his start against the Phillies on Wednesday after two innings, Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer was among those to report. The reason for deGrom’s exit isn’t yet known, but he met with trainers after his final inning. The Mets then replaced deGrom with right-hander Michael Wacha.

DeGrom departed his outing after yielding three earned runs, making it his worst start of 2020. The back-to-back NL Cy Young winner entered Wednesday in strong contention for the award again with a 1.67 ERA/1.96 FIP and 13.17 K/9 against 2.17 BB/9 over 54 innings. Prior to Wednesday, deGrom hadn’t allowed more than two earned runs in any of his starts this season.

There would be no replacing deGrom for the Mets if he has to miss time, but the fact that they went into Wednesday at 21-27 makes it unlikely they’ll earn a playoff trip, anyway. With that in mind, the bigger question may be how a deGrom injury would impact the NL Cy Young race, where Yu Darvish and Trevor Bauer are also among those competing for the honors.

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