Sandy Alderson on Steven Matz’s Latest Injury: ‘It’s Worrisome’

Newsday.com:

It was accidental Sunday morning that Steven Matz wound up pinned against the brick wall outside the Mets’ clubhouse, where he fielded questions about the elbow discomfort that scratched him from Monday’s start.

But the uncomfortable locale was a fitting metaphor for his increasingly tenuous standing in this rotation, a situation caused by frequent injuries that are testing the team’s patience with the former Ward Melville ace.

Bottom line, the distance between what the Mets dream for Matz, and the reality of what he actually is capable of giving them, stretched even further Sunday with this latest episode of elbow tenderness, which is very likely to land him on the disabled list to start the season.

Yet another sudden malady, seemingly out of nowhere, also raised the same familiar question: What good is Matz’s elite-level talent if he can’t be trusted to pitch on a consistent basis? Unfortunately, the Mets know the answer.

“It’s worrisome that he continues to be injured, off and on,” Sandy Alderson said. “That’s the difficulty. We don’t think it’s serious. On the other hand, we have to be able to, with starting pitchers, to rely on them every five days. We’re not sure exactly where this is going to take us.”

Damn season hasn't even started yet and we get this news. Still, with Matz s history of injuries, the Mets can't afford to take any risks which in turn means that Gsellman and Lugo need to be our No/ 4 and 5 starters till Matz is fully healed. The ides that they're still thinking about Wheeler for a rotation spot needs to be nixed.