After a week of relative silence, the Mets opened up the books on their legion of injured Monday, with general manager Sandy Alderson confirming that Steven Matz and Seth Lugo likely will return to the club after one more rehab start, and that Yoenis Cespedes could be back as soon as a week from now.
In what could certifiably be called good news, Alderson said that both Matz and Lugo would be added to the starting rotation if everything checks out after their next minor-league starts, an effort to stretch them beyond the 80-something pitches they've reached so far in rehab assignments. They'll be shooting for around 90 pitches, he said, similar to their major-league workload.
"Steven pitched extremely well [Sunday] based on the statistics, as you're aware, as well as observations there," said Alderson of Matz (elbow) who threw five perfect innings with eight strikeouts for Triple-A Las Vegas. Lugo (elbow) allowed three runs on eight hits with seven strikeouts and two walks over six innings for Double-A Binghamton on Sunday. Alderson said Robert Gsellman would probably be sent to salve the bedraggled, overworked bullpen upon their return.
"I think he can help us there," Alderson said of Gsellman, who started Monday. After a media relations member ended Alderson's news conference, the general manager quipped: "With a 5 ERA in the bullpen, a lot of people can help us there."
Terry Collins said that if doctors say Lugo is good to go, there will likely be no restrictions on the righty, who _ much like Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka _ will have to pitch with a partial tear in his UCL.
"If he's deemed eligible to pitch, we're going to just run him out there," he said. "A lot of guys have pitched a long time with a slight tear in their UCL ... I don't mean to compare him to anybody, but it can be done."
Meanwhile, Alderson is eyeing a June 6, 7 series against the Texas Rangers as a possible timetable for Cespedes' return. While cautioning that this date was "conjecture," the Mets will have the DH for that series, making a perfect soft introduction for Cespedes, who went down with a hamstring injury on April 28. The hamstring was progressing nicely, Alderson said, before Cespedes aggravated his right quadriceps during a rehab game Friday. It's the same quadriceps that caused him to miss half of August last year.
"We want to make sure that quad issue is resolved before we move to another step," said Alderson, who said he was hoping for a return in a week to 10 days. "We're going to take it conservatively with him and see where he is over the next two, three days."
