The Starting Pitching Staff - Spring Training Edition

On the heels of the Jason Vargas signing, I started thinking about the 2018 Mets’ “starting rotation” and I realized that they have quite a few options to pick from for the coming season.  I know that is not exactly new information, but when you actually look at who Mickey Callaway has to pick from, it is more interesting then I originally thought upon first blush, if you will.

To the average fan, the rotation “should” consist of Noah Syndergaard, Jacob deGrom, Matt Harvey, Steven Matz and Zack Wheeler, right?  I mean they were officially named the “Super Rotation”  a couple of seasons ago, like some weird offshoot group from a Marvel Comics movie.  Unfortunately, “life happened” and things did not go according to plan.  As most of you know, injuries knocked out four of the five pitchers for large stretches of time since then, with only Jacob deGrom remaining reasonably healthy.  I could get into the rare statistical probabilities of that taking place, but it is the Mets we are talking about so logic sort of goes out the window.

On a side note, haven’t we learned anything as Mets fans?  Remember our last “super rotation” with Generation K?  That edition crashed and burned within minutes after being anointed as the next big thing.  Perhaps it is time to go easy on the names and expectations, at least until you actually accomplish enough to warrant the attention, etc.   I would settle for a reasonably healthy and dependable rotation, without fancy names or unreasonable expectations but that’s just me.

Turning back to the number of pitchers that are on the current 40 man roster, you could fill out two and one half rotations if you wanted to.  Consider the following options, in addition to the aforementioned five starters (left or right handed, plus 2018 age in parenthesis);

Noah Syndergaard (RH - 26)

Jacob deGrom (RH - 30)

**Matt Harvey (RH - 29)

Steven Matz (LH - 27)

**Zack Wheeler (RH - 28)

Jason Vargas (LH - 35)

Seth Lugo (RH - 29)

Robert Gsellman (RH - 25)

Rafael Montero (RH - 28)

Corey Oswalt (RH - 25)

Marcos Molina (RH - 23)

Chris Flexen (RH - 24)

**Likely their last year with the Mets, due to free agency, etc.

Granted, not all of the listed pitchers will break camp on the 25 man roster for the start of the season.  Plus, your are also seeing a bulk of the Las Vegas 51’s starting rotation represented here, as well.   However, while not all of the names listed are “studs”, it is an impressive amount of depth that also has a good deal of experience on the mound in a major league setting (Vargas, Lugo, Gsellman and Montero).

One “wild card” in this analysis is our new coaching staff and their different approach to putting together and maintaining a pitching staff.   Something tells me that this will be much different then past years when our previous manager made some questionable decisions with his team’s pitchers.  MC is on the record as favoring quality over quantity, meaning that he isn’t afraid to spread the wealth of innings across is entire pitching staff instead of riding one or two pitchers into the ground.  There was even talk about “piggy backing” some pitchers so that most of his starters would only see the opposing lineup a couple of times before a change was made (I am a bit skeptical of that approach, but I will keep an open mind and see how it unfolds).  Cleveland had a pretty good pitching staff the past few years under MC, so he gets the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise.

With that said, you need a wealth of arms that can give you multiple innings to make it all work.  Some would call them “long relievers” that fill in the gaps between your starters and the back end of your bullpen.  It will likely necessitate a thirteen man pitching staff so there isn’t excessive fatigue and/or burnout which leads to injuries and ineffectiveness. The extra arm should be a benefit, despite short changing the actual bench by a player (which should be mitigated with our utility players like Wilmer Flores and Jose Reyes).

So, what does the starting pitching staff look like as Spring Training gets up and running?

Does the Jason Vargas signing signal an unofficial six man rotation or will he be one of the "long relievers"?  

Who else on the list above will be in New York on Opening Day?

In addition to the pitching staff being the key to a successful season, this story line should also be interesting to watch as Spring Training unfolds.