Update, April 13, 11:09 AM: Sandy Alderson told reporters at Citi Field on Monday Noah Syndergaard underwent an MRI on his forearm last month, and it came back clean.
Alderson said there is no further concern with his elbow.
Original Post, April 12, 11:40 AM: Noah Syndergaard was optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas on March 20, the last day a player could be in big league camp without having to be placed on the Major League disabled list in the event of an injury.
Syndergaard reportedly took a ball off his ankle in his final spring start, and decided to option him at that point rather than risk having him go on the big league disabled list if the problem had lingered.
However, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com says Syndergaard was also dealing with minor forearm stiffness in camp as well.
There were some rumblings about this late in camp, as it turns out. In fact, I had heard the ankle injury wasn’t necessarily what got him optioned at the time, and it was in fact a worry about his elbow.
Apparently, the situation was minor, but he got pushed back in the rotation as a result and will start the fifth game for the Las Vegas 51s. As I understand it, there are currently no concerns with Syndergaard’s elbow.
Often times forearm stiffness is a symptom of a torn ulnar collateral ligament, so getting Syndergaard out of big league camp was the smart and safe play for the Mets. If they hadn’t and this was a long-term injury, he would’ve had to go on the Major League disabled list, meaning he would begin accruing big league service time.
They can’t prevent these guys from getting injured, but they can control the service time and arbitration clocks for their prospects, and there was absolutely no reason to risk having those start in this manner.
Syndergaard will be limited to 60 pitches in his debut tomorrow.
Just Mets 