Mets right-handed pitcher Max Scherzer, who was placed on the IL on Wednesday due to left side irritation, said that he expects to return when first eligible.
Scherzer, who left this past Saturday's start after five innings due to the issue, said that it would cost him "days, not weeks," and that he expects to need only a few days without throwing or activity to allow it to calm down.
"This is not a significant injury," Scherzer said. "This is more of that I'm gonna miss one start, we knew that. And then once the ball's out of my court, the team has gotta do what they gotta do for roster moves. Because of the irritation on the side here, I'm not gonna be able to make the start. They needed to get another arm up here, so that's why I'm going on the IL."
Explaining that this injury is not like the one that cost him roughly six weeks earlier this season, Scherzer said that he does not have an oblique strain and that it was a "borderline" decision for him to go on the IL at all.
"Honestly, it just feels achy," Scherzer said. "That's the way I describe this is that just my left side feels achy. It's not a strain. I don't have one specific spot that you can point to where that hurts. It's just general fatigue on the whole left side.
"First time when I did this, I had one specific spot. That's not what this is, and so that's the good of this."
An MRI Scherzer underwent on Tuesday showed "some inflammation."
"Everybody believes that this is going to resolve itself really quickly in a matter of days, and that this is not a long term injury," Scherzer noted.
Scherzer, whose IL stint is backdated to Sept. 4, will first be eligible to return on Sept. 19. And that's when he expects to return.
"Oh, yes. Yes," Scherzer said when asked if he'd be back when first eligible. "It was borderline whether I even needed to go to the IL. You knew I was gonna miss one (start). Whether I was gonna miss two or not, they just took the ball out of my court and said 'you're gonna miss two.' That's how it went down."