As a lifelong baseball fan, I always look forward to the start of spring training. This year, of course, was extra special. The combination of the Wilpons exiting the scene and the deep roster the Mets have built over the offseason has led to increased expectations. It was cool over the last few weeks to see it all come together on a playing field, even if the games didn't really count. But, at least for me, we're now at the point of spring training where the thrill is decidedly gone. Although not every question has been fully answered, we have a pretty good idea of what players the club will take north with them. Any questions still lingering about the 2021 Mets will require real games for the answers to be revealed.
From listening to Mets manager Luis Rojas and watching what's taken place down in Port St. Lucie, it looks to me that Joey Lucchesi is the most likely candidate to be joining Jacob deGrom, Marcus Stroman, Taijuan Walker, and David Peterson in the starting rotation. It's likely to be that way for a few weeks unless someone pitches their way out of the starting five. Noah Syndergaard is still slated to return in June, while Carlos Carrasco could conceivably return in May.
Syndergaard is already throwing his fastball in the mid-90s, which is obviously a great sign. It is more encouraging that we haven't heard about any setbacks that necessitated Noah backing off for even a short period. It doesn't mean nothing will happen, of course, but it's still reassuring that he hasn't hit any bumps yet.
While you can't take a return back from Tommy John surgery for granted, Carlos Carrasco's hamstring has me very concerned. I was never an elite athlete, but I played a lot of sports through my thirties. When I hit my mid-30s, those hamstrings didn't heal as quickly as they had in my twenties. Now I'm sure that Carlos has access to much more sophisticated care than I ever did, but I'll worry about that hamstring until he makes it back and pitches a few games to prove it's sound.
There is an obvious benefit to Carrasco and Syndergaard getting started late, provided they make it back okay. We won't have to worry about a workload issue building up for Carlos, who's only pitched for 148 combined innings in 2019 and 2020. He's probably going to miss about 6-8 starts. That alone probably would hold him down to a reasonable innings total for the season, and I still assume that Mets will do what they can to give all their starters some extra days off.
As for Syndergaard, not being able to pitch until June means that we're not going to be witnessing the sort of endless drama that surrounded Matt Harvey in 2015. I was surprised when that season began that the Mets didn't hold Harvey back for a few weeks. This was three years after the whole brouhaha over Stephen Strasburg being shut down in September with the Nationals playoff-bound. Now, the Mets had no reason to feel certainty about playing into October after missing out on the playoffs for eight straight years, but there was some promise heading into that year. Instead, they let Harvey go all out from the start of the season, leading to all of that avoidable controversy when September and October rolled around. To top it off, it's hard to argue that they didn't ruin Harvey's career by using him the way they did.
I'd like to think the Mets would be smarter if Syndergaard had his surgery a few months earlier and was ready to go out of the gate this season. Still, it's nice to know that it won't even be an issue. There is probably less than a 50-50 chance of Noah re-signing with the Mets, but I don't want to see him burn out his career as Harvey did.
By the way, before I get back to this season, I'd like to say that I will always root for Matt Harvey to turn it around and salvage something of his career. (Hopefully not while pitching against the Mets, of course.) Harvey came along when the Mets were almost tediously unpromising and unwatchable and gave all of us something to care about for a while. Sure, he was a bit full of himself and immature, but so was I in my twenties, with a lot less justification. It really bugs me when some Mets fans on Twitter take pleasure in Harvey's struggles. If you have no lingering fondness for the man, at least let him go in peace. I thought Gotham Baseball's Mark Healey said it pretty well in a tweet earlier this month:
The sick obsession that some #Mets fans have with Matt Harvey is a disgrace. The guy pitched his arm off and helped a Wilpon-run dysfunctional org get to a World Series. He's a human being, root for his success.
— Mark Healey (@MarkCHealey) March 5, 2021
Harvey has at least looked like he might be figuring some stuff with the Orioles this spring. I hope he can carry it over into the regular season. Matt Harvey will likely never be the Dark Knight again, but I hope he can rebound to a point where someday he can leave the game on his own terms.
We don't know what we'll get with Noah, but it would be unusual if he returns in top form.
ReplyDeleteUsually the velocity comes back, but the command & control takes more time.
I could imagine him struggling.
But it would be awesome if he's fixed and newly dominant. Not counting on it.
Jimmy
Nolan Ryan threw more pitches in his highest pitch game than some starters do in a month
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