Mets right-handed Jacob deGrom is expected to miss his next start due to "forearm soreness," the club has announced. Further, the Mets say there's no "structural damage" and that deGrom will take anti-inflammatory medication.

Pair with this and it becomes a bit less positive:

So Collins is privy to what's actually going on and he's worried. I think there are reasons to be wary with "no structural damage" anyway. Teams say that when there's a sprain, which actually is "structural damage," but just not serious damage.

For now, deGrom's season isn't over. He might not even miss his next start. Still, most of us realize that sometimes forearm soreness or tightness can be a precursor to a torn UCL, which leads to Tommy John surgery. DeGrom has already had that procedure once, so the Mets shouldn't be messing around with this. There's only a month left in the season, too, so just missing one or more starts is a big deal.

We shouldn't dismiss the Mets' handling of injuries, either, notably their way of seeming to downplay issues as minor that then end up being major. The latest example came earlier this week with Neil Walker.

DeGrom, 28, is 7-8 with a 3.04 ERA, 1.20 WHIP and 143 strikeouts in 148 innings this season. He went through a great stretch for several months and was considered part of the NL Cy Young conversation through an Aug. 13 outing that left him with a 2.29 ERA. In three starts since then, however, he's allowed 16 runs on 31 hits and seven walks in 14 2/3 innings (9.82 ERA).

During Thursday's outing, the loss of command was evident during the game, but deGrom said afterward that there were many pitches where he essentially said he didn't know where the ball was going. When he headed down into the tunnel after his night was finished, he could be seen calling down the Mets' athletic trainer, too.

Generally speaking, the first thing that goes for a pitcher with an arm injury is command. Sure enough, deGrom didn't know where some of his pitches were going because of an arm injury.

And, again, keep in mind the aforementioned team track record as it now pertains to the rotation.

Matt Harvey is already done for the year and Steven Matz very well may be. Zack Wheeler still isn't back from last year's Tommy John surgery. With no deGrom, that leaves the Mets with Noah Syndergaard and Bartolo Colon from their rotation to begin the season -- and Colon was only re-signed to provide a bridge to Wheeler's comeback, along with insurance for other injuries, of course.

For now, Seth Lugo and Robert Gsellman join Syndergaard and Colon in the rotation.

Through all the adversity, the Mets have been playing well of late and were only two games back of the second NL wild-card spot entering Friday. It'll be hard to secure a playoff spot without so much of their rotation, but there's still a chance. In fact, deGrom could end up being just fine after a few days and the Mets could stay hot. The situation is fluid for now.