The Mets informed Jacob deGrom on Friday that he is not going to make his next start. DeGrom, who has been cuffed around in his last two outings, will be skipped, even though the Mets currently have a shortage of healthy starting pitchers.
"Of course I want to be out there," deGrom said. "But these last few, I haven't helped the team very much. If that's in the best interests, then that's the plan we decided to go with."
The Mets are hoping the extra rest helps deGrom go back to being the pitcher they need.
"When he's had time off, he's bounced back and he's been dominant," manager Terry Collins said.
DeGrom insists it's not fatigue or injury that led him to allow 13 runs on 25 hits in his last two starts. He pointed to a mechanical flaw that plagued him earlier the season.
"(I'm) falling over toward the first-base side," said deGrom, who is 7-7 with a 2.96 ERA in 23 starts. "Arm slot's two inches higher and two inches toward first, so it tells me I'm falling off that way. Like I said earlier in the year, that makes my stuff flat in the zone."
Collins listed what he called "a plethora" of candidates to take deGrom's start on Monday against Miami: Sean Gilmartin, Gabriel Ynoa, Logan Verrett and Rafael Montero among them.
Collins also mentioned Seth Lugo, who threw five shutout innings for his first big league win on Thursday against the Cardinals before leaving with a calf cramp. It seems unlikely the team would use Lugo on short rest. Collins said the right-hander should be ready to make his next start.
