NEW YORK -- Unbeknownst to Jacob deGrom, when he arrived at Citi Field on Sunday, his pitching coach and front office had already been discussing him for much of the morning. Citing caution, the Mets decided to scratch deGrom from his scheduled start Monday in Cincinnati. The team placed him on the 10-day disabled list, retroactive to last Thursday, which will allow him to start May 13 in Philadelphia.
"We thought long and hard about this," manager Mickey Callaway said. "The more and more we talked about this, we need to take care of the season and Jacob deGrom and the New York Mets."
The Mets selected the contract of P.J. Conlon, their No. 24 prospect per MLB Pipeline, from Triple-A Las Vegas. Conlon will start in deGrom's place Monday, making his Major League debut.
deGrom hyperextended his right elbow on a swing last Wednesday at Citi Field, but a subsequent MRI revealed no structural damage. He threw a bullpen session Saturday "totally pain free," according to Callaway, and the team's baseball and medical staffs cleared him to start Monday.

The Mets then reconsidered, deciding to skip one start.
"I said I felt like I could go," deGrom said. "But the bigger picture is what we're looking at. You can skip one, make sure everything's fine. So after talking to them, I understand the decision. … If I went out there and was fine, then everything's good. But if something did happen, we'd be like, 'Why didn't I just take one?'"
Callaway also said the Mets wanted to guard against overreacting to the team's five-game losing streak entering Sunday, pushing deGrom when, under other circumstances, they might not have. In seven starts, deGrom is 3-0 with a 1.87 ERA, 54 strikeouts and 11 walks in 43 1/3 innings.
"He is experiencing [no pain] at all," Callaway said. "Jacob wanted to go out there and pitch tomorrow. Obviously, the competitor he is, he wants to go out there and pitch for his team and the fans. But we as an organization have a responsibility to the fans, to our team and to everybody in New York to put ourselves in the best position to have a great season. The more and more we thought about it, it just wasn't worth the risk."
deGrom will throw an elongated, 50-pitch bullpen session Tuesday in Cincinnati, then a shorter bullpen later in the week in advance of his next start.