If all goes according to the Mets’ plan – and the rain holds off so their game against the Brewers is played as schedule Tuesday night – Jacob deGrom would have two more starts before the All-Star break, leading to him not being available for the 2021 All-Star Game a week from now.
DeGrom, then, would need a replacement on the National League team, and Luis Rojas hopes that Taijuan Walker and Edwin Diaz would be in consideration.
“100 percent I would like to see Taijuan in there and maybe Edwin, but we’ll see,” he told reporters on Tuesday. “I know that right now that’s not in our top of the list in our priorities playing against the Milwaukee Brewers tonight. But it’s something that I would love the guys to have the chance to participate in that event because those two guys earned it for me.”
To some, Walker was a snub for the NL’s pitching staff, though there are many great pitchers around the league at the moment. Diaz has also been such a solid closer for the Mets, collecting 18 saves thus far.
But, as Rojas said, no one has come to him about a potential deGrom replacement. So that time will come if and when it does.
As we mentioned, the rain on Tuesday could spoil Rojas’ masterplan of two deGrom starts. If the game is canceled, deGrom would likely be able to pitch next Tuesday, but Rojas doesn’t even want to think about that right now.
“The best-case scenario for us is he starts tonight for us and he starts Sunday, so we get two starts out of him before the break,” he said. “If that’s not the case, we can talk. Let’s say hypothetically he starts tomorrow, and he has a low pitch count. Then, we can talk about probably coming in and doing something for us in what would be like a side day for him. But we’ll see. That’s a conversation to have with him, pitching coaches, the performance staff.”
So, the Mets will be playing this all by ear. If deGrom can appear in the All-Star Game, we’ll see what his decision will be. If he doesn’t, Rojas has made it known who he’d like to see take his place.