There is no such thing as too much pitching, or so the saying goes in baseball. For the Mets, this is once again proving to be true.
Left-hander Jose Quintana underwent more testing for his injured rib this week and was diagnosed with a tumor on his rib, general manager Billy Eppler announced Tuesday. A biopsy came back benign, but Quintana opted to have a bone graft, which means he’ll be shut down until at least July.
The important thing is Quintana’s health. Eppler said Quintana, his family and his agent, Adam Katz, talked through the options with team doctors and orthopedic tumor specialists. He made the decision to undergo surgery Tuesday and the operation is scheduled for Friday in New York.
Quintana left his second spring training start on March 5 with what was described as tightness in his left side. The following day, imaging revealed a stress fracture of his fifth right rib and the team orthopedist found something concerning in the scan. Quintana was sent back to New York for further testing by an orthopedic tumor specialist.
Eppler said the Mets held off on commenting about a timeline in order to wait for the results of the biopsy and to allow Quintana to make a decision about whether or not to have surgery or to let it heal on its own.
“We needed him to be able to come to peace with whatever he chose,” Eppler said during the Mets’ 5-0 Grapefruit League loss to the Washington Nationals at Clover Park. “We got there today.”
The Mets signed the 34-year-old Colombian to a two-year contract at the Winter Meetings in December in order to bolster the starting pitching depth. He passed the physical and all medical testing conducted at the start of spring training, making one Grapefruit League start and reporting no pain until his second.
Quintana has been about as durable as they come throughout his 11-year MLB career. It’s possible that the stress fracture was a result of the tumor. Whether benign or malignant, tumors damage healthy tissue and weaken bones, making them susceptible to fractures.
The Mets have two in-house candidates to take his spot in the rotation in left-hander David Peterson and right-hander Tylor Megill. The club plans to use a six-man rotation at certain points throughout the season and that won’t change in Quintana’s absence. It’s not something they want to do the entire season because it gets pitchers out of a rhythm, but the hope is that extra rest during long stretches without off days would help pitchers stay healthy.
Peterson had a stellar outing Tuesday, throwing four innings without allowing a hit and striking out five. He has not allowed a single hit or an earned run through eight innings this spring. Megill, who started on opening day last year, has allowed one run on six hits (1.08 ERA) through 8 1/3 innings.
The loss of Quintana and the decision to use six starters could have a domino effect in the bullpen as well. The Mets could opt to carry someone like left-hander Joey Lucchesi to use as the long man.
There is immense relief in a benign diagnosis for Quintana and some clarity in what happens next.
