The anticipated arrival of injured starting pitcher Carlos Carrasco in a New York Mets uniform keeps hitting snags.
On Wednesday, manager Luis Rojas backtracked from statements he made last week that Carrasco had begun throwing bullpen sessions. But apparently, he hasn’t got that far; he’s only playing catch and previously through from an inclined surface.
“Carrasco has been throwing, but still is doing the strengthening program for his hamstring,” Rojas said. “That is the main focus here — getting to the point where he can be pushed a little more and then we can start talking about progressing him at that level. He is playing catch, but the hamstring is the main focus.”
The 33-year-old righty suffered a torn right hamstring late in spring training to put further strain on the Mets’ starting-pitching depth that already did not have Noah Syndergaard, who continues his rehab from Tommy John surgery.
While he was once expected to return in late May, that date has now been pushed back to a more likely scenario of July.
“There is no re-injury or anything like that,” Rojas said. “It’s just we still have to put some more strain on that hamstring before we ramp up his baseball progression, his throwing progression. So that’s the task at hand right now. He’s fully on board and everyone here is fully on board.”
The Mets are staying afloat in a disappointing NL East despite rolling with only three reliable starters in Jacob deGrom, Taijuan Walker, and Marcus Stroman. But the bottom of the rotation has stressed the need for both Carrasco and Syndergaard to get back as soon as possible. David Peterson was yanked before the end of the third inning for a second-straight game on Tuesday as his ERA swelled 6.32 this season while Joey Lucchesi is 1-4 with a 5.97 ERA.
