With Carrasco’s sore elbow, the Mets are harkening back to the days of yore when only half-truths are told. Why is an MRI not in their plan?
Carlos Carrasco, the Mets projected number two starter behind Jacob deGrom, has a sore elbow. Working the kinks out at this juncture of Spring Training, these things are not typically unusual. It’s often just a matter of taking it easy for a few days, allowing the inflammation to recede with treatment.
But Carlos Carrasco is not by any stretch of one’s imagination “typical” when it comes to arm injuries and ensuing surgeries.
Shut down for nearly all of the past two seasons, the Mets inherited his three-year $38 million contract when Carrasco was included in the deal with the Indians for Francisco Lindor.
In the days following the trade, the Mets and Sandy Alderson enjoyed a victory lap across the back pages of New York newspapers and talk radio shows. What a steal – it was said.
Mets: Let The Buyer Beware?
While we’ll never know the behind-the-scenes maneuverings to complete the trade, it seems fair to ask these questions as a prelude to this story’s main thrust.
First, did the Mets insist that Carrasco be included in the trade, or did the Indians advise the Mets – “Hey, if you want Carrasco, Sandy, he’s yours” – because there’s a big difference between the two scenarios?
Second, and here’s the crux of what may very well be the Mets problem today.
Did the Mets, realizing the Indian’s willingness to unload a pitcher who only three years ago finishes fourth in the Cy Young voting. and has more career complete games (11) than Jacob deGrom, Marcus Stroman, and Noah Syndergaard) insist on an MRI of Carrasco’s arm and shoulder before consummating the deal?
While that alone would be puzzling, why are the Mets “poo-pooing” their need to shut Carrasco down without a series of tests to determine the extent of the injury?
Mets Luis Rojas: We Got This- Okay?
Speaking with Newsday reporter Anthony Reiber, Mets manager Luis Rojas answered with an all too familiar spin to Mets fans who have seen this played out many times before in prior reincarnations.
“He made it sound like it’s something he’s dealt with in the past,” Rojas said. “We want Cookie to be healthy, which is the approach that we’re taking, and he’s taking right now. [He is] communicating to us without the level of concern that it’s something major happening.”
Sure, like when Matt Harvey insisted he was ready to go to start the ninth inning against the Chicago Cubs in the 2015 NLCS – or when Noah “Thor” Syndergaard missed time following the refusal of a team-advised MRI.
The situation with Carrasco may or may not be one of those “Who’s the boss” here questions. It barely matters, though, as it appears the Mets are avoiding the excellent chance that year-ending surgery is required when the medical team reviews the results of an MRI.
Or maybe not, but the point is why the Mets would hide under a veil of don’t ask, don’t tell – instead of doing the MRI and working out a rehab plan from there?
Is it because that would expose the lack of due diligence in the Mets front office during trade discussion, harkening back to the recently thought to be torched antics of previous ownership and their representatives?
Carrasco: Let The Truth Be Told
There’s no need for me or anyone else to light a fire under Sandy Alderson, one of the most reputable people in baseball, other than to suggest that (maybe) an “oops” admission is in order. People make mistakes, and possibly in the euphoria of landing Lindor, the i’s didn’t get dotted and the t’s crossed.
Mets: Carving A Path Forward – Or Not
Okay, but why compound the issue now? It’s often said the cover-up is always worse than the crime. If this goes on, New York media will be in an uproar, especially if after the currently prescribed rehab for Carlos Carrasco proves futile, and surgery resulting in the loss of his services this year becomes necessary.
If you really want to get crazy as some Mets fans are often want to do, here’s another more spurious yet possible scenario of the Carrasco situation.
What if the Mets already know or can make an educated guess the likelihood is there is substantial damage to Carrasco’s elbow?
Would it not behoove them to walk through the currently prescribed “give it a rest” regimen instead of ordering an MRI that reveals a need for surgery?
After all, the Mets can drag this thing out forever with no conclusive test, leaving Rojas and others to sing the song he’s singing now – (paraphrasing) “It’ll get better, and he’s making progress. Yesterday, we were pleased to see “Cookie” throw off a mound for the first time, and he looked good.”
Mets Steve Cohen – Does He Have A Play In This?
Look, someone, and that someone best is new Mets owner Steve Cohen, who pledged from day-one there will be no more shenanigans and no more half-truths emanating from my trusted underlings, needs to step in (quietly – not publicly) to ensure the value of his commitment is met – We tell the truth.
Regardless of how this plays out, the Mets will move forward to a season in which they will, at a minimum, make some noise in the National League East and beyond, whether or not “Cookie” Carrasco pitches every fifth day in their rotation.
Enough depth exists within the Mets 40-man roster to supplant this and other injury losses as the season moves forward. Plus, there is always the trade deadline to fill in the pieces if need be.
Mets: Let It Be, Let It Be – The Truth Shall Set You Free
But the proverbial bottom line rests here.
If, and we can only surmise the chances are greater than not that, given Carrasco’s pedigree spells the prevalence something more than merely a sore arm, why not bite the bullet now?
Admitting the possibility that maybe we (Mets) dropped the ball and should have taken due diligence about “after-thought throw-in” Carlos Carrasco – before heralding him as a mainstay in the Mets rotation?
These things boggle the mind, and often it’s only Monday morning quarterbacking that settles our mind.
But therein a truth lies. Once a mistake (if it has in this case), what is the sense of avoiding that which (eventually) reveals itself as the unwanted but all too necessary truth by pretending all is well in the Mets camp as they face the possible loss of a starting pitcher who was relied on heavily to be a stalwart in their rotation?
Questions – we can ask. Answers, however, can only come from within the Mets organization…
Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona. Not all holes, or games, are created equal.
