Lugo on track to be back in pen early this season
PORT ST. LUCIE — Seth Lugo was enjoying a “normal” offseason, or as routine as an offseason can be while taking care of a new baby, when he woke up with a swollen right elbow.
He first noticed the swelling in the beginning of February, just before pitchers and catchers were scheduled to report to Port St. Lucie for spring training.
“I didn’t have much range, couldn’t flex or extend it,” Lugo said on Thursday. “I did what I’d usually do for some swelling — which, for that amount of swelling, was concerning.”
Lugo, who will open the regular season on the injured list, spent a couple of days trying to get the swelling down on his own with icing and compression. When that didn’t work, he called the Mets’ training staff and alerted them of the inflammation.
“What do we do from here?” Lugo asked the team. Once he arrived in Florida, Lugo had an MRI which revealed a bone spur that broke off in his pitching elbow. He said it was a “sigh of relief” and was happy the injury wasn’t worse. Lugo successfully underwent surgery to remove the bone spur on Feb. 16 and reported on Thursday that he is on track in his rehab process.
“It caught me off guard because it was feeling fine,” Lugo said of the injury. “There wasn’t an incident or a throw or anything where I noticed something. It just came out of nowhere. Now, it feels a lot better. It feels pretty normal. We’re easing into the rehab stuff, making sure we check off all the boxes and go about it the right way. It feels really good.”
Lugo is shut down from throwing for six weeks, which means he can pick up a ball around Opening Day, when the rest of his team will travel to Washington, D.C. to take on the Nationals on April 1. The 6-foot-4 reliever was also forced to miss Opening Day in 2017, when he discovered he had a partially torn UCL in the last week of camp. Lugo was able to avoid Tommy John surgery and has been pitching that way for the past four seasons. On Thursday, he said his UCL “looked good,” which he found out when the Mets did an MRI for his bone spur.
Now, a little more than two weeks into his rehab, Lugo is working out, partaking in shoulder programs, and keeping his legs in shape by riding a bike. The righty said he is “taking it slow” and is happy with his progress so far, though watching his teammates gear up for the regular season is bothersome.
“It’s a bummer watching everyone throw and I don’t get to,” he said. “But one day at a time. That’s the best way to approach it, and that’s how I stay focused and get the most out of every day. So I want to try to keep that mentality.”
Lugo will watch a relief corps composed of Edwin Diaz, Dellin Betances, Trevor May, Aaron Loup, Miguel Castro, Jeurys Familia and Robert Gsellman. Flamethrower Sam McWilliams and righty Drew Smith are also competing for bullpen spots and could help fill the hole Lugo left behind. Regardless of how the Mets decide to assemble their bullpen, there’s no denying Lugo’s absence in at least the first several weeks of the season will be a huge loss.
He’s played an important role on the team’s pitching staff, shuffling from being the closer on some days, to the set-up man on others and even sliding into the rotation last year when the team lacked necessary rotation depth. Last year’s 60-game season aside, Lugo stood out as the bullpen’s best reliever. He posted a 2.68 ERA and 0.998 WHIP over 181.1 innings from 2018-19. Before his bone-spur injury, Lugo approached the offseason with the possibility that he might be a starter.
“I was running long-distance, making sure to get my endurance up,” Lugo said. “Make sure arm strength is there in case they needed me to stretch out. I was planning it that way, but once we get going, I’m not quite sure how we’re going to do it from there.”
It’s unlikely that Lugo, when he returns to the team, will join the rotation. David Peterson — who made his first spring start on Thursday — and Joey Lucchesi are competing for the fifth spot. Beyond those two, the Mets are set on their rotation depth with starters like Jordan Yamamoto, Franklyn Kilome and Jerad Eickhoff expected to start the year at the Mets’ alternate site. A rotation disaster would have to happen for Lugo to be a starter in 2021.
For now, all Lugo can do is arrive at camp — albeit at random, staggered times due to social distancing and COVID-19 regulations — and keep up his positivity surrounding his rehab and injury.
Mets manager Luis Rojas said: “He’s got a great attitude about doing his work each day.”