The Mets’ rotation is suddenly full of elbow troubles

Tuesday’s Say Hey, Baseball includes the latest on Matz’s and Thor’s elbows, the only correct AL All-Star ballot, and Arizona’s Game 1 win in the College World Series.

by Marc Normandin

Jun 28, 2016, 12:49 PM UTC

Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images

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The Mets are starting to have some real injury concerns. Whatever was bothering Matt Harvey seems to have been mechanical and taken care of, but Steven Matz and Noah Syndergaard have not been quite so lucky. Matz is dealing with a bone spur in his elbow, and the Mets are trying to figure out if surgery is needed to take care of the injury. Coincidentally, Syndergaard also has a bone spur in his elbow, but that doesn’t seem to be as significant a concern as it is for Matz. Well, surgically speaking, anyway: Syndergaard did only last three innings against the NL East-leading Nationals on Monday, allowing five runs in that time.

Kristie Ackert, who also reported on Matz’s elbow, reported on Syndergaard’s. The Mets aren’t publicly acknowledging it in Thor’s case, at Syndergaard’s insistence. Bone spurs are a tricky thing: a pitcher can have one and not have it cause damage to the ligaments around it, but it can still be a pain tolerance sort of thing. On a night like Monday where things weren’t working for Thor, it’s better to take him out than have him start messing with his mechanics to get comfortable and pitch more effectively: changing mechanics is how you end up more seriously hurt.

So, the Mets are four games back of the Nationals, and a half-game back of a Wild Card spot. They have one pitcher who might end up getting surgery that would keep him from throwing at all for at least six weeks, and another who is experiencing enough discomfort because of a reported bone spur that he was lit up on Monday. The Mets aren’t doomed or anything, but they might need Zack Wheeler back sooner than later.

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