The Mets who have been dealing with a rash of injuries this season have updates on multiple players including both Steven Matz and Lucas Duda heading into this weekend’s series in Atlanta.

• We will start with the bad news first, as starting pitcher Seth Lugo’s scheduled start on Saturday has been pushed back to Sunday due to a blister on his throwing hand. Lugo apparently received the blister during his last start on Sunday, and it appears it is relatively minor in nature. While we’ve heard this before about every injury this season, we will keep close tabs on his injury to make sure it doesn’t turn into anything worse. Bartolo Colon will switch spots with Lugo and pitch on Saturday instead.

• Steven Matz is scheduled to throw off a mound in Port St. Lucie tomorrow after playing catch earlier this week. If all goes well we could possibly see Matz back in the rotation for the final stretch of the season. It is certainly welcoming news to the Mets rotation as they could certainly use him for the final few weeks of the season, and obviously the playoffs if the Mets make it that far.

• Jacob deGrom met the team in Atlanta today and played catch with Seth Lugo prior to tonight’s ballgame. There is no clear timetable as to when deGrom will throw off a mound in his recovery from a forearm injury, but having the 28-year old right-hander throwing again is certainly encouraging news. At this point Steven Matz may be closer to rejoining the rotation than deGrom.

• Juan Lagares has been officially cleared to start swinging a bat since undergoing thumb surgery to repair a torn ligament back in August. The Mets aren’t expected to rush Lagares in regards to swinging a bat, but it appears they are going to push him defensively so he can be used as a defensive replacement or as a pinch runner down the stretch.

• Lucas Duda has surprisingly been scheduled to take live batting practice with the ballclub prior to tomorrow night’s game against the Atlanta Braves. Duda orginally suffered a setback last month to the stress fracture in his back and has been shut down for a month. While there is no guarantee that Duda will be back this season, it is an encouraging sign to see him ramping up baseball activities. With James Loney struggling, if Duda’s back responds well to baseball activities there could be an outside chance the Mets bring him back before the end of the season. But that is just speculation, and nobody knows how Duda’s back is going to respond to batting practice tomorrow afternoon.