The New York Mets made some obvious moves to improve their rotation, and the big one should have the largest payoff.
The New York Mets are putting their final roster together, and some surprising developments have surfaced. The sudden move of outfielder Juan Soto to left field, the new injury to shortstop Francisco Lindor and the positional journeys of Brett Baty has he tries to master the super utility role have been the headliners, but MLB.com did a rundown on what each team learned in spring training and came away with the conclusion that the rotation could be much improved.
It’s a valid point, but don’t read too much into it. The Mets rotation automatically improved exponentially as soon as they made the trade for starter Freddy Peralta, which stabilized a shaky group that imploded last season.
Nolan McLean remains a bit of a puzzle. In a normal spring, McLean would have been ramped up slowly, and there’s a good chance he would have displayed the kind of dominance the Mets were expecting when they talked him up as an ace-in-waiting over the offseason.
Now, though, things are a bit uncertain. McLean had a rough go of it in the WBC-—he didn't pitch badly, but McLean was immediately put into high-leverage situations without the benefit of a supervised build up, and it showed. He nearly ended up taking the loss in Team USA’s final loss to Venezuela, and while that shouldn’t impact his performance going forward, there’s no way to say that with any level of certainty.
As for the back of the rotation, the standard caveat applies: It’s spring training. David Peterson, Clay Holmes and Kodai Senga all pitched well, with Senga’s performance being the most surprising. Sean Manaea continued to prove that he’s an aging starter in decline, and the only reason he’s still on the team is because of his bloated contract.
Was Senga’s performance an illusion? Who knows? Senga was so erratic last year that it’s impossible to have a clue about what he is this season, and he could come out of the gate pitching brilliantly or crash and burn in spectacular fashion.
As for Holmes and Peterson, there’s mystery there, too. The folks at MLB.com pointed out that they could be one of the better pairings in the back of a rotation, but they, too, could struggle. GM David Stearn took a calculated risk by not making any trades to upgrade this group, and we’re about to see that gamble play out in real time.