Jacob deGrom is heading for another MRI on Wednesday in the latest check-in to see how, if at all, the inflammation in his right elbow has improved.
Acting general manager Zack Scott told reporters on Tuesday that if the results of Wednesday's MRI are promising, the Mets ace could begin a throwing program in what would be a big step towards a return.
"Tomorrow he'll have that MRI, we'll get a look at how things are progressing," Scott said. "If we see continued improvement like we saw the last time, the expectation will be to get him on a throwing program."
DeGrom was having a historic season before being shut down shortly after the All-Star break with right forearm tightness, which was resolved but another injury came up in the elbow inflammation, the latest in a long line of ailments that he has dealt with this year.
The righty hasn't pitched since July 7, and it could be another month before he pitches again, even if the MRI results are favorable.
"It's hard to have an exact timeline on that," Scott said. "We transferred him to the 60-day, so the absolute earliest he can come back is September 13th, but I would expect it to be after that. Not necessarily on that date, sometime after that.
"It's something we have to take day by day. The whole point of ramping him up is to see if he can get back to where he needs to be before he gets activated, while remaining asymptomatic."
Scott told the New York Post on Sunday that the Mets would bring back deGrom when he's healthy regardless of the team's playoff outlook, and he doubled down on that desire on Tuesday, even as the Mets sit 6.5 games out of first with just over a month to go in the season.
"We'll learn about how he's doing physically. It's important for him to be in a good place going into the offseason," Scott said. "It can influence how we set up his offseason program…there's value there, even if he never gets in a gamer, just getting him to that point to see how he responds physically, I think we'll learn something that will help us going forward."
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