Mets' Griffin Canning is sick, interrupting pitching plans for several days
Mets starting pitcher Griffin Canning delivers against the Toronto Blue Jays during the second inning of an MLB baseball game at Citi Field on Saturday, April 5, 2025. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
MINNEAPOLIS — Griffin Canning is sick and will not make his scheduled start Wednesday against the Twins, manager Carlos Mendoza announced, the first in-season interruption to a Mets rotation that entered Tuesday sporting a majors-leading 2.50 ERA.
Skipping Canning triggers a potentially complicated pitching and roster-related wrinkle for the Mets, extending even to centerfielder Jose Siri, whom they did not officially place on the injured list despite his fractured left tibia.
“(Canning is) under the weather a little bit and feeling weak, so we’re going to give him an extra day or so,” Mendoza said. “There’s a lot of moving pieces.”
To help handle the unexpected workload, the Mets will call up righthander Justin Hagenman, Mendoza said. He was the only healthy starting pitcher in the minors who is on the 40-man roster. He will be fully rested, too, having been slated to pitch for Triple-A Syracuse on Wednesday anyway.
Who starts the game — Hagenman or a reliever — hadn’t been decided as of Tuesday night, Mendoza said.
Here is what the Mets’ rotation options look like the next few days:
* Wednesday at Twins: TBA.
* Thursday vs. Cardinals: David Peterson (as scheduled) or Canning (if he is sufficiently recovered).
* Friday vs. Cardinals: Canning (if he is sufficiently recovered) or Peterson (if Canning goes Thursday) or a spot starter (if Canning still isn’t good to go).
* Saturday vs. Cardinals: Kodai Senga.
Originally, the Mets were considering several names for that Friday slot. That included righthander Brandon Sproat, their top prospect, plus veteran righty Jose Urena.
What does any of the above have to do with Siri, who despite being on crutches technically was an active player Tuesday night? Mendoza declined to specify, noting only that “we just gotta wait till we get through the game.”
One scenario, possible under MLB’s roster rules: To make room for Hagenman, the Mets would send down a reliever who wouldn’t deserve it on merit, such as Huascar Brazoban or Max Kranick. Come Thursday, they can send Hagenman back to the minors and put Siri on the IL to create room for a position player and the demoted reliever — a creative use of the loophole that allows for a pitcher’s return to the majors before the minimum 15 days if he is replacing somebody who heads to the IL.
“There will be a couple of moves here,” Mendoza said.
Thinking about center
The Mets did not specify Tuesday how long they believe Siri will have to sit out. Mendoza noted that he will put little to no weight on his broken leg for 10 days and it’ll be “probably three weeks before some type of baseball activity.”
“He’s going to be down for a while,” he said.
In the meantime, Tyrone Taylor started again in centerfield Tuesday. The medium-term wild card is Luisangel Acuna, an infielder who played some center in the minors.
Might Acuna draw a start in center soon?
“I wouldn’t say sometime soon, but we’re preparing him . . . I’d be comfortable with him,” Mendoza said. “The reports that we got last year were he covers a lot of ground. Obviously, we know the speed, but routes and all that [are good]. I remember talking to Dickie Scott, our Triple-A manager, and how impressed he was not only at short and second but in the outfield as well.”
Acuna said through an interpreter: "I feel comfortable as a defensive player, whether it’s in the infield or the outfield. In Triple-A, I played a good amount of games in the outfield, so I’m really comfortable with wherever the team needs me to be."
Extra bases
A Francisco Lindor fun fact via the Twins’ video board (and the Mets’ media guide): His favorite movie is “Miracle,” about the 1980 United States hockey team. He said he first watched it as a 14-year-old with Team USA teammates before a championship game and was all in. He sometimes chooses it these days as his fall-asleep television option . . . All Mets and Twins uniformed personnel wore No. 42 in honor of Jackie Robinson Day.
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
