Seth Lugo suffered a small injury, quite literally. The New York Mets will be without their lights-out reliever while he recovers.
Well, that didn’t take long. The New York Mets have been cursed by injuries for what seems like forever and the 2020 season is off to a rough start in that regard.
According to Mike Puma of the New York Post, Mets reliever Seth Lugo stubbed his pinky toe in his hotel room Monday night, resulting in a fracture.
Thankfully, the injury is a small one, literally. Lugo is only expected to miss three days of practice. This may change Lugo’s throwing schedule and the games he appears in this spring, but he shouldn’t miss any significant time.
Expect the Mets to take things slowly with Lugo, who is one of the team’s most important arms. He’s vital to the bullpen and the team can’t risk further aggravation by rushing him back.
Lugo is the Mets’ best reliever and a borderline top-10 reliever in MLB. The Mets bullpen is already volatile due to injury histories and inconsistent play. Losing Lugo for any period of time would be absolutely awful for the team.
So if Lugo’s recovery takes longer than expected, don’t panic. Ensuring his long-term health is far more important than making sure he’s pitching in games during February and March. New York’s season begins on March 26 with an Opening Day matchup against the World Series champion Washington Nationals.
Lugo likely won’t appear in either of the Mets’ first spring training games on Sunday against the Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals. That’s OK. Missing one or two games isn’t the end of the world for the star reliever.
