Barking Reprise
Hopefully this goes just like Jacob deGrom's last injury scare.
Remember the last time Jacob deGrom had an injury scare? It was April 20th, 2019, and deGrom was scratched from a start with news that his elbow was “barking.” No one knew exactly what that meant, but it was deGrom and his elbow, so most Mets fans spent the next few hours or days unfocused and semi-comatose, refreshing Twitter every eight to ten seconds for updates on deGrom while not really doing much else.
It was a bad few days to be a Mets fan. It probably didn’t help that after deGrom was scratched, Chris Flexen started in his place, allowed six runs (five earned) in 4.1 innings, and the Mets lost to the Cardinals 10-2.
So what happened? deGrom made his next start on April 26th, and wasn’t great; he allowed five runs in five innings. Over his next three starts after that, though, he pitched to a 1.29 E.R.A., going seven innings each time. On May 17th, deGrom’s E.R.A. was 3.98. The rest of the season, it was 1.89.
What can we learn? That injury scares aren’t necessarily injuries. Trust me, I know things can get worse than they seem, and I don’t want to jinx this one: I grew up watching Chris Young get scratched with “unable to get loose,” and then have his Tommy John surgery announced the next day. So injuries can get rapidly worse. They can also have quick, normal recoveries.
The Mets announced last night that an MRI showed inflammation in deGrom’s right lat muscle, and that he won’t throw for a few days. Luis Rojas, however, said that he’s optimistic that deGrom might be able to pitch this weekend against the Diamondbacks. As Anthony DiComo of MLB.com pointed out, the Mets could put deGrom on the Injured List retroactive to May 1st if they wanted to, which would allow him to pitch as soon as next Tuesday against the Orioles, so the fact that they haven’t yet probably means that the optimism is genuine, and deGrom returning this weekend is a real possibility.
Unless anyone here is a doctor, we’re in no position to evaluate what lat soreness means for deGrom. So we wait. If all goes well, he’ll pitch this weekend against the Diamondbacks and return without missing a beat. It’s tempting to immediately succumb to doom and despair, but give it a moment, at least, and take in whatever new information comes out before proclaiming the Mets dead and buried.
Meanwhile, Jordan Yamamoto is rumored to be in the running to take deGrom’s spot in the rotation for at least one turn through. Yamamoto is an intriguing pitcher — the kind of guy who always shut the Mets down even when he didn’t seem to be that good — so it’ll be interesting to see him get his turn to make a start, and see what he’s brought with him from Miami. Sean Reid-Foley has been optioned, which is unfortunate — he’s done nothing but get outs so far — but he seems like he’ll be back. All we can do now is observe these deGromless days, hope that they’re few and far between, and watch with bated breath as the Mets try to navigate the N.L. East without the one guy upon whom they can most rely to do it.
Aside: Rain outs
Why hasn’t anyone come up with an affordable, effective way to stop rain from cancelling games by now?
Obviously, the main way to mitigate rain postponements is through retractable roofs. But those are expensive to build and can ruin the aesthetic of a stadium. By now, of course, with the Mets facing one postponement after another, I’d love every stadium in baseball to adopt a retractable roof, but that’s not going to happen.
But there must be a cheaper way than a full-blown roof to stop the rain from cancelling one game after another. I’ve been thinking about it for about fifteen minutes, and I’ve got something: it amounts, basically, to a giant tarp mounted on top of the stadium, attached to wires and a minimal support system, that could be stretched out to cover the field and the stands — or just the field, frankly, if that would be easier; fans can still watch from covered areas, or from home — without being as intrusive or expensive as a roof.
I’m no engineer, so there are probably all sorts of design issues with my concept. But there has to be something. Surely, MLB, if it devoted money and attention to it, could come up with a way to stop the rain from being quite so disruptive. In the meantime, though, the postponements will continue, as will the seven-inning doubleheaders to make up for them.