12:50pm : The Mets informed reporters, including , that Montas has a high grade right lat strain. He will get a platelet-rich plasma injection and be shut down for six to eight weeks. That will take him roughly to the start of April, at which point he will have to start ramping up again. Even if he is back to full health at that point, hes likely going to mi s at least a month of the season. 12:40pm : Its a lat injury, per , though the timetable is still unknown. 11:41am : Mets camp has only just begun, but Mike Puma of the New York Post that free agent pickup has not been throwing and will be shut down for a significant stretch. Details surrounding the apparent injury have not yet come to light. The Mets signed Montas to a two-year, $34MM contract back in early December. He has an opt-out opportunity at the end of the season, though a prolonged injury absence will obviously reduce the likelihood of that coming to pa s. Without details about the injury or expected absence, Carson Coleman Jersey its hard to say how worried Mets fans should be. Regardle s, its not ideal to be starting camp with one of their key offseason investments already behind. The Mets were facing a significant rotation overhaul this winter, with , and all hitting free agency. They had also lost to Tommy John surgery last year and had undergone a spinal procedure. They still had , though he mi sed most of 2024. Given the clubs big spending in recent years, some expected them to go after the top free agents, but they took a different route this winter. They never seemed particularly interested in guys like or , instead opting for short-term pacts. They re-signed Manaea with a three-year deal, and also gave three years to reliever with the idea of converting him to a rotation job. Montas got two years with an opt-out while got a one-year deal. Injuries have been an i sue for Montas recently, most notable a shoulder i sue that required surgery and wiped out most of his 2023 campaign. He was back on the mound last year with uneven results, posting a 4.48 earned run average and tepid 22.6% strikeout rate. That latter number did tick up to 28.7% after a deadline deal to the Brewers, which is perhaps what gave the Mets some optimism that he was back on a good track, but health may now be an i sue again. That shoulder surgery is one reason why Montas hasnt been able to log many big league innings. He also received an 80-game PED suspension in July of 2019, putting his breakout on hold. The pandemic-shortened 2020 season then capped him at 11 starts that year. He to sed 187 innings in 2021 but then the shoulder i sues slowed him down late in 2022 before the aforementioned surgery. Amid all those stops and starts, Montas has only once hit 151 innings pitched in a season. If Montas is behind, then a season-opening start on the injured list seems likely. Until more details are reported, it can only be gue sed whether the concern will extend deeper into the season. A suming Montas does start the season on the IL, the Mets project to start the campaign with a rotation of Senga, Manaea, Holmes and , with Canning, Blackburn and options for the back end, though Blackburn also might start the season on the IL. Prospects and should be in Triple-A, though both struggled at that level last year. If the Mets want to add some more depth in the wake of this Montas news, they will have options. The free agent market still features guys like Quintana, , and others. , and others are likely available in trades. Per , the payroll is at $331MM and the competitive balance tax at $325MM. The pure payroll was in a similar spot last year, though they got their CBT number all the way up to $358MM. Whether they want to add more payroll to continue adding to the rotation remains to be seen. Yerry Rodriguez Jersey