New York Mets pitcher Seth Lugo will have surgery on Tuesday on remove a bone spur from his right elbow, and will be shut down for at least six weeks.
The team made the announcement on Saturday, saying that Lugo had an MRI in Florida that showed a bone spur causing inflammation in his elbow. He will be down for six weeks before being re-evaluated and hopefully beginning a throwing program, which means that he will not be ready for the start of the regular season.
Lugo was 3-4 with a 5.15 ERA in 16 appearances in 2020. He has had a partially torn UCL in his right elbow since 2017, and told MLB.com's Anthony DiComo that after initially feeling discomfort and swelling last week, he was happy the MRI found only a bone spur and no further ligament damage.
"I've been optimistic since [Friday]," Lugo told DiComo. "Last week, I was sitting there thinking, 'If I tore [a ligament], my career might be over, so this is devastating.' But I feel really good now that it's just [the bone spur]. The worst-case scenario was, I don't pitch again, ever, so I'm pretty happy."
Lugo had been a bit of a swingman for the Mets of sorts over the last couple years, finding great success as a reliever but also making seven starts last year to bolster an injury-ravaged Mets rotation. He was likely ticketed for the bullpen after the acquisitions of Carlos Carrasco and Jordan Yamamoto and return of Marcus Stroman, but no matter the role, his early absence leaves a void on the Mets' staff.
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