Mets place yet another starting pitcher on injured list

The Mets announced that starter Carlos Carrasco is headed to the 15-day injured list, retroactive to April 16, due to inflammation in his throwing elbow. New York recalled reliever Jeff Brigham from Triple-A Syracuse to take the active roster spot. The club also announced that reliever Dennis Santana cleared waivers and was outrighted to Syracuse after being designated for assignment over the weekend.

Manager Buck Showalter told the team’s beat that Carrasco will head back to New York to undergo imaging, via Tim Healey of Newsday. It’s not yet clear what the issue is or how severe it might be, but it’s a concerning development for a 36-year-old pitcher. Carrasco has spent time on the IL in each of his first three seasons as a Met. He lost a chunk of the first half in 2021 to a hamstring strain and missed a bit of time last year with an oblique issue. He’s generally avoided elbow concerns in recent years, though he did undergo Tommy John surgery over a decade ago while playing for Cleveland.

The start to the season hasn’t gone well for the veteran righty. He’s been tagged for 13 runs in 13 2/3 innings over his first three starts. Carrasco has eight strikeouts and walks apiece and has already surrendered a trio of home runs. He’s also battled a velocity dip. Carrasco’s average fastball speed has checked in at 91.3 mph; that’s down nearly two ticks from last season’s 93.2 mph average. He certainly hasn’t appeared to be at full strength and the IL stint reflects that.

Carrasco joins Justin Verlander and José Quintana as expected rotation members on the shelf. Quintana won’t be back until midseason, but Verlander should be able to make his team debut before too long. Verlander is tentatively scheduled to throw a live batting practice session on Sunday, per Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. He’ll be on a five-day throwing program from that point, with a minor league rehab start the anticipated next step. That points toward a potential MLB return in the first week of May if all goes as planned.

In the meantime, the Mets will have to plug another rotation vacancy. Injuries to Verlander and Quintana forced the team to call upon David Peterson and Tylor Megill. The likes of José Butto and Joey Lucchesi project as the next line of defense. Butto was already called up for a spot start against the A’s over the weekend. He was promptly optioned out and has to spend 15 days in the minors unless he’s replacing someone who lands on the IL. Considering he wasn’t the corresponding promotion with Carrasco’s placement, that might point toward Lucchesi getting a call later this week.

Santana lost his roster spot as part of the shuffling to accommodate Butto’s promotion last Saturday. The sinkerballer has bounced around via trade or on waivers since the start of the offseason. He’d made seven appearances for the Mets this year, allowing six runs over 7 2/3 frames. Santana has over three years of major league service time and has the right to refuse an outright assignment. Doing so would require forfeiting his $1M salary, however, so it’s likely he’ll report to Syracuse and try to pitch his way back onto the MLB radar. He’d reach minor league free agency at season’s end if he’s not first added to the 40-man roster.