Mets' Jacob deGrom to be shut down for another two weeks
New York Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom in the dugout at Citi Field on Friday, Aug. 13, 2021. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The news on Jacob deGrom is not good.
The best pitcher on the planet is going to be shut down another two weeks, Mets manager Luis Rojas announced on Friday before the team hosted the Dodgers at Citi Field.
Friday was supposed to be the day the Mets found out if the original two weeks deGrom had been shut down had allowed the inflammation in his elbow to improve enough that he could begin getting ready to return to the mound.
Instead, after a trip to Los Angeles to see Dodgers team physician and surgeon Neal ElAttrache, deGrom’s original two-week shutdown is now a four-week shutdown, even though Rojas said an MRI has shown "that it’s slightly improving."
That makes a return at the middle-to-end of September the best-case scenario. It also makes it more likely deGrom will not throw another pitch for the Mets this season.
Rojas said DeGrom went to see ElAttrache "just to get more opinions on recent imaging that he got."
DeGrom, who hasn’t pitched since July 7, also consulted with ElAttrache in June when he was sidelined with shoulder soreness.
"He’s frustrated," Rojas said. "He wants to pitch. He wants to help the team. There’s nothing he can do, right? He just actually commits to these two weeks again now and just follow the experts’ indications. Do the treatment, do everything so it keeps improving there. There is some improvement, but they would like to see more, probably. That’s why two more weeks and then see the imaging, see an MRI, and then see if he can start throwing."
Rojas was asked about the possibility of deGrom, who is 7-2 with a 1.08 ERA in 15 starts, not pitching for the Mets again in 2021.
"You’re asking my opinion, my take, but I’ve got to use that we’ve faced these things the whole year," he said. "I think we’ve done a really good job. We’ve had a lot of guys go down, right? Significant guys. Jacob deGrom is the best pitcher in the game. And I know he hasn’t pitched for us now for well over a month. We miss his presence on the field. But we’re not going to think differently than what we thought going into spring training: That we knew we were going to compete and we were going to have tough opponents and we’re growing our mindset since then to where we are now that we’re going to win. That’s how we approach each game.
"Guys are ready in there. Even after hearing this news and Jake telling everyone in the clubhouse what he heard from the doctors, I don’t think that’s going to put the guys’ heads down. These guys are going to move forward the same way they’ve done in the past. So we’re just going to go ahead and get ready. We have this very important series to start tonight against a really good team like the Dodgers and I think the guys are not thinking about any other things than that."
Rojas said the Mets have not considered using deGrom out of the bullpen if he is able to return but not in time to be built up as a starter. That option is something acting general manager Zack Scott recently said the Mets are considering with Noah Syndergaard as he tries to return from Tommy John surgery.
DeGrom is dealing with his sixth physical issue of the season and his 10th in 13 months. He last spoke to the media on Aug. 3. At that time, he was asked if he considered his season in jeopardy.
"I would say no, not right now," he said. "That just depends on hopefully in the next image, the inflammation is gone."
It’s not gone.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
