PORT ST. LUCIE — After a fairly healthy first few weeks of camp, the Mets have encountered their first injury obstacle.
They will find out soon how large the obstacle will be — but it appears to be sizable.
Jose Quintana has suffered a small stress fracture on the fifth rib on his left side, the Mets announced Monday.
The lefty will travel to New York for further tests, and the club has not yet released a timetable for his return.
Even in a best-case scenario, Quintana is likely to miss the start of a season that begins in just over three weeks.
Quintana has thrown 1 ²/₃ innings in the Grapefruit League and, whenever he returns, will have to stretch himself out.
He likely will miss significant time, according to a medical professional who has not evaluated Quintana.
Quintana will likely miss week — if not months — with a rib injury. Corey Sipkin for NY Post“Typically [with these injuries], it’s going to be about six weeks to two months of rest and then kind of reassess,” said Dr. Spencer Stein, a sports health orthopedic surgeon for NYU Langone Orthopedics. “A lot of times players after two months can get back to some activities [such as] working out, but as far as pitching, that takes longer.”
The timeline will depend upon the severity of the fracture.
Boston’s Chris Sale suffered a stress fracture in his right rib cage last season that kept him out beginning in February until he began a rehab assignment in June.
Stein said Quintana could be looking at being sidelined for months, rather than weeks.
It is impossible to know a true timeline without further imaging, but rib issues can be tricky because they cannot be immobilized like legs or arms.
“Every time [people] breathe, there’s a little bit of stress on it,” Stein said over the phone. “That’s why these things take longer [to heal] than other bones.”
Quintana pitched a scoreless inning Sunday against the Cardinals and left with what the Mets originally termed as left side tightness. He had been set to join Team Colombia this week for the World Baseball Classic and was forced to pull out of the competition.
Quintana is expected to be a key part of the Mets rotation this season. Corey Sipkin for NY Post“Now all I need is to get completely recovered and try to be ready for the beginning of the 2023 MLB season,” Quintana wrote in Spanish on Instagram on Sunday.
The 34-year-old does not have a publicly known history of rib injuries. He was solid (a combined 2.93 ERA) and healthy with the Pirates and Cardinals last season, when he made 32 starts and bounced back from subpar seasons in 2021 and ’20. The Mets brought him in on a two-year, $26 million pact as a middle-of-the-rotation arm who has been pretty dependable through an 11-year career.
Without Quintana, the Mets likely would bump David Peterson or Tylor Megill up to the rotation. Peterson, who himself is day-to-day with a left foot contusion, pitched to a 3.83 ERA last season mostly as a starter. Peterson is a lefty, and Quintana has been the only southpaw in the rotation.
Megill was brilliant in April last season before biceps and shoulder injuries sidelined him for months.
Peterson and Megill represent the first wave of reinforcements, with Elieser Hernandez and Joey Lucchesi behind them. GM Billy Eppler loaded up on depth that can be shuffled between the minors and the majors particularly because the Mets’ rotation — led by a 40-year-old Justin Verlander and 38-year-old Max Scherzer — comes with so many injury concerns.
“The good news is: Typically these players do get a full recovery,” Stein said about Quintana. “So even though it could take months, the bone will usually heal.”
