Ah springtime. Around this time every year we get to proclaim "hope springs eternal" - usually said with a smile. Similarly, every season, multiple players show up to training camp in the best shape of their respective careers-usually said with a smile.
Still, there is a tough reality that often clashes with all this optimism: injuries. Whether they're borne from a lack of offseason training, or too much offseason training, or maybe it was an existing injury that didn't seem as bad as it is, every year there are players who show up to spring training with high expectations only to leave on the injured list. Every team goes through it to some degree. And as we learned a few days ago, this year's Mets team was unable to avoid the injury bug.
On Monday, the Mets announced that one of their newest pitchers, veteran starter Frankie Montas has a high grade right lat strain and will miss the first couple months of the season. Concerning as this is, it's certainly not the first time the Mets have dealt with a preseason injury.
So let's take a look at The 5 worst preseason Mets injuries. And then, let's resume thinking happy thoughts:
5. Noah Syndergaard (2020)
You know those characters in horror movies that are obviously destined to suffer a gruesome fate? It's obvious from their first moment on screen, and it soon becomes a matter "when" and "how", certainly not "if". This was the case with Noah Syndergaard. When the Mets acquired Syndergaard prior to the 2013 season, he was the centerpiece of an interesting trade that also netted them catcher Travis d'Arnaud, while costing them Cy Young Award winner R.A. Dickey and others. It did not take long for Mets fans to fantasize about what the powerhouse righty could bring to a future pitching staff.
After a successful 2013 season in Single-A Port St. Lucie and Double-A Binghamton, the man who would soon become known as Thor also gave the Mets fans a sample of his injury-prone tendencies. A couple of early season injuries slowed down his progress and limited his 2014 success. He pitched a full 2015 season after he was called up to the majors in early May, and another complete, and quite impressive, season in 2016.
At the same time, pitchers throughout the majors were dealing with UCL issues at an alarming rate. There were 45 Tommy John surgeries for MLB pitchers in those two years alone. For a hard-throwing righty with a powerful windup like Syndergaard's, such an injury seemed inevitable. As it turns out, a different injury, a partial lat tear (even worse than Montas' lat strain) kept Syndergaard out for most of 2017. He bounced back in 2018, missing only a few games here and there due to various ailments. Fortunately, Thor was able to remain injury-free in an otherwise uneven 2019 season.
Then during spring training in 2020, Syndergaard felt some elbow discomfort. In mid-March, when baseball shut down due to the COVID pandemic, he went for an MRI that revealed a torn ulnar collateral ligament that would require TJ surgery. In other words, the monster caught up to him. Syndergaard would miss the entire (pandemic-shortened) 2020 season, and some setbacks during rehab forced him to most almost the entire 2021 season as well. He pitched an inning each in 2 games that year, and by the time 2022 rolled around, he was no longer on the Mets.
4. Mookie Wilson (1986)
In 1986, the Mets showed up to spring training not just looking to win, they were expecting to dominate. They had essentially the same lineup from their 98-win season in 1985, with fan favorite Mookie Wilson as their leadoff hitter.
Things took an unexpected turn on March 5th, however. During a running drill, a throw from Mets shortstop Rafael Santana smashed Wilson in the eye, and while he was likely saved from further injury by the sunglasses he was wearing, he still required 21 stitches after being carted off the field. He made his season debut on May 9th, more than a month after Opening Day.
More importantly, perhaps, Wilson's absence opened up the door for second-year player Lenny Dykstra to take over as the center fielder and leadoff hitter. After Wilson, the team's long-time centerfielder and leadoff hitter, returned, he often found himself occupying a different spot on the field and in the lineup.
While the injury did not end up preventing the Mets from winning the World Series, nor did it stop Wilson from contributing (famously, even), it did alter the trajectory of Wilson's career.
3. Kodai Senga (2024)
Not a whole lot went right for the Mets in 2023. Coming off a 101-win season in 2022, and having added future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander, as well as Japanese pitching star Kodai Senga to a rotation that already had future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer, expectations were high. For the most part, things just didn't go as planned...except for Senga. The 30-year-old MLB rookie had a stellar debut season, with a 12-7 record and 2.98 ERA. His 202 strikeouts made him the first Mets rookie pitcher to surpass 200 Ks in a season since Dwight Gooden accomplished the feat in 1984. All this earned Senga an All-Star Team nod, a second place finish in the Rookie of the Year voting, and a seventh place finish in the Cy Young Award race. So when the Mets announced that 2024 would be something of a transitional season in Queens and no obvious ace was added to the rotation, Senga's 2023 success seemed to ease the fears of the otherwise concerned fan. Those fears would resurface less than 2 weeks after pitchers and catchers reported to spring training. On February 22nd, Senga was officially diagnosed with a moderate posterior capsule strain in his throwing shoulder and would have to begin the season on the injured list. The injury took months to heal and Senga was determined to make sure he rehabbed the shoulder right. The team didn't rush things, and Senga made his season debut on July 26th. Unfortunately, it was also his regular season finale. While Senga's shoulder appeared to be in good shape, he suffered a high grain calf strain while chasing a pop up on the fifth inning and didn't return to a MLB mound until the postseason.
2. Jacob deGrom (2022)
It's fair to say that Jacob deGrom's Mets career was filled with moments of greatness, symbolized by (but not limited to) two straight Cy Young Award victories in 2018 and 2019. It's also fair to say that Jacob deGrom's Mets career was limited by injury. In 2010, just four months after being drafted by the Mets, deGrom underwent Tommy John surgery, and subsequently missed the 2011 season. In 2016, as the Mets were deep in a pennant race hoping to return to the postseason for a second-straight year, deGrom missed the final month of the season with an injury to his ulnar nerve. Fortunately the injury didn't require surgery. Unfortunately, that was not the end of his injury history. While some neck and hamstring issues bothered him in the already-shortened 2020 season, he only missed one start. However, in 2021, arm injuries in June limited his innings, and then a forearm issue in July forced him to miss the rest of what had been a dominant season to that point.
Which brings us to 2022...The stage was set for some magic. Not only was deGrom set to return, but the Mets had added Max Scherzer to the rotation. Fans salivated at the potential of this 1-2 punch, while trying to bury concerns of two pitchers with somewhat extensive injury histories. It didn't work. During the '22 spring training, deGrom suffered a stress reaction in his shoulder (right scapula, to be more specific) and didn't make his season debut until August, nearly 13 months since the last time he took the mound in a major league game. While he was still masterful on the mound, he also was still unable to go deep into games. Alas, this semi-comeback after over a year away from the Mets would mark the end of Jacob deGrom's tenure - one that could be looked back on with nearly equal levels of reverence and lament.
1. Edwin Diaz (2023)
Edwin Diaz has been the Mets closer since 2019, and his Mets tenure has seen just about everything. To say his first season with the Mets was a disappointment would be an incredible understatement. On the flip side, his 2022 campaign was quite possibly the best season by any Mets reliever in the history of the franchise. The Mets came into 2023 spring training having added Justin Verlander to a rotation that already had Max Scherzer. Knowing that their closer situation was taken care of as well, the team had high expectations from day one. That all changed on March 15th, in a game that didn't involve the Mets at all.
Representing Puerto Rico in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, Diaz struck out the side in the ninth inning to earn the save against the Dominican Republic, and more importantly, to send PR to the WBC quarterfinals. Understandably, a celebration ensued. Unfortunately, at some point during that celebration, Diaz jumped up and landed awkwardly, tearing his patellar tendon in his right knee. The injury would require surgery and rehab and the expectation was at least 8 months until he'd see a major league mound again. The optimistic fans pulled out their calculators to see if 8 months would still be in time for a late postseason run (it wouldn't). The more realistic fans knew that expectations of a postseason run had just turned to hopes...bleak hopes.
For a while, the 2023 Mets adjusted to life without Edwin Diaz. Free agent pickup David Robertson became the team's new closer, and did a remarkable job. Unfortunately, losing a key member of the bullpen, along with injuries to other pitchers (including the aforementioned Justin Verlander) wore out the team's pitchers and by midseason, things had fallen apart. For a moment, Diaz publicly considered returning at the end of the 2023 season, until the team determined it wouldn't be in anyone's best interest.
On the bright side, Edwin Diaz did return to the mound in 2024 along with his Timmy Trumpet background music. While he certainly wasn't as sharp as his 2022 version, Diaz still came up big in vital moments, including striking out Phillies leadoff slugger Kyle Schwarber to send the Mets to the NLCS.
Please share your thoughts/memories/suggestions in the comments below.
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