The Mets made a point of acquiring depth in their starting rotation during the winter, certain they’d need it over 162 games. They just didn’t want to have to rely on it right from the start of the season, but the first real bad news from spring training has made that a reality.
Carlos Carrasco tore his right hamstring while doing his post-pitching running on Thursday, and the severity of the injury, as revealed by an MRI exam, means the right-hander is likely to need 6-to-8 weeks to recover, according to someone informed about the injury.
And so while the Mets had been looking toward June as a hopeful time, tentatively scheduling Noah Syndergaard’s return from Tommy John surgery for sometime that month, it won’t be such a bonus if he makes his first start before Carrasco.
Because depth or no depth, the new guy will be missed.
Marcus Stroman made that clear when he was asked after pitching five innings in Port St. Lucie for his reaction to Carrasco’s injury.
“It’s devastating,” Stroman said. “Obviously we need him in the rotation, I think, to be elite. I know how special he is.”
Stroman went on to say the Mets are as equipped as anyone to deal with an injury like this because of their depth, but he’s right not to downplay the potential effect. Carrasco may be a bit of an under-the-radar presence as a Met, coming over as the secondary piece to Francisco Lindor in the blockbuster trade in December, but several scouts I spoke to during the off-season consider him a legitimate No. 2 starter.
Noting that he pitched to a 2.91 ERA for the Cleveland Indians last season while getting the highest swing-and-miss percentage of his career, one scout said, “He looked as good last year as at any time in his career. His stuff is rock-solid.”
Scouts also made the point that, aside from the leukemia in 2019, Carrasco has been very durable. The only other time he’d missed over the last seven years, in fact, was because of a line drive that broke a bone in his right arm late in the 2017 season.
Nevertheless, he’ll be 34 this Sunday, and pitchers tend to be more vulnerable to all types of injuries as they get well into their 30s.
They don’t recover as quickly as they did in their 20s, either. In Carrasco’s case, when he’s healthy again he’ll pretty much be starting from scratch after his start to spring training was delayed by extra medical tests due to his bout with leukemia in 2019 and then a sore elbow. That makes it more difficult to predict how long before he’s back.
“He hasn’t really started to ramp up at all yet so he’ll probably need a month once the injury is healed,” said one former pitcher with ties to the Mets. “And obviously something like this is better than an arm injury, but you have to be careful because if you’re favoring the leg and it affects your delivery it’s easy to hurt the elbow or the shoulder.
“There’s no need to rush him. That’s why you have depth. You want him healthy for the long haul. And you have a guy like Stroman who can be a No. 2 when he’s at the top of his game, and he’s looked good so far this spring.”
Yes, Stroman delivered another strong outing on Thursday, allowing one run over five innings against the Nationals, giving just two hits while racking up six strikeouts.