The Mets’ injury list is now longer than the campaign for The Last of Us 2. There are 16 players on said Mets injured list, and TLOU2’s story mode is around 25 hours long, so… you do the math.
In any event, Noah Syndergaard was supposed to pitch four minor-league innings yesterday, and when he left after the first, you knew some Mets-ass shit was up. He left the rehab assignment having thrown 16 pitches, following up a successful 65-pitch single-A outing last Wednesday.
This morning, Anthony DiComo, among others, reported that the overly-hard-throwing, A1 hair-having, injury-plagued ace will be out until at least August due to elbow inflammation. Mets manager Luis Rojas said he hopes Syndergaard pitches again this year.
These are the 16 Mets currently on the injured list, in order of when they were most recently placed, according to Covers.com: Robinson Canó, Dellin Betances, Syndergaard, Albert Almora Jr., Taijuan Walker, J.D. Davis, Tommy Hunter, Kevin Pillar, Pete Alonso, Carlos Carrasco, Michael Conforto, Luis Guillorme, Jeff McNeil, Seth Lugo, Jordan Yamamoto, Johneshwy Fargas.
The other teams with 10 or more on the injured list are the Yankees, Mariners, Giants, Astros, Doyers, Padres, Rangers, and Cubs — but the Mets currently lead the league in injuries.
Somehow, at 22-20, they still lead the NL East by 1.5 games.
Syndergaard hasn’t pitched in the majors since September 29, 2019. That season, he compiled a 10-8 win over 32 starts with a 4.28 ERA and 202 strikeouts through just over 197 innings. He was diagnosed with a UCL in March, shortly after COVID shut down the country, and underwent Tommy John Surgery, from which he is still working his way back. Syndergaard, who turns 29 in August, is also losing money as you read this, because he is heading for free agency this winter. Talk about bad timing.
The Mets, man. The Mets. If you don’t believe in curses, then I don’t know what to tell you about this (or the Los Angeles Clippers either, for that matter).