In the span of two days, the Mets have lost Jacob deGrom for a significant period of time and may be losing Max Scherzer as well.
A day after deGrom was shut down for at least four weeks with a stress reaction in his right shoulder, Scherzer was scratched from his scheduled start Saturday with a hamstring injury. Scherzer told reporters that the tweak is minor but he did not commit to being ready for Mets opening day on April 7.
It goes without saying that this is a humongous deal for the Mets and the NL East as a whole. The Mets built their team this winter around deGrom and Scherzer, who have combined for five Cy Young awards and will earn more than $79.3 million this season. The team payroll is an estimated $278 million.
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The Phillies play the Mets in their second series of the regular season, April 11-13. If deGrom and Scherzer were healthy, both lined up to pitch in the series because the Mets' opener is a day before the Phillies'. They would have pitched the final two games.
Now, the Phils are poised to miss deGrom twice -- in early April and again in the teams' series from April 29 through May 1. That series takes place right at the four-week mark when deGrom will be reevaluated.
With the pair of rotation injuries, the Mets were reportedly nearing a deal with the San Diego Padres in which they would have acquired 26-year-old right-hander Chris Paddack, a well-thought-of young pitcher who has yet to put it all together in the majors (4.95 ERA last two seasons). The trade would have sent Dom Smith to San Diego for Paddack, reliever Emilio Pagan and first baseman Eric Hosmer, who has four years and $59 million remaining on what's been a bad contract.
That deal fell through and the Padres traded two prospects to Oakland for lefty Sean Manaea on Sunday.
MLB
Beyond deGrom and Scherzer, the Mets have Chris Bassitt, Carlos Carrasco, Taijuan Walker, Tylor Megill, David Peterson and Jordan Yamamoto as rotation options. Suddenly, Bassitt looks like one of the most important members of their team. They acquired him from the A's for two prospects on March 12 to be their No. 3 starter. Now he might have to be the early-season ace.
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