Last season, Tylor Megill and David Peterson picked up the workload of one rotation spot for the New York Mets, Megill (18 starts) and Peterson (15) throwing 156 1/3 innings as the team dealt with a slew of injuries in the rotation.
Heading into 2022, once the Mets traded for Chris Bassitt, signed Max Scherzer, and got Jacob deGrom back, that duo was penciled in as the sixth and seventh starters, depth in Triple-A instead of guys who would need to take the ball every five days in Queens.
Well, with the start of the regular season five days away, Megill threw a bullpen on Sunday, and he doesn't know whether his next game will be one of the Mets' last two Spring games, or in the season-opening series in Washington – for with deGrom out indefinitely and Scherzer questionable, Megill, at least, may have gone from Triple-A depth to possible Opening Day starter.
"It's another game, another start, treat it as that," Megill told the media Sunday when asked if he'd be ready for that assignment.
There's never a good time for injuries, but the Mets finding out about deGrom's shoulder issue just before news broke that Scherzer has a balky hamstring was poor timing all around, both coming less than a week before the start of the season and not giving them enough time to reset Bassitt, Carlos Carrasco, or Taijuan Walker's workloads to front the rotation.
The Mets will need a new No. 5 for quite a bit given deGrom will miss at least a couple months, but Scherzer's hamstring is an issue the Mets and the righty think is a "minor tweak," but it did force him to miss pitching in Saturday's intra-squad game and has his status for either Thursday or Friday in DC in question.
"It's day-to-day; I saw him moving around and he says he feels alright, so we'll see what tomorrow brings," GM Billy Eppler said. "We're not setting any expectations."
"It's tough to say absolutely yes or no, for me it's just a day-to-day thing," Scherzer added. "You do the rehab and most likely you get back out there pretty quick. That's how the history of these little hiccups on my leg work, and I'm hoping it's the same, but when you're dealing with hammies, you never know."
According to manager Buck Showalter, Scherzer will throw a side session Tuesday and the Mets will figure out from there what his future holds, but while he could "conceivably pitch" on Opening Day, that is "still being debated."
"Once we go there, we'll have a good idea in what direction we're going," Showalter said. "We had a personnel meeting this morning, so we have our paths if various things happen, but I know where I'd pitch him."
"It's too soon to talk about (Thursday), that's why I'd rather stay day-to-day," Scherzer added.
If there is one silver lining, it may be an issue Scherzer can push through if managed properly now.
"It's not stopping me from playing catch and I can still get on the baseball pretty good," Scherzer said. "The likelihood of me being able to pitch around this or through this is pretty good, because it's not showing up in my mechanics."
The Mets play seven games before their first day off on April 14, but there is a possibility Scherzer could simply be moved back in the rotation a few days thanks to the roster expansion for April, which allows teams to carry 28 players and an unlimited amount of pitchers.
A quick injured list stint is also a possibility, but even with a backdate to April 4 (the furthest back a team can backdate a stint prior to Opening Day), he wouldn't be able to return until after that first off day.
Showalter said earlier in the weekend that the Mets have considered a bullpen day on Opening Day, another possibility easier to swallow in the long run thanks to the extra roster spots.
Eppler also said on Sunday, however, that even after swinging a deal with the Yankees to swap relievers, the team has "nothing else active" on the trade market, so outside help doesn't seem to be in the cards just yet.
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