Billy Eppler calls report that Mets are shutting down Jose Quintana until June 'premature'
Mets catcher Omar Narvaez talking with pitcher Jose Quintana during a spring training game against the Houston Astros, Tuesday Feb. 28, 2023 at Clover Field in Port St. Lucie, FL. Credit: Newsday/Alejandra Villa Loarca
JUPITER, Fla. — Mets general manager Billy Eppler on Monday called a report that the Mets are expected to shut down injured lefthander Jose Quintana until June “premature.”
Eppler said the Mets are still hoping to reveal by Wednesday a treatment schedule and timetable for Quintana’s return from a stress fracture in a rib on his left side.
“Premature,” Eppler said of the New York Post report. “Don’t have all the information yet. I was on the phone today with more of the doctors, with [Quintana], and I was with Jose on the call, and it’s just premature.
“I’m going to wait until I have everything in place. I don’t want to drip this [information] out. I want to make sure we have everything buttoned up and we have Jose’s input and we’ll go from there. But I’ll explain everything in due time.”
Eppler said Quintana, who last pitched on March 5, doesn’t need to undergo any more medical tests.
“It’s information,” Eppler said. “It’s information and opinions.”
Eppler would not answer when asked if Quintana is going to need surgery.
“I’m not going to drip it out,” he said. “Sorry. I’m going to wait until this is all buttoned up.”
Manager Buck Showalter said Quintana was supposed to return to the club by now but is battling an illness. Showalter told him to stay in Miami until he sheds the illness so it doesn’t spread around the clubhouse.
The Mets are preparing to open the season without Quintana, whom they signed to a two-year, $26 million free-agent contract.
The leading candidates to take his rotation spot are lefthander David Peterson and righthander Tylor Megill. Peterson would seem to have the upper (left) hand, but Showalter said he would be fine going with an all-righthanded rotation.
Megill helped his cause on Monday by starting and throwing four shutout innings in the Mets’ 9-3 victory over the Marlins at Roger Dean Stadium.
Megill, the Mets’ fill-in Opening Day starter in 2022, allowed three hits, walked one and struck out three. He has a 1.08 ERA in three spring training outings (two starts).
“He threw the ball well,” Showalter said. “I won’t say he’s a surprise. It’s just been nice to see him kind of on his way back to where he was last year when we broke camp.”
Megill ended up as the Opening Day starter last season because of injuries to Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer and threw five shutout innings against Washington.
Megill was 4-0 with a 1.93 ERA in his first five starts but went down with a shoulder strain in mid-June and didn’t return until late in the season.
“This guy was one of the best pitchers in the league . . . before he got hurt,” Showalter said. “He’s another piece that provides us not just depth. He’s a lot more than that. He’s a guy that can fit into a rotation.”
Peterson, who has not allowed a run or a hit in four innings in two spring training outings (one start), will start against Washington on Tuesday.
The Mets also have to be mindful that Kodai Senga has never pitched in a five-man rotation before. Senga, who was scratched from a start on Saturday because of tendinitis in his right index finger, threw off flat ground on Monday.
“There’s a reason we go out and try to build as much depth as possible,” Eppler said. “I think there’s eight, nine, 10 starting pitchers on our depth chart that have pitched at the major-league level, and that’s the reason for the depth. You’re trying to navigate a 162-game season over, what, 183 days? You want to be positioned to kind of navigate that whole course.”
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
