The wait for Justin Verlander to make his first start as a Met should be coming to an end soon after the right-hander had no issues in his rehab start with Double-A Binghamton on Friday.
The 40-year-old has been sidelined with a teres major strain — near his armpit — since spring training and made his first rehab start on Friday, throwing 69 pitches over 4 ²/₃ scoreless.
“He felt good physically,” Buck Showalter said before the Mets faced Atlanta at Citi Field. “We’ll see where he goes from there and see how he recovers.”
As long as Verlander doesn’t report any issues, he should make his debut for the Mets in Detroit either Wednesday or Thursday, but Showalter wanted to talk to him — as well as pitching coach Jeremy Hefner and the training staff — before making anything official.
“That was the plan [and] that’s still the plan,” Showalter said of Verlander taking the mound against the Tigers.
Verlander, who threw consistently in the mid-90s in Friday’s outing and told reporters he felt good.
Justin Verlander’s start in with Double-A Binghamton went smoothly. Getty Images“I should be ready to go whenever they say I’m ready to pitch,” said Verlander, who added he held back a bit since he’d been out for a month and it was a chilly day in Binghamton.
He added most of his pitches felt good, though he wanted to “tighten up” his slider.
Mostly, though, he’s looking forward to pitching again.
“I’m very excited to finally have a chance to pitch for the Mets,” Verlander said. “It’s not the way I envisioned starting my career here. Unfortunately, these things happen. I’m doing everything I can to be back and be successful. I was hoping it would be quicker, but it just didn’t cooperate.”
And because of the location of the injury, Verlander said the team decided to be “quite cautious.”
He likely will have a pitch count of about 80 if he does face his former Tigers team.
The Mets certainly could use Verlander at this point and not just because he signed a two-year, $86 million contract during the offseason following his Cy Young season with Houston last year.
He would provide a much-needed boost to a battered rotation that is also without the suspended Max Scherzer, as well as the injured Carlos Carrasco (elbow) and Jose Quintana (rib).
Showalter added the Mets got “good news on all fronts” when it came to their injured starters, as Carrasco’s elbow continues to improve and Quintana could be just one imaging scan away — likely in two or three weeks — from beginning his comeback.
Now, they just need some help from the weather.
Scherzer, serving a 10-game ban for using a sticky substance, is scheduled to be back on Monday against the Braves, but that’s contingent on the Mets getting in the three scheduled games before then and the forecast is ominous.
Scherzer threw a four-inning simulated game Wednesday.
Carrasco received an injection last week to treat his elbow injury, while Quintana is progressing, but is not close to joining the rotation.
As for this weekend, Tylor Megill is scheduled to start for the Mets on Saturday, but they haven’t named a starter for Sunday, in part due to the uncertainty of the weather, but Jose Butto likely would be in play.
The Mets, though, are looking forward to the day when they have their regular five-man rotation set up, which hasn’t happened yet this season.







