Reese Kaplan -- So Far the Arms are Alright!

Tom Brennan has been waxing poetic about the state of the NY Mets pitching throughout the Spring Training season.  It’s hard to argue given the great success they’ve achieved, not just from their starting pitchers and relievers, but also from the ones scheduled to be reinforcements in the minors should the need for extra arms arise throughout the long playing season. 

Some of the pitchers were expected to excel.  Jacob deGrom, of course, is coming off two consecutive Cy Young Awards which is not too shabby for a former shortstop.  Although Noah Syndergaard’s pre-season has been more about him going shirtless or pantless than about his performance, the fact is he’s looked more like the dominant kind of guy who made the All Star team back in 2016 than the shell we’ve seen the past few years.  Marcus Stroman is looking like a guy playing for a Zack Wheeler sized contract as he hits free agency in 2021.  None of those pitchers are real surprises.

The next tier is definitely unexpected.  All three fighting for the next two starting slots are having remarkable springs.  No one expected much of anything from Rick Porcello who turned in his worst year ever in 2019, but he’s hurling to the tune of a 2.53 ERA thus far in the Spring.  He’s giving up hits, yes, but he’s getting out of the jams and has walked just a single batter.

As I discussed yesterday, both Michael Wacha and Steve Matz are having terrific auditions for that number five starter role.  My feeling is you go with the lefty who theoretically is healthy rather than relying on another righty who could get rather pricy if his arm and shoulder hold together for once.  I know I feel a lot better about the suspect bullpen with a Michael Wacha out there rather than turning innings over to the likes of Jacob Rhame, Tyler Bashlor or Paul Sewald. 

Then there are the top four guys in the bullpen mix.  Edwin Diaz has looked better but not great.  Ditto to Jeurys Familia.  Seth Lugo returned to a 1-2-3 inning after losing his collision with a hotel room ottoman and Brad Brach is showing why he was once one of the more dominant closers in baseball.  The only one with a true question mark is newcomer Dellin Betances, but his issue seems more related to being out of practice and operating at partial strength, rather than arm or leg issues. 

Towards the back end of the mix you have the usual suspects like Robert Gsellman who is thus far pitching to a 1.50 ERA over 6 relief innings.  Justin Wilson has only been in two innings but he’s been perfect in his limited work.  Even journeyman Walker Lockett has been throwing shutout ball over nearly 5 innings of work.

Obviously the news of an injury to Michael Conforto is not welcome, but it would appear that with modest replacement from someone else the club seems deep enough in pitching to withstand a temporary loss of their former All Star outfielder.