Mets injury update: Steven Matz suffers setback

Steven Matz has been scratched from his next start on Thursday as he continues to deal with discomfort in his shoulder. Jacob deGrom will move up a day to start in his place, and Matz says tests on his shoulder have shown no structural damage and that he believes he’ll pitch again this season.

The setback is the latest in what has been a brutal season for the health of the Mets’ starting rotation. Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler have already been ruled out for the rest of the season, while Noah Syndergaard has dealt with a bone spur. Jacob deGrom’s recent struggles, which prompted skipping his turn in the rotation last night, further muddies the waters of what sort of production can be expected from the rotation going forward.

Thankfully for the Mets, both Seth Lugo—who dealt with calf cramps in his last start—and Robert Gsellman have looked good in their brief major league time. While neither offers the top-of-the-rotation upside that Matz does, each likely provided a better alternative to Logan Verrett or a similar back-end rotation arm. Rafael Montero and Gabriel Ynoa could also factor into the rotation mix. Still, though these arms offer some level of upside, this is hardly the group of arms Mets fans envisioned carrying the team to the playoffs.