Mets moving Syndergaard up, bumping Lugo
Monday’s weather postponement will cost Seth Lugo a start — and may put his future in the Mets rotation up in the air.
Matt Harvey, who was scheduled to pitch Monday, will be pushed back to start Tuesday against the Phillies at Citi Field, but manager Mickey Callaway has bumped up Noah Syndergaard to start Wednesday’s series finale instead of Lugo, the club announced. The Phillies, meanwhile, will stick with Ben Lively and Aaron Nola.
Jacob deGrom will follow Thursday against the Nationals in Washington. The Mets could have opted to go into the early-season showdown against their NL East foes with their one-two punch of Syndergaard and deGrom on Thursday and Saturday, with an off day scheduled for Friday, as the Nationals project to counter with Stephen Strasburg and Gio Gonzalez.
Now deGrom and Steven Matz will start off in Washington. Callaway has shown faith in the Mets’ lineup depth and appears to be doing the same for the rotation with another decision awaiting for the series finale.
Lugo could make his starting debut in Sunday’s prime-time matchup, or Harvey could be an option to start on regular rest.
Jason Vargas, who underwent surgery March 20 to remove the hamate bone in his non-throwing hand, threw a light bullpen session Saturday and was scheduled to throw a simulated game Monday against batters, including Michael Conforto. The snow forced that session inside, but Vargas still threw to Conforto, according to a team spokesman.
“We’ll see how that goes and go from there,” Callaway said Sunday. “We’re going to get him up and down a few times and we’ll see how he’s feeling. If he can go up-down four times, we’ll get him up and down four times.”
According to the Mets, Vargas threw 65 pitches and may head to Florida to continue his rehab.
After the Mets signed Vargas to a two-year, $16 million deal in February, Lugo was projected to start the year in the bullpen, where he began his major league career in 2016. Instead, Vargas was injured, Zack Wheeler struggled in spring training and was sent to Triple-A Las Vegas while Lugo posted a 2.87 ERA and 0.96 WHIP in 15 2/3 innings of Grapefruit League action. Six of Lugo’s seven appearances came in relief, including four scoreless innings against the Nationals, piggybacking off Wheeler’s rough final start.
Lugo potentially could be an option out of the bullpen in the coming days, perhaps an extra arm if reliever Anthony Swarzak is unavailable with a sore left oblique suffered in Saturday’s win over the Cardinals.
Swarzak was set to undergo an MRI exam Monday, but the Mets had no update on the results.
Syndergaard and deGrom had gotten the Mets’ season off to a hot start, combining for two wins and 17 strikeouts over 11 2/3 innings of work while allowing five earned runs on 10 hits and one walk. Each would have been making his next start on six days rest had the Mets chosen not to skip Lugo after the postponement. Syndergaard will now pitch on five days rest while deGrom will be on regular four days rest.
Some pitchers prefer not to have extra rest in between starts, especially early in the season, though it hasn’t seemed to make a major difference to either of the Mets’ aces.
In 20 starts made on regular rest, Syndergaard has a 2.82 ERA as opposed to a 3.22 ERA on five days rest (20 starts) and a 2.84 ERA on six or more days rest (21 starts). DeGrom owns a 3.18 ERA in 44 starts made on regular rest, a 2.99 ERA on five days rest (44 starts) and a 2.44 ERA on six or more days rest.