New York Mets: Should They Be Worried About Their Rotation Depth?
By Jason Evans
We are only three days into the 2017 MLB season, but should the New York Mets already be concerned about the depth of their starting pitching?
The strength of the New York Mets this season should be their starting pitching. They have arms that every team would want in the rotation. At the same time, one of their weaknesses can also be their starting rotation.
Their most durable starting pitcher last season was Bartolo Colon and he’ll be pitching against the Mets tonight for the Atlanta Braves. Noah Syndergaard pitched with a bone spur in his elbow last year and popped a blood blister during his Opening Day start. If you don’t think blister problems can be an issue moving forward, ask Rich Hill or Josh Beckett.
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The rest of the rotation has some questions too. Steven Matz and Seth Lugo are on the DL and Lugo has the dreaded partial tear of the UCL. Matt Harvey, Zack Wheeler and Jacob deGrom are all coming off surgeries of their own, with Wheeler coming off Tommy John surgery.
Robert Gsellman is now the fifth starter after breaking through last year and giving the Mets a much needed boost in the rotation in the second half of 2016 because of all the injuries.
If another starter goes down, the Mets are going to really struggle for answers.
Once upon a time, Rafael Montero was one of the Mets top pitching prospects. Due to injuries and ineffectiveness, he fell well down the pecking order. Now, Montero made the team thanks to Lugo’s injury and a strong spring. Can they trust him to help out and give the Mets rotation depth if they absolutely need it?
Looking at AAA, Sean Gilmartin is on the 40-man and would be the next man up at that point as well. They traded two depth pitchers to the Orioles in spring training in Gabriel Ynoa and Logan Verrett.
For all the depth the Mets had last season, they still made a trade for a starter during last season in bringing back Jon Niese. It would not shock me if they made a trade for another starter at some point in 2017, even if it’s for a guy like Gilmartin they can stash in AAA just in case. It’s VERY early, but the Mets may sniff around the league for an extra arm or two already, just in case.