Mets: Jacob deGrom Shut Down for the Season, Fantasy Fallout

Aug 18, 2016; San Francisco, CA, USA; New York Mets starting pitcher Jacob deGrom (48) pitches against the San Francisco Giants in the first inning at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 18, 2016; San Francisco, CA, USA; New York Mets starting pitcher Jacob deGrom (48) pitches against the San Francisco Giants in the first inning at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Mets starting pitchers have been the most-injured rotation in all of baseball. The most recent news is that Jacob deGro is done for the year.

The New York Mets will be without yet another starting pitcher for the rest of the season. The most recent pitcher to find himself on the disabled list is Jacob deGrom. He joins four other Mets pitchers that missed significant time. deGrom has an injury to his right elbow and may require surgery to his ulnar nerve, but nothing has been confirmed. There are plenty of other pitchers to add in his place.

In his third full season, deGrom was pitching well. He made 24 starts and ended with a 3.04 ERA, 1.20 WHIP and 7-8 record. He had a 8.7 K/9 and 2.2 BB/9. I’m not sure if it was this injury, but his strikeouts and walks went in the wrong direction year over year. He also lost some velocity over his last couple of starts.

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deGrom struggled in his most recent start. Against the Miami Marlins on Sept. 1, he lasted five innings and allowed three runs on six hits and four walks while striking out six.

After the start, he was bothered by forearm and elbow soreness. He was scheduled to start Sunday, but after he felt pain shagging fly balls, he was obviously shut down.

Despite all of the injuries, the Mets are still in the National League playoff hunt. They have a two-game lead over the St. Louis Cardinals in the second Wild Card spot.

The Mets are without Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler, both on the 60-day DL. Steven Matz and Jon Neise are on the 15-day DL. Noah Syndergaard, Seth Lugo and Bartolo Colon are holding down the rotation.

As I mentioned in my Gerrit Cole piece, Lugo and Ivan Nova are the top two starting pitchers to add. Chad Bettis is getting a lot of notice, but I don’t know how confident I would be in a Colorado Rockies pitcher. There are other pitchers worth adding in a spot start situation.

Next: Is Freddy Galvis Worth Adding?

This final month has been very newsworthy. With the good news in the September call ups comes the bad and the season-ending injuries. If you own deGrom, you need regroup and figure out how you will bounce back. This is why the best fantasy owners (sometimes lucky) make the playoffs. You have good replacements to fill his spot and continue the playoff push.