The Mets very well may have had the aspirational idea of having lefthander Sean Manaea make his season debut on Sunday to face the Yankees in the finale of this weekend’s Subway Series at Citi Field.
That, however is no longer feasible after Tuesday’s rainouts of the Mets-Brewers game at Citi Field and Double-A Binghamton’s contest in Hartford.
Manaea is close to returning from the right oblique strain that has sidelined him since spring training and was scheduled to make his fifth – and maybe final – minor league rehab start on Tuesday. It would have put him on schedule to next pitch on Sunday and, if the Mets deemed him ready, maybe face the Yankees.
Instead he is pitching in the first game of Binghamton’s doubleheader Wednesday.
The Mets had never publicly addressed a plan for Manaea or the Sunday game, but manager Carolos Mendoza made it sound like it could have been a consideration.
Asked about the rainouts’ impact on Manaea before Wednesday’s doubleheader, Mendoza replied, “He’s pitching Game 1 today, but now [it’s different]. . . . If he would have pitched yesterday, he’d have another [outing] Sunday. Now with him pitching today and Monday being an off-day for us . . . we have a decision there. It obviously affects the next step for him.”
There also are questions about how last week’s discovery of a floating body in his left elbow might change the arc of his road back. The club paused his rehab assignment, and he received a cortisone injection after they were discovered and rescheduled him for the Tuesday game that got rained out.
“But we’ve just got to wait. He’ll pitch today and we’ll see how he feels after that one,” Mendoza said, “then we have some decisions there.”
Now the Mets have a new set of issues to address about Sunday’s game. Manaea probably isn’t an option. And Clay Holmes, who had his Tuesday start pushed back to Wednesday’s first game, probably isn’t either because he’d be going on short rest.
The Mets may need to call up someone to make that spot start.
Blade Tidwell is unlikely to be an option as he was scheduled to pitch in Tuesday’s nightcap as either a starter or the “bulk guy” behind an opener.
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.