As the guy who for many years has stumped for clubs to return to a 4-man rotation, in one way it’s a bit tough for me to stomach that the Mets are going to run a 6-man rotation for long stretches of the 2025 season, assuming Kodai Senga is healthy.
I don't love the 6 man rotation but with Senga's health and Holmes starting I get it. I just want to keep Griffin Canning in his role as the 6th starter/long reliever regardless of Frankie Montas injury. I think the best thing the Mets could do is to have an open audition for the 5th starter position between Paul Blackburn, Tylor Megill and (the best option) Jose Butto.
Paul Blackburn is a solid option and I think he pitches well enough to keep us in games which is all we want from a #5 starter. I do not think he's anything special and you get what you get. Tylor Megill sometimes takes the mound and looks like an Ace (or at least produces Ace-like results). Other days he's shelled and looks terrible. Jose Butto has a little more upside than Blackburn and a little more consistency than Megill. All of this being said, Montas being hurt has opened the Mets to inquire with Jose Quintana who would be a better option than all three (especially on a 1 year deal).
Jose Quintana or Andrew Heaney at 1 year would have been better than signing Frankie Montas for a two year deal. It was more riskier because if he didn't perform well then they were stuck with him. I didn't see he upside like Stearns does.
I used to be a proponent of the five-man rotation. I have changed my thinking because of the extended playoff schedule and extra innings. Now I think it is better to have a quasi sixth man rotation when needed. It is better to have the pitching staff that is less tired for the important games in October.
I think Stearns is comfortable with his starters. Blackburn's injury status makes me feel otherwise. I think Butto should be stretched out and compete for the replacement of Montas and sign another relief pitcher to replace Butto. Spencer Turnbull would be my preference because he can also start.
The prospects should earn their promotion by merit in Syracuse. I don't see any one of them doing that before Montas gets back.
I'm going to carry the torch for Joey Lucchesi. His last start was good. From the beginning the Mets didn't handle Joey Lucchesi properly. He was a good fifth starter for San Diego.
It seems that the Mets didn't trust that Lucchesi's limited arsenal would allow him to pitch very deep into games. Not that I agree with that assessment but if they truly felt that way - why on earth didn't they make him a long reliever?!? It's not like they couldn't have used one of those the past two seasons...
Lucchesi’s inconsistent performance in Syracuse and a fastball that didn’t make it to 90 too often, was the reason he wasn’t a consideration.
Mendoza has announced that he wants Butto as a reliever.
I believe in 2023 the Mets used Senga every sixth day and adjusted the rotation as such, whenever possible.
I don’t want Quintana. Yes, he was in a zone for September, but before that we all wanted to bench him. I’m not forgetting that. And why is Magill’s September poo-poo’ed but Quintana’s isn’t?
I like Megill and I’m glad he’s getting a pronounced chance to start.
Lastly, an entertaining article in that we learned of what we can expect if the season can stay close to script, and I’m good with that. As pitchers are throwing fewer innings, if you tell me that three starters will have at least 150 innings, I find that to be a good start. As for Holmes, if you add 30-40 innings to last year in orders to keep with the thinking that you should only add 30 innings or so, year over year, I say he is the sixth starter with 15 starts. How did Montas have a throwing injury the first day of camp? He didn’t stretch?
P. s.: How did Reid-Foley hit Lindor on the hand during batting practice? What a moron.
In 2023, Lucchesi had a 4.73 ERA, compared to a 5.80 team ERA. His ERA was better than every starter to make at least two starts for Syracuse, including Jose Butto, David Peterson, Tylor Megill and Jose Quintana
In 2024 he again beat the Syracuse average ERA with a 4.70 ERA. In his last start in the majors, he went 6 IP and gave up just 1 ER against a Braves team that needed to win to make the playoffs.
Perhaps he wasn't ready, health-wise, to make the rotation out of Spring Training last year. Yet he pitched 5 innings on 3/29 for Syracuse, which suggests otherwise. I just think the Mets (wrongly) had their mind made up about him.
I too agree that he was made an example of because they went as far as to let the news sources know they were displeased with his winter preparations, and we know Stearns doesn’t let anything out. But, I did follow him at Syracuse and knew that he wasn’t in the 90’s with his fastball and while Quintana was the same thing, Lucchesi was on the shit list.
As for the last game of the year, the Braves were so disheartened they really didn’t care. Yes they celebrated, but they knew the Mets didn’t have anything to play for. That first game sucked the life out of them. Lindor personally ruined the day of every Braves fan there, and I loved it!
I go back to the four man rotation days when pitchers weren’t so fragile. Take a look at the 1986 mets: Dwight Gooden through 250 innings, Ron Darling through 237 innings, Sid Fernandez through 204 innings, Bobby Ojeda through 217 innings, and Rick Aguilera threw 141 innings. Even their relievers pitched a ton of innings with Jessie Orosco at 81 innings and Doug Sisk at 70 innings. If you go back to 1969 time Tom Seaver through 273 innings, Jerry Koosman through 241 innings, Gary Gentry through 233 innings, Don Caldwell through 152 innings, and Jim McAndrew threw 135 innings.
So pitchers in this generation are just soft or inefficient perhaps striving too much for the strikeout and not getting outs via contact. They throw too many pitches limiting their ability to go deeply into into games because of an arbitrary pitch count.
So given the inability to go deeply into games a six man rotation makes perfect sense and also leads into some relievers throwing a lot of innings needing to come into games sooner than a generation ago. Are pitchers better today- I doubt it.
Last year I thought was a make or break for Peterson and he certainly stepped up. As did Megill in his last several starts. If these guys continue to step up then I can move off the ledge for this questionable rotation. It’s not so much the loss of #5 Montas as it is the loss of an established pitcher that has the potential to thrive under a new pitching approach. The Dodgers will have a six man rotation but it seems half their stuff could be Cy Young candidates - can’t say the same for our team.
It's my opinion that pitchers who faced lineups with five spots filled with batters who had a sub-80 OPS+ and didn't throw a complete game shutout each time out are the ones who were soft.
In 1971, Nolan Ryan faced a lineup that had hitters with the following OPS+
leadoff - 72
5th spot - 72
7th spot - 53
8th spot - 19
9th spot - 4
For some context, 2024 Tomas Nido put up a 76 OPS+
And facing this lineup with five hitters worse than Nido, Ryan could only go 7 innings.
I don't love the 6 man rotation but with Senga's health and Holmes starting I get it. I just want to keep Griffin Canning in his role as the 6th starter/long reliever regardless of Frankie Montas injury. I think the best thing the Mets could do is to have an open audition for the 5th starter position between Paul Blackburn, Tylor Megill and (the best option) Jose Butto.
Paul Blackburn is a solid option and I think he pitches well enough to keep us in games which is all we want from a #5 starter. I do not think he's anything special and you get what you get. Tylor Megill sometimes takes the mound and looks like an Ace (or at least produces Ace-like results). Other days he's shelled and looks terrible. Jose Butto has a little more upside than Blackburn and a little more consistency than Megill. All of this being said, Montas being hurt has opened the Mets to inquire with Jose Quintana who would be a better option than all three (especially on a 1 year deal).
Jose Quintana or Andrew Heaney at 1 year would have been better than signing Frankie Montas for a two year deal. It was more riskier because if he didn't perform well then they were stuck with him. I didn't see he upside like Stearns does.
.
I used to be a proponent of the five-man rotation. I have changed my thinking because of the extended playoff schedule and extra innings. Now I think it is better to have a quasi sixth man rotation when needed. It is better to have the pitching staff that is less tired for the important games in October.
I think Stearns is comfortable with his starters. Blackburn's injury status makes me feel otherwise. I think Butto should be stretched out and compete for the replacement of Montas and sign another relief pitcher to replace Butto. Spencer Turnbull would be my preference because he can also start.
The prospects should earn their promotion by merit in Syracuse. I don't see any one of them doing that before Montas gets back.
I'm going to carry the torch for Joey Lucchesi. His last start was good. From the beginning the Mets didn't handle Joey Lucchesi properly. He was a good fifth starter for San Diego.
It seems that the Mets didn't trust that Lucchesi's limited arsenal would allow him to pitch very deep into games. Not that I agree with that assessment but if they truly felt that way - why on earth didn't they make him a long reliever?!? It's not like they couldn't have used one of those the past two seasons...
Lucchesi’s inconsistent performance in Syracuse and a fastball that didn’t make it to 90 too often, was the reason he wasn’t a consideration.
Mendoza has announced that he wants Butto as a reliever.
I believe in 2023 the Mets used Senga every sixth day and adjusted the rotation as such, whenever possible.
I don’t want Quintana. Yes, he was in a zone for September, but before that we all wanted to bench him. I’m not forgetting that. And why is Magill’s September poo-poo’ed but Quintana’s isn’t?
I like Megill and I’m glad he’s getting a pronounced chance to start.
Lastly, an entertaining article in that we learned of what we can expect if the season can stay close to script, and I’m good with that. As pitchers are throwing fewer innings, if you tell me that three starters will have at least 150 innings, I find that to be a good start. As for Holmes, if you add 30-40 innings to last year in orders to keep with the thinking that you should only add 30 innings or so, year over year, I say he is the sixth starter with 15 starts. How did Montas have a throwing injury the first day of camp? He didn’t stretch?
P. s.: How did Reid-Foley hit Lindor on the hand during batting practice? What a moron.
In 2023, Lucchesi had a 4.73 ERA, compared to a 5.80 team ERA. His ERA was better than every starter to make at least two starts for Syracuse, including Jose Butto, David Peterson, Tylor Megill and Jose Quintana
In 2024 he again beat the Syracuse average ERA with a 4.70 ERA. In his last start in the majors, he went 6 IP and gave up just 1 ER against a Braves team that needed to win to make the playoffs.
Perhaps he wasn't ready, health-wise, to make the rotation out of Spring Training last year. Yet he pitched 5 innings on 3/29 for Syracuse, which suggests otherwise. I just think the Mets (wrongly) had their mind made up about him.
I too agree that he was made an example of because they went as far as to let the news sources know they were displeased with his winter preparations, and we know Stearns doesn’t let anything out. But, I did follow him at Syracuse and knew that he wasn’t in the 90’s with his fastball and while Quintana was the same thing, Lucchesi was on the shit list.
As for the last game of the year, the Braves were so disheartened they really didn’t care. Yes they celebrated, but they knew the Mets didn’t have anything to play for. That first game sucked the life out of them. Lindor personally ruined the day of every Braves fan there, and I loved it!
I go back to the four man rotation days when pitchers weren’t so fragile. Take a look at the 1986 mets: Dwight Gooden through 250 innings, Ron Darling through 237 innings, Sid Fernandez through 204 innings, Bobby Ojeda through 217 innings, and Rick Aguilera threw 141 innings. Even their relievers pitched a ton of innings with Jessie Orosco at 81 innings and Doug Sisk at 70 innings. If you go back to 1969 time Tom Seaver through 273 innings, Jerry Koosman through 241 innings, Gary Gentry through 233 innings, Don Caldwell through 152 innings, and Jim McAndrew threw 135 innings.
So pitchers in this generation are just soft or inefficient perhaps striving too much for the strikeout and not getting outs via contact. They throw too many pitches limiting their ability to go deeply into into games because of an arbitrary pitch count.
So given the inability to go deeply into games a six man rotation makes perfect sense and also leads into some relievers throwing a lot of innings needing to come into games sooner than a generation ago. Are pitchers better today- I doubt it.
Last year I thought was a make or break for Peterson and he certainly stepped up. As did Megill in his last several starts. If these guys continue to step up then I can move off the ledge for this questionable rotation. It’s not so much the loss of #5 Montas as it is the loss of an established pitcher that has the potential to thrive under a new pitching approach. The Dodgers will have a six man rotation but it seems half their stuff could be Cy Young candidates - can’t say the same for our team.
It's my opinion that pitchers who faced lineups with five spots filled with batters who had a sub-80 OPS+ and didn't throw a complete game shutout each time out are the ones who were soft.
In 1971, Nolan Ryan faced a lineup that had hitters with the following OPS+
leadoff - 72
5th spot - 72
7th spot - 53
8th spot - 19
9th spot - 4
For some context, 2024 Tomas Nido put up a 76 OPS+
And facing this lineup with five hitters worse than Nido, Ryan could only go 7 innings.