Noah Syndergaard's Tommy John Surgery Deemed Essential in Florida During Coronavirus Crisis

With the 2020 Major League Baseball season in limbo, New York Mets ace Noah Syndergaard is going to have Tommy John surgery. He will return sometime next year. The announcement was made the day after the Surgeon General published a column in USA TODAY calling on "all hospital systems to heed federal recommendations and cancel or delay nonessential elective procedures in a way that minimizes potential harm to patients."

New York Mets starter Noah Syndergaard has a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow and is expected to undergo Tommy John surgery in the near future, sources tell ESPN. The procedure will keep him out until at earliest April 2021 and likely into the summer months.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 24, 2020

Yet Syndergaard's surgery will take place in Florida, days after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis barred nonessential elective medical procedures across the state. So yet again we have to debate the importance of the sports world versus the real world. With a global medical crisis on our hands and a shortage of essential medical resources on the horizon, why is the Mets' 2021 pitching rotation essential right now? Because his doctor says so, according to the Wall Street Journal.

For Syndergaard and the Mets, this is essential. Whatever happens to this season, failing to have surgery would keep him from pitching next season - his final under his current contract. In the grand scheme of things, it absolutely is not. This is probably just the first time we have this discussion over the coming months and the precedent has now been set in Florida.