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New York Mets Rumors: Rafael Montero Done For Season?

By Kenneth Teape

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New York Mets Rumors: After suffering a setback in his rehab over the weekend, could Rafael Montero now be sidelined for the remainder of the season?

The New York Mets have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to pitchers. We have seen that first hand this season, as highly touted prospects Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz followed up impressive debuts from Jacob deGrom, Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler in previous seasons. The one person missing from that list is Rafael Montero.

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Montero, who was once looked at as a building block by the Mets, has been passed over by each of those players. They all look locked into starting rotation spots, while Montero was used as a reliever and spot starter in the beginning of the season. Montero was supposedly being dangled in trade talks prior to the deadline, but his injury was making teams wary. Whichever teams passed on a deal for Montero look to have made the right decision, as there is a real possibility that Montero misses the remainder of the 2015 season.

This will confuse many Mets fans, as the team kept saying Montero wasn’t that injured. Yet, he hasn’t appeared in a major league game since April 28th when he made a spot start with the team. Manager Terry Collins has even been on record in past weeks saying he would like Montero to ramp up his rehab so the Mets can get him back into their bullpen that has some holes.

That no longer seems to be the case, as Montero suffered some type of setback while rehabbing over the weekend. He was dealing with shoulder inflammation and fatigue early on, but it is hard to imagine that is still what is ailing him almost four months later. He has had plenty of time to rest, and even took a break from rehab at the end of July before getting things going again in recent weeks.

It is unfortunate that Montero was unable to get healthy, as the Mets could have really used him. With so many other young arms and players on inning limits, the Mets are looking for any way to keep their guys fresh heading into September. Montero could have been used as the sixth man in the rotation, or as a spot starter as they were doing with Dillon Gee earlier in the season.

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When he was not needed in the rotation, he would give Collins another arm in the bullpen to turn to, as the Mets relievers have become somewhat of a problem; outside of closer Jeurys Familia and set-up man Tyler Clippard, whom the Mets acquired at the trade deadline from the Oakland Athletics, things have not gone well once the starters come out of the game recently.

This is indeed a weird situation, as the Mets seemed pretty confident there wasn’t anything seriously wrong with Montero; but keep in mind, they also didn’t believe there was anything seriously wrong with Wheeler in spring training, and he ended up needing Tommy John surgery.

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It does not seem that Montero needs Tommy John surgery, but he is again dealing with issues and has no timetable to return. That could mean we see Montero at some point later in the season, as he has not been ruled out for the year, but his chances of making another appearance with the big league club in 2015 get slimmer as the days go by.

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