The New York Mets need a replacement for Clay Holmes, and multiple names are in play to take his spot.
The New York Mets are down a starting pitcher, and Clay Holmes is expected to be out until August. Holmes broke his right fibula on a line drive off the bat of Spencer Jones against the New York Yankees on Friday night, and the bone will take 6-8 weeks to heal. That means the Mets will need to consider rotation options, but it will definitely take them a while to get past this injury.
“[Friday] night was tough,” Mendoza said in a piece written by Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. “We’ve been hit a lot this year with a lot of our superstars, with a lot of key players. But yesterday felt different.”
The Mets managed to win a game last night, and Mendoza said “I think everything’s on the table right now,” when it comes to rotation options. The team did call up reliever Joey Gerber to take Holmes roster spot, but they will insert a new starter into the rotation on Tuesday or Wednesday, according to DiComo.
Tobias Myers/Sean Manaea
Both Myers and Manaea have been built up enough to step into the rotation, with Myers pitching in the swing role and Manaea having been demoted at the end of spring training. Both are “in the conversation,” according to Mendoza.
Myers has been valuable in the swing role, and he’s had some shorter outings lately, but he’s by far the better pitcher. Manaea currently owns an ERA of 6.56, and he’s been the odd man out as the Mets long man, having last pitched a week ago. Kodai Senga did travel to Florida to throw a live batting practice session last Sunday, and he could be in play later this month or in June.
Jack Wenninger/Zach Thornton
Wenninger has been turning heads and getting attention for his recent streak of 16-1/3 scoreless innings, and he was being mentioned as a possible call-up even before Holmes got hurt. But his walk rate is high, and a rival scout told DiComo that Wenninger has a tendency to pitch around stronger hitters and attack the weaker ones, but that’s much harder to do at the big league level.
Thornton isn’t a prominent name, but he knows how to get outs in the high minors, and scouts said they’d trust him more than Wenninger to do that in the majors. He has a lower walk rate and a 3.16 ERA, but his stuff isn’t as good as Menninger’s so his mistakes would likely get hit hard.
Jonah Tong
Tong can strike out hitters, to the point where he’s been leading the minors in strikeouts at different points in the young season so far. But he’s been alternating one good start with a bad one, and the bad ones have ballooned his ERA to 5.68 in nine starts so far.