Manaea underwent an MRI on Monday that showed enough improvement that he’s been cleared to resume a throwing program. It’s a positive development after suffering a setback and receiving a PRP injection roughly two weeks ago. He’ll kick things off by playing catch off flat ground before progressing to bullpen sessions, but the Mets aren’t going to push him too quickly. Fantasy managers shouldn’t expect him to return until at least late May or early June.

Manaea opened the regular season on the shelf recovering from a late-February right oblique strain. Newsday’s Tim Healey adds that Manaea is likely out until late May or early June in a best-case scenario following the setback. The 33-year-old southpaw had resumed a throwing program back in mid-March, but was apparently still having issues with his oblique. There should be a clearer timeline for his return once he resumes throwing again, but his season debut is likely going to be pushed back into June.

Manaea, who was injured in late February, should get into minor league games soon and rejoin the Mets rotation before the end of April.

Manaea has been sidelined with a strained oblique since the start of spring training, but his follow-up MRI was clean. This means the veteran is essentially starting his spring training now and might need about a month to ramp up to enough pitches to appear in an MLB game. With the regular season two weeks away, that would mean that Manaea will miss about 2-3 weeks of the season. That makes him an ideal late-round pick in leagues where you can put him on the IL for the start of the season.