The verdict is in: Mets’ right-hander Noah Syndergaard won’t throw for at least six weeks, according to comments made by general manager Sandy Alderson during a pregame press conference on Saturday. At first blush, that sounds a lot better than the three-month estimate given by the New York Post’s Joel Sherman earlier this week, but keep in mind that Syndergaard will only begin throwing baseballs again when the six-week period expires. There’s no word yet on exactly how long it’ll take the Mets’ ace to return to the mound, though he received “positive news” during his evaluation by Dr. Neal ElAttrache on Thursday and isn’t likely to undergo any surgical procedures to mend his lat tear.
At this point, the team expects the process to go very slowly, and Alderson mentioned that Syndergaard could be placed on the 60-day disabled list while he works up to a full recovery. It seems unlikely that the righty would find himself back in the Mets’ rotation before the All-Star break, especially given the additional time needed to take on a full workload after he resumes throwing off the mound.
Neither Alderson nor Syndergaard appeared particularly perturbed by the decision to start the right-hander last Sunday, despite the fact that the 24-year-old had recently refused an MRI for biceps tendinitis and suffered the lat injury within the first 1 1/3 innings of his outing. “To me, the MRI was not a critical element to the decision-making,” Alderson said. “I don’t regret it at all,” Syndergaard added. “Something weird just happened.”
Syndergaard’s full comments from the press conference are below, via MLB.com’s Joe Trezza:
