Mere hours before their season opener against the Miami Marlins on Thursday, the New York Mets announced that right-hander Justin Verlander was being put onto the injured list with a “low grade teres major strain” in his side. The team said Verlander will continue throwing at moderate intensity and will re-evaluated after undergoing more scans in a week. In his absence, right-hander Tylor Megill will take Verlander’s spot in the rotation.

The 40-year-old Verlander said Thursday: “Looking back, it’s something that was lingering. I thought it was something I was working through. In my bullpen yesterday, I still felt a teeny bit of something.” Verlander added that his velocity had been down in his last spring training start, and he wanted to be extra cautious at the beginning of the season: “The fact that I’m going to be able to continue to throw is showing how minor of an injury it is,” adding that he would be pitching if this were the playoffs, “but it just makes too much sense to not push it right now … It’s not something to mess around with. In my mind, it’s being prudent, being smart and getting it looked at.”

Verlander, coming off his third career Cy Young award, signed a two-year, $86.6 million deal with the Mets this winter.

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