DENVER — Chris Young’s Mets career, if not already finished, is in serious jeopardy.
The team received a jolt yesterday, when Young was diagnosed with a tear of the anterior capsule of his right shoulder — essentially the same injury that has kept Johan Santana sidelined since last September.
Assistant general manager John Ricco, speaking before the Mets’ 2-1 loss to the Rockies last night, classified Young’s injury as a “re-tear,” noting the right-hander sustained the same injury last year pitching for the Padres. Young must now decide between season-ending surgery and rehabilitation. The latter option would perhaps give Young a chance of returning later in the year.
“I’m not going to speculate yet,” Ricco said, when asked about Young’s prospects for this season.
Young went the rehab route last season after tearing his anterior capsule in April and returned to pitch three September games for the Padres in the heat of a pennant race.
The Mets signed Young to an incentive-laden contract last winter (only $1.1 million was guaranteed) well aware of the risk involved. Young also had shoulder problems in 2009 that led to arthroscopic surgery.
Young, who is 1-0 with a 1.88 ERA in four starts this season, was scratched from his Saturday start against the Dodgers when he couldn’t get loose before the game. Young had a stint on the disabled list last month for what was called biceps tendinitis.
“You just hope this guy somehow gets better,” manager Terry Collins said. “He showed no signs of this in spring training. You would watch him throw his [bullpen sessions] and when he started getting through spring training and building up his pitch count, you never saw any discomfort.
“You never saw any holding back from trying to pitch. And you thought ‘OK, he’s over this.’ It just tells you what the extra adrenaline when the season starts means, what the cold weather can mean. They were all major factors in the fact he’s in the shape he’s in right now.”
Dillon Gee, who took Young’s start on Saturday, will remain in the rotation long-term. The Mets do not have other solid options should another injury hit a starting pitcher.
“You deal with these injuries, and you know that going in,” Ricco said. “You try to build up as much [pitching] as possible, and Dillon Gee is a guy who has stepped in and done very well for us so far. We have other pitchers in the organization who will step up as well.”
Collins said he doubts the team decision-makers could have done something differently to prevent Young’s injury. The team is also monitoring last night’s starter, Chris Capuano, who has a history of arm troubles.
“We have done the best we could to make sure these guys have gotten proper rest and watched their pitch counts and done as good a job as possible to try and avoid this,” Collins said. “I salute the job [pitching coach] Dan Warthen has done — he protects these guys to death.”
