Mets’ Rotation Depth May Be Put To Test Early On After Taijuan Walker’s Knee Surgery

The Mets’ front office made it a priority to bolster the team’s depth in the starting rotation this offseason in order to avoid a repeat of last season when they ran out of arms.

But on Monday afternoon, it was revealed that projected No. 5 starter Taijuan Walker underwent a right knee procedure in mid-January, which could prevent him from being ready in time for Opening Day.

Manager Buck Showalter informed a small group of reporters at Clover Park on Monday of Walker's ailment. According to Showalter, Walker is a bit behind, but still has a chance to get up to speed before the Mets break camp in a few weeks.

The Mets later announced that Walker is participating in baseball activities, throwing off the mound and going through a running progression, but has not yet been cleared for in-game activity.

And if Walker winds up beginning the season on the injured list, the Mets’ pitching depth could be put to the test early-on.

Fortunately, the team went out and acquired star pitcher Chris Bassitt from the Oakland Athletics on Saturday, who is projected to serve as the club's No. 3 starter. Beyond Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer and Bassitt, Carlos Carrasco and Walker are slated to make up the backend of the Mets’ rotation.

If Walker can’t make it back by the time he’s due up in the rotation for the first time, which is expected to be on April 12 against the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park, the Mets could turn to several options including David Peterson, Tylor Megill, Trevor Williams and Jordan Yamamoto.

Peterson initially showed promise as a rookie in 2020, but struggled immensely last season before a foot injury derailed his sophomore campaign. However, the 26-year-old has a bit of an advantage as the only lefty starter on the Mets’ 40-man roster. If Walker is forced to begin the year on the shelf, Peterson could be a prime candidate to replace him in the rotation.

Interestingly enough, Peterson faced the Phillies in four out of the 15 starts he made last season and faired particularly well. Despite getting knocked around for six-runs in his first outing of the year in 2021, which came against the Phillies, the left-hander went onto post a 1.59 ERA with 23 strikeouts in his last three outings versus their lineup.

But Peterson isn't the only young talented starter that's trying to crack the Mets' rotation. Megill came up last July and was initially lights out, recording a 1.28 ERA and 39 strikeouts across his first seven career big-league starts. But he struggled down the stretch with an abysmal 6.78 ERA across his final 10 starts, while allowing 15 home runs in 49.1 innings.

The righty also shattered his career innings-mark (130 innings between major-leagues and minor-leagues) after not pitching in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor-league season as a result of the pandemic., This may ultimately have an ill effect on him this year. Regardless, Megill’s development will be an intriguing story line after he flashed shades of brilliance on the mound at times in 2021.

As for the first of two veteran right-handers that the Mets can deploy, Williams has an outside chance to be the No. 5 starter to begin the year if Walker is sidelined because of his value as swingman in the rotation and bullpen. Not only can Williams start for the Mets, but he can also give them innings in long relief as well.

Yamamoto will need to have an impressive camp in order to be considered for the job, considering he was limited to just 39.1 innings between MLB and MiLB in 2021 due to a season-ending shoulder injury.

Marte Dealing With Oblique Issue

Unfortunately for the Mets, Walker isn't the only player that arrived at camp with physical limitations.

Outfielder Starling Marte, who was the Mets' top position player signing this offseason, did not participate in the team's workout on Monday due to oblique soreness.

Buck Showalter says Starling Marte is dealing with soreness in his oblique, and did not participate in today's team workout:

"He should be okay" pic.twitter.com/G6hRcqDjWE
— SNY (@SNYtv) March 14, 2022

Showalter informed reporters that Marte told the staff that he was experiencing soreness about six days ago (now seven). This led the Mets to give Marte a precautionary X-Ray and imaging test, which both came back clean.

According to Showalter, Marte should be OK moving forward, but the skipper acknowledged how oblique issues can often be a cause for concern.

DeGrom To Get Ball On Opening Day

Following Jacob deGrom's press conference, where he revealed that he intends to opt-out of his contract after the 2022 season, Showalter later told the media that his ace will get the ball on Opening Day against the Nationals in D.C.

For deGrom, this will be his fourth-straight Opening Day start, tying Dwight "Doc" Gooden for the most consecutive Opening Day starts in franchise history.

Alonso 'Thankful To Be Alive' After Crash

After spring training was delayed by a month due to the lockout, Mets first baseman Pete Alonso was excited to finally be heading down to big-league camp on Sunday - when all of a sudden, his life flashed before his eyes.

As Alonso shared with reporters in front of his locker yesterday, he was involved in a severe car crash one day prior when he was t-boned by another vehicle that ran a red light. This caused Alonso's Ford Super Duty truck to flip over a total of three times. And the next thing he knew, he was kicking his windshield in to escape the flipped over vehicle.

"I'm thankful to be alive," Alonso said. "I'm really thankful that I'm healthy, very thankful to be here. Anything can happen at any given moment. I'm just really, really blessed to be here.

"One [moment] I was coming here to work, coming to spring training, and next thing I know I'm kicking my windshield in trying to get out of a flipped-over car. Just really blessed to be here. Thankful nothing is wrong. Also thank you Ford for having great engineering."

Fortunately, Alonso came out unscathed, as did everyone else involved in the crash. Alonso's wife, Haley, was following him in another car and watched the whole scary incident occur.

“I thought I watched my husband die in front of me and I will never forget that feeling,” Alonso’s wife wrote via an Instagram post on Monday.

“Yesterday as Pete and I were heading to Spring Training, a distracted driver ran a red light going at an extremely fast rate and hit directly into Pete’s truck. I was in my car following behind him and saw the whole thing happen in front of me. Once the car struck the side of his truck, it flipped 3 times and slid into where you see it in these videos.

“I slammed on my breaks, jumped out of my car and ran up to his truck,” she continued. “I was terrified of what I was going to see. I couldn’t see inside of the truck because the windshield was shattered. I screamed for him just hoping that he’d be able to answer me. He said he was ok and was going to kick out the windshield to escape since he was trapped. He got himself out and to everyone’s shock, only had a single scratch on his arm. It’s a miracle that he’s safe after this horrifying of an accident.

“…This could’ve easily unfolded much differently and that’s what is so scary. Life can be taken from us in an instant. Please do not drive distracted and wear your seatbelt. This happened 5 minutes from our house, it can happen anytime, anywhere.”