Steven Matz's Injury Another Deflating Blow to Injury-Riddled Mets

The New York Mets can’t help but be the New York Mets.

They seem to suffer miscue after miscue, misguided philosophy after misguided philosophy and debilitating injury after debilitating injury, even if they try to sweep them under the rug when they become public knowledge.

It’s a never-ending carousel of head-scratching material.

It happened again Thursday. One of their young, promising future pillars is at the center of it as Matt Harvey was in 2013, Zack Wheeler was during spring training and Travis d’Arnaud has been twice this season.

Stud left-hander Steven Matz has gone down with a significant injury that the team originally brushed off as “nothing to see here” fodder. Except now we know Matz has a partial tear of his left lat muscle and will likely miss more than a month.

The Record's Matt Ehalt reported the news:

It is a debilitating injury and crippling for the Mets, who are watching their playoff hopes fade as they have gone from first place in the National League East by 1.5 games to trailing the Washington Nationals by three within a few weeks. Matz’s debut is part of the reason they aren’t in worse shape as he has allowed two runs and struck out 14 in 13.2 innings (1.32 ERA) over his first two major league starts.

This obviously affects the Mets’ plans to run out a six-man rotation in order to limit innings for guys like Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard and Matz. We do not yet know in what way the injury alters that strategy because the Mets’ brass is still presumably mulling over its options. There is time, though, since the All-Star break starts Monday and the Mets will not play again after that until July 17 in St. Louis.

Seth Wenig/Associated Press

It appears Matz’s best-case scenario would have him back on the mound for the Mets in mid-August. However, we can assume the Mets will be extra careful with the 24-year-old, as they have been with many of their pitching prospects. That was the reason behind the six-man rotation in the first place.

In Matz’s absence, the Mets could go back to a five-man unit. But if they opt to stick with the six-man group, it could mean bringing back ousted right-hander Dillon Gee, whom the team booted from the rotation to his blunt displeasure then designated for assignment in mid-June. That may be an option the Mets stay away from, however, since Gee is not on the 40-man roster and because in three starts for Triple-A Las Vegas he has an 8.82 ERA.

Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press

In terms of playoff aspirations, this is a huge blow to absorb.

The Mets had understandably been reluctant to deal from their pitching to upgrade an offense that has been among the most unproductive in all of baseball. But now, because of Matz’s injury, they are also in need of some starting pitching unless they are willing to ride out this stretch using Jon Niese. To Niese’s credit, he has been good over his last six starts—2.41 ERA over 41 innings—but some of that has come within the six-man rotation.

Though Niese is one of the few trade chips the Mets hold if they are to upgrade their lineup or bullpen, Matz’s injury is likely to force the team to hold on to him now.

Aside from how it immediately affects the Mets on the field and on the trade market, Matz’s injury brings to light other concerns. Mainly, why did the team, which has been so careful with its pitching prospects, allow Matz to make his second start even though he complained of discomfort in the lat area after his first one, per ESPN.com's Adam Rubin.

“After his last start, he was a little stiffer than we liked,” Mets manager Terry Collins told reporters following Matz’s second outing. The team’s answer to the problem that Sunday was limiting Matz to 100 pitches against the Los Angeles Dodgers, which he used to pitch six scoreless innings.

The discomfort clearly continued after that start, but team sources attempted to diagnose the injury as "not serious" to Rubin. Literally minutes later, though, we found out Matz had a partial tear.

Chalk it up to the organization’s standard M.O. when dealing with injuries lately. It seems any time one comes up, the Mets’ first reaction is to deflect attention and downplay the severity. This is the secondary concern brought about by Matz’s situation, although you could point to just about any significant Mets injury this season to highlight the point.

This graphic from the Wall Street Journal shows how the Mets have reacted to injuries vs. their seriousness:

"

I'll just leave this here. pic.twitter.com/EGJv58Jnmy

— Jared Diamond (@jareddiamond) July 8, 2015"

As the graphic shows, injuries have blasted the team this season. Matz’s lat is just another in the line, but it could be the most deflating—not because it is the latest, but because Matz is a potential front-line starter who was already pitching like one at a time when the Mets needed a boost.

He provided that twice, but now the team has been struck yet again. The front office, the players and their fans are left shaking their heads yet again. And yet again, the Mets’ postseason dreams are fading because of an injury.

All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired firsthand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.