As Tuesday night concluded, the New York Mets continued to hold on to the best record in the National League. Despite a flurry of injuries early in the campaign, the Mets have built a five-game lead in the NL East, the widest lead of any NL division leader.
Yes, the New York Mets have started the season strong … and it sounds like reinforcements are on the way sooner than later to boost the Mets even more.
New York Mets owner Steve Cohen believes that starting pitcher Max Scherzer is ahead of schedule to return from the injured list
Cohen spoke to Jon Heyman of The New York Post prior to MLB owner meetings in New York City on Tuesday on a variety of subjects. Among them were the health of Mets starting pitchers Jacob deGrom and Scherzer, who has been on the injured list since May 19 with a left oblique strain. According to Heyman, “Cohen said he hears Scherzer is ahead of schedule,” and that both Scherzer and deGrom (who has yet to pitch this season after developing a stress reaction on his right scapula in the spring) could return before the All-Star break.
For deGrom, who was put on the 60-day injured list on May 10, that would be a tight timeline. Scherzer, however, is a better bet to meet the first-half deadline hinted at by Cohen. But Scherzer said on Tuesday afternoon that “I still have a lot in front of me” to get back on the mound.
Scherzer said he was “90 percent” healed from the oblique injury, but the last 10 percent to get back to 100 percent is going to require time and patience to overcome.
How long will it take for that 10 percent to be conquered? Scherzer has started throwing bullpens and could reportedly start facing live batters as soon as next week. It is assumed that much more would be known about timeline after that.
Scherzer’s timeline for return was originally six to eight weeks once he went on the injured list on May 19. However, it sounds like that timeline could potentially be on the shorter end of the spectrum, which would only provide the already red-hot Mets with even more firepower.