Mets manager Luis Rojas has remained adamant that roles within his team’s starting rotation won’ t be deciphered until later on in spring training.
That is the lower portion of the staff, at least.
The Mets already have a solid top three in place with two-time defending NL Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom supported by Noah Syndergaard and Marcus Stroman.
Over the winter, general manager Brodie Van Wagenen created competition for the No. 4 and 5 spots, signing Michael Wacha and former AL Cy Young Award winner Rick Porcello to join the mix alongside southpaw Steven Matz.
It was believed that the three would compete for the final two spots with the odd-man-out heading to the bullpen to add another dimension to the Mets’ seemingly-improving relief corps.
A recent report from the New York Post’s Joel Sherman, however, suggests that the Mets might take an unconventional approach to address the competition.
“But among the options they are internally discussing, The Post has learned, is using that fifth spot to match up best against each specific opponent. The determination would be does the lefty Matz or the righty Wacha match up best to start. Or the Mets would use Robert Gsellman or maybe even Seth Lugo as a one- or two-inning opener should the Mets conclude that is the best course. In that situation, the opener would be followed by Matz or Wacha for bulk innings.”
That suggests Porcello is a shoo-in for the No. 4 spot in the rotation while the Mets circulate between Matz and Wacha depending on the opposition.
Porcello went 14-12 with a career-worst 5.52 ERA in 32 starts last season for the Boston Red Sox just three years after winning the AL Cy Young.
In his spring-training debut with the Mets on Saturday, Porcello gave up a run on two hits in one inning of work while allowing a pair of stolen bases by Miami Marlins speedster Monte Harrison.
Wacha didn’t have much better of a 2019 season, posting a 4.76 ERA in 126.2 innings. While it was a better ERA than Porcello’s, his lack of work might have something to do with the Mets hypothetically discussing such a process alongside Matz at the No. 5 spot. The 28-year-old has worked 160 innings or more just once in the past four seasons.
The Mets are still waiting for Matz to develop into that consistent arm that was billed when he came up to the majors in 2015.
Injuries have played their fair share of derailing those hopes, but Matz has been able to string two straight seasons of 30-plus starts together.
By no means were they worthy of being considered as front-line material, but Matz’s 4.09 ERA and 305 strikeouts in 314.1 innings hints that he could be a trusted bottom-of-the-rotation option — as long as he figures out how to get out of the first inning.
His ERA in the first inning last season was a whopping 6.71. It shrunk to a 3.78 in all other innings.
The opener role that would be filled in by Seth Lugo or Robert Gsellman is one of the newer fads in baseball, perfected by the Tampa Bay Rays in recent years.
Both Lugo and Gsellman have plenty of experience as starters, so it wouldn’t necessarily be too big a transition for the relievers if they were called on to open things up.
