Mets Notebook: Carlos Carrasco lands on IL with elbow inflammation
LOS ANGELES — The Mets built a team around starting pitching depth, but it seems that a week can’t go by without some of that depth being lost.
Right-hander Carlos Carrasco was placed on the injured list Tuesday, retroactive to Sunday, with elbow inflammation. Carrasco, who last started Saturday in Oakland against the A’s, experienced elbow soreness and swelling after throwing Monday in Los Angeles. He was sent back to New York for further imaging and the Mets called up right-hander Jeff Brigham from Triple-A Syracuse.
The Mets are encouraged by Justin Verlander’s progress in Florida, but he’s still about two weeks away from a return. They’ll have to find someone to take his start Friday in San Francisco since Brigham is a reliever and they’ll be getting another reliever back Wednesday when Tommy Hunter comes off IL.
The Mets are playing whack-a-mole with the pitching injuries.
“We’re considering everybody,” manager Buck Showalter said Tuesday at Dodger Stadium. “We’re just trying to get through tonight. We’ll get through the night and see where we are in the bullpen.”
Carrasco talked about how great he felt after pitching against the A’s. He’s 0-2 with an 8.56 ERA and a 7.43 FIP to start the season but took solace in being healthy.
However, his health appeared to hit a snag two days after he last pitched. Something occurred Monday that caused his elbow to swell up after he was done with his workout.
Carrasco skipped a start late in spring training for some “elbow maintenance” that the team said was routine for him at the time. It’s unclear whether this injury is related, but he did have Tommy John surgery in 2011.
Verlander came through his latest bullpen with good results and will throw live batting practice Sunday. Following that, the Mets hope to get him on a five-day schedule in anticipation of a return, so he’s tentatively scheduled to make a rehab start next Friday, April 28.
The Mets could use left-hander Joey Lucchesi in place of Carrasco later this week in San Francisco. Tylor Megill and David Peterson will pitch on regular rest instead of getting an extra day off the club had initially planned for.
Max Scherzer is still expected to start Wednesday against the Dodgers.
“The good news is that we’re going to get Verlander, we’re going to get [Jose] Quintana and hopefully, with Carlos, it isn’t serious,” Showalter said. “[Jose] Butto came up and did a good job for us and Megill and Peterson, who looked like they might not be here to start the year, are here and are performing well. I try to look at the positive side.”
WHAT’S OLD IS NEW AGAIN
A few weeks into the season, the Mets have noticed that the baseballs are getting in the air more easily than they did last season. MLB said it used the same baseball last year, though an investigation by Dr. Meredith Wills and Bradford William Davis for Insider found that up to three different balls were used.
“The balls are flying a little bit different than last year,” Mets outfielder Brandon Nimmo told the Daily News. “They’re definitely traveling farther. We’re kind of back to some harder baseballs.”
It can be frustrating and exhausting to have to continually adjust to baseballs that vary in performance, but its become something players have gotten used to.
“There is definitely a difference and we can all tell out there playing,” Nimmo said.
LINEUP DECISIONS
Eduardo Escobar was in the lineup Tuesday to face left-hander Clayton Kershaw. The Mets plan to use Brett Baty against some left-handers but they still have to find a role for Escobar, so for now he’ll face some lefties. Catcher Francisco Alvarez was out of the lineup against a lefty Tuesday but will get a chance to face a right-hander in former Mets ace Noah Syndergaard on Wednesday. Alvarez will catch Scherzer for the first time in a game.
“I think it’s good for him to catch Max and some of the projections work out in his favor too,” Showalter said. “I think it will be good for him to catch Max.”
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