The New York Mets came into spring training talking about a six-man rotation, but the pitching herd has been thinned.
The New York Mets started the season talking about a six-man rotation, but for the moment any moves in that direction have been put on hold, according to Anthony DiComo of MLB.com.
This isn’t all that surprising. The Mets won’t come right out and say it, but a six-man rotation would collapse because right now because David Peterson and Sean Manaea wouldn’t be able to hold up the back end.
Manaea was supposed to be one of the starters in the six-man rotation, but he was the first one to be sent to the bullpen at the end of spring training due to a combination of subpar performance and lower velocity. Manaea’s velocity is still below 90 mph, so the Mets still need to figure out why that’s happening before they elevate the right-hander.
Now David Peterson is struggling, too. His ERA is 6.14, and he’s also imploding early, which is taking the Mets out of games. Given that combination, the Mets are doing well to have a four-man staff, especially since all are performing reasonably well.
In the meantime, the Mets monitor the staff and play the numbers game.
“It’s just keeping guys with their routines,” manager Carlos Mendoza said Wednesday at Citi Field. “If we need to go that route, we will go. But as I’m sitting here, we are not planning on going to a six-man. … It’s still early. We don’t see it as a necessity right now to go that way.”
Mendoza also defended Peterson, saying he needs to make “a couple of adjustments,” although the Mets manager didn’t go into what those might be.
“If he’s healthy, which he is, there’s no concern,” Mendoza said of Peterson. “He’s too good of a pitcher. He’s been our guy.”
The early-season schedule has given the Mets time to evaluate Peterson and Manaea carefully, but that’s about to change. The Mets will play nine games in a row with no days off, and with outfielder Juan Soto out with a calf strain, both the rotation and the bullpen will be tested by the compromised offense.
Mendoza knows that, and he's been preparing by giving days off so far for those hurlers who need them.
“It’s just where we’re at right now with this turn, where everyone is at and how they’re bouncing back,” Mendoza said. “I think that’s the bottom line. We wanted to be flexible. We wanted to leave it open just to make sure that [if] somebody comes in and says, ‘Hey man, I might need an extra day,’ then you can always make an adjustment. That was the whole idea coming out of camp.”
The rotation is currently ranked 12th in the league in ERA, so it’s been good with room for improvement. Mets starters are also averaging 5-1/3 innings per start, which ranks in the top half of the league. A six-man rotation won’t improved those numbers if Peterson and Manaea can’t hold up the back end, and right now that’s definitely the case.