It’s not back to Square One for Steven Matz and David Wright in their returns from medical problems. It just seems that way.
Matz, who has not received a consensus opinion on the cause of his left elbow woes, will long-toss Wednesday, along with also-recovering Seth Lugo, in Port St. Lucie.
Wright, hoping to return from neck surgery and a shoulder impingement while fighting recent back discomfort and the flu, will resume baseball activity, perhaps as soon as Wednesday, Mets general manager Sandy Alderson said. Alderson said he “realistically” expects to see Wright playing this season.
First, the pitchers.
“This is a progression from the very beginning. They’re going to throw 75 feet [Wednesday], long toss. So there’s a progression, maybe 150 before they start to get on a mound. So this is going to take awhile,” Alderson said before the Mets’ 6-2, 10-inning loss to the Phillies on Tuesday night at Citi Field.
Team doctors found no structural damage in Matz’s elbow, and the lefty called his problem a strained flexor tendon. He went on the DL before Opening Day and has been resting. Alderson said the plan is to “move forward in the absence of symptoms” and that Matz feels good enough to throw.
There is no timetable for a return. Alderson offered “possibly … question mark” when late May was proposed.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a full spring training, no. But I think it’s a full rehab program that’s basically starting from a period of a couple weeks’ rest, so there’s going to be a lot of long toss and he’ll get on a mound,” Alderson said. “But we don’t see it as a full spring training in the sense that he’ll have five or six starts and 25 or 30 innings before he comes back.”
Now Wright.
Wright will handle “ground balls, swinging the bat, maybe some throwing” over the next day or two, according to Alderson.
“I’m realistically expecting to see him some time this year. But I don’t have any real way of projecting a timetable, so we’re going to be patient about that, but I certainly haven’t given up hope of seeing him here in 2017 by any means,” Alderson said.
Alderson clarified Wright had been doing light baseball stuff, but shut it down “for a short period of time because of some discomfort” in his back. But Alderson said the back pain was not a cause for concern, noting it was “one of a myriad of concerns perhaps but no more so than any of the others.”
With Lugo, who went on the DL April 2 with a partial UCL tear in his right elbow, the Mets can’t make any judgment until he throws.
“The purpose of the rest is to let everything quiet down and then crank it back up and see how it responds. I don’t think we have any more real information than we had a couple weeks ago and hope that as time goes on he responds well and there are no more setbacks,” Alderson said.
Jay Bruce singled in the first extending his hitting streak against the Phillies to nine games. He’s hitting .433 (13-of-30) with four homers and 10 RBI in those games. … The Mets’ successful challenge of Andres Blanco’s double — ruled a ground-rule double, scoring one, instead of two as originally thought — took 48 seconds. … The Mets committed three errors.
Manager Terry Collins was asked if his bullpen was taxed, again without Jeurys Familia.
“They’re taxed,” Collins said, “but they had a day off. … You deal with what you’ve got. You gotta go out there. You still gotta get outs and make pitches and that’s what we’re not doing. We’re not making pitches.”
Collins noted the dreadful one-third inning (four hits, four runs, three earned runs) by loser Rafael Montero.
“Rafael, he’s got three hitters 0-1, 0-2 and gives up hits 0-2. You’ve got to make better pitches than that,” Collins said.
Familia remains on target to rejoin the Mets from his 15-game MLB-imposed domestic abuse suspension Thursday. Familia had perfect innings Monday at Double-A and Saturday at Single-A. After the Mets closer hit 97 mph, Collins said he “certainly is ready.”
“We actually had him throw two or three times where he threw multiple innings so that he can be ready to go when he gets here so that a 28-pitch inning, which he sometimes has, it will be easy for him,” Collins said. “I know of two times. He might have even done it a third time.”