The Mets recently placed ace Jacob deGrom on the injured list because of some elbow discomfort. Obviously, anything involving a pitcher's elbow is immediately disconcerting, but the Mets and deGrom appear to have dodged major injury this time:
Jacob deGrom completed his bullpen session today without issue. He's scheduled for another on Wednesday and, assuming all goes well, remains in line to come off the injured list and start Friday against the Brewers.
— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) April 22, 2019
Mets GM Brodie Van Wagenen provided reporters with more details about deGrom's MRI:
Brodie Van Wagenen says Jacob deGrom's MRI came back "clean" pic.twitter.com/PHOvGXsHNK
— SNY (@SNYtv) April 22, 2019
DeGrom, who turns 31 in June, has been solid this season:
Of course, he's coming off a tremendous 2018 campaign, in which he pitched to a 1.70 ERA in 32 starts, put up a WAR of 9.6, and was a near-unanimous choice for the NL Cy Young Award. Because of that demonstrated upside, deGrom and the Mets not long ago agreed to a $137.5 million contract extension.
The Mets under first-year GM Brodie Van Wagenen are all-in on contending in the tough NL East this season, and they'll need deGrom to perform at a high level while remaining healthy. That this turned out to be fairly minor elbow malady is obviously a good thing, but nothing predicts future injury like recent injury. In that sense, you can consider deGrom's durability to be an early 2019 sub-plot.