What else can go wrong for the New York Mets after the first series of the 2024 season? The Mets were swept at home in three games by the Milwaukee Brewers to open the season and have lost another starting pitcher to injury before the gears start to grind on a grueling 162-game campaign.
Right-hander Tylor Megill left his first start of the year on Sunday with a shoulder injury. Mets bench coach John Gibbons was acting manager on Sunday and said the issue “was a little bit tender in his shoulder area,” per Dan Martin of the New York Post. Gibbons was managing in place of Carlos Mendoza, who was suspended for a game after the umpires determined the Mets deliberately threw at Brewers first baseman Rhys Hoskins in Saturday's game.
Megill underwent an MRI on Sunday night to determine the extent of the injury. The Mets subsequently placed him on the injured list with a right shoulder strain on Monday.
A fourth-year Met who made his MLB debut in 2021, Megill tossed four innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on three hits on Sunday. He struck out four Brewers hitters but struggled with command, walking three batters and hitting one. Gibbons said he would have kept Megill in the game if he wasn’t injured.
Mets pitching took a beating in the opening series, allowing 14 runs across three games. A winless start at home was likely not on New York's radar and they now have to rebound, potentially with one less major league starting pitcher.
Mets pitching situation turns bleaker
The Mets are looking at a very tough situation regarding their pitching early in the 2024 season. Already without ace Kodai Senga, the potential long-term loss of Megill on top of that would be a detrimental blow to the Mets.
Megill isn’t quite a Cy Young candidate but he gave the Mets six quality starts and over 126 innings last season. He was expected to be a reliable arm for New York this year but could be on the mend after just four innings.
Outside of Megill and Senga, the Mets are turning to Luis Severino, Jose Quintana and Sean Manaea, among others, for their starting pitching duties. Having to dig into another piece of their starting pitching depth is not what the Mets hoped they'd have to do this early in the season.
Mets facing uncertain future?
The Mets won 101 games in the regular season just two years ago, but find themselves picked to finish third at best in the NL East this season. New owner Steve Cohen was supposed to bring winning ways and an open checkbook to New York. That has yet to come to fruition beyond Francisco Lindor and their pitching experiment with Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander, although the Mets did attempt to sign high-profile free agents like Carlos Correa under Cohen.
New York endured an unexpectedly bad season in 2023 and turned it into a lackluster offseason. The Mets did not sign a single free agent for longer than one year (excluding options) nor did they dish out more than $14.5 million on any of those contracts.
New president of baseball operations David Stearns, who was hired away from the Brewers by the Mets last October, is tasked with getting New York back on track sooner rather than later. Perhaps Mets fans will have to endure a few bad seasons, but Stearns' track record says he should be able to make New York successful in short order.
He helped lead the Brewers to five playoff appearances and six winning seasons during his eight years with the team. Those are the sort of expectations Mets fans will have for the respected executive.
Stearns and Cohen likely have a plan in place or at least somewhat of a blueprint for the future of the franchise. They better hope it works because Mets fans are starving for a winner now more than ever.
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