NEW YORK — At the end of last season, the only thing more crowded than the Mets’ outfield was the disabled list. Starting pitchers Jacob deGrom were shut down in July and Matt Harvey, the Dark Knight of postseason lore, had already been long shutdown for the second time in three years.
Zack Wheeler only saw the mound once last season, and that was in a rehab start in Port St. Lucie that he failed to make it through.
But while speaking to fans at the Spring Training Sendoff at Citi Field on Friday, Mets executive J.P. Ricciardi insists that that pitching staff is fully healthy and ready to go. He reiterated that again to the media.
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“As the truck leaves today, everybody is healthy,” Ricciardi said. “Everybody is good to go and we’ll know more once we get to spring training and they start throwing bullpens and things like that.”
Not entirely informative, but Ricciardi is right about the wait-and-see approach. Until pitchers and catcher report on Feb. 13, everything is just speculation.
A few of the aforementioned pitchers are already in Port St. Lucie working out, including Steven Matz, who has incorporated nutrition and massage therapy into his routine in attempt to stay healthy this season. Matz was shut down in September and had surgery to remove bone spurs in his pitching elbow.
As of right now, he’s slated to be the No. 4 starter behind Noah Syndergaard, Harvey and deGrom, but on another staff he may be a No. 1. Wheeler is right behind him, but questions still loom about his health as well.
Wheeler hasn’t pitched in a major league game since 2014, when he went 11-11 with a 3.54 ERA in 32 starts. A high-strikeout fireballer, Wheeler was projected to be the next big thing until he tore his ulnar collateral ligament during spring training in 2015.
He made one rehab start in August of 2016 but left the game with elbow discomfort. He was later diagnosed with a mild flexor strain and hasn’t resumed his rehab since. He’ll finally be able to resume it during spring training.
Ricciardi didn’t even begin to dive into Harvey’s recovery from his surgery to reduce the symptoms of thoracic outlet syndrome, which has saved some careers but also ended a few others.
If you went to Queens looking for answers about the pitching staff Friday, you probably didn’t get them. But in fairness to Ricciardi and the Mets, it’s still too soon to be able to answer them.
“I think we want to finish the season the same way we started, with as many good, quality arms as you can have,” Ricciardi said. “The nice thing about us right now is that we’re healthy, we have a good staff and we’re going to monitor those guys we can keep them as healthy in September as they are in April.”
Abbey Mastracco may be reached at amastracco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @abbeymastracco. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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