Mike's Mets - Early Thoughts from Spring Training

 

By Mike Steffanos

The Mets will have some tough decisions to make this spring, particularly in the outfield and who will be the bullpen lefty.

As the New York Mets continue to prepare for the season, Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer have both given fans reasons to feel good about the top of the team's rotation. On Monday, Max Scherzer debuted first, pitching against the Marlins in their ballpark. Scherzer clearly had been doing the work during the protracted lockout. He went 5 innings against Miami, throwing 72 pitches. Scherzer wants to be prepared to throw 100 pitches when the regular season gets underway in a couple of weeks. The Mets hitters gave Max the "deGrom treatment," failing to score a run for him. Scherzer took the loss despite allowing only a solitary run.

Jacob deGrom had a more conventional first time out when he took the mound against the Houston Astros in Port St. Lucie on Tuesday. deGrom went 2 innings, tossing 30 pitches. Other than allowing a double to Lewis Brinson to lead off the second, deGrom was dominating. Jacob is obviously not targeting 100 pitches for his regular-season debut, and that's fine. I don't believe most Mets fans will hold it against their ace if he opts to ease into the season. We just want to see Jake still pitching in October.

What was most hopeful in that regard was deGrom's willingness to take a little off his fastball. This is reportedly Jacob's plan for the season, to hold back on throwing at maximum velocity on every pitch. deGrom was quoted by Pat Ragazzo on Sports Illustrated's website:

"That's kind of going back to trying to be smooth, not trying to throw as hard as I can and work down the slope so I am happy with how that went today. I am sure there will be times when I throw as hard as I can. When I am really in sync and smooth it feels like it comes out better than when I actually try to throw really hard."

Being smooth and not utilizing max effort all of the time would seem to be an excellent way for deGrom to avoid repeating last season's repeated trips to the injured list. Having a full-time DH in the National League will also help. At least one of Jacob's injuries last season was reported to have occurred when he was hitting. The chances of the Mets to break through and be the legitimate playoff team they failed to be last season increase exponentially for every inning Jacob deGrom can toss for them in 2022. A replay of last year would be a disaster. There's a long way to go here, but this is at least a promising start.

Carlos Carrasco and Chris Bassitt were supposed to pitch against the Marlins in Thursday's spring training game. However, the weather forecast wasn't the greatest for the 6 pm start, so the Mets decided to let both pitchers get their work in a minor league intrasquad game earlier that day. Bassitt was dominating while Carrasco struggled. Then, in today's game, Taijuan Walker pitched a couple of scoreless innings in his spring debut.

We'll avoid the temptation to read too much into pitchers' results this early. The main thing is that all of the Mets starters are healthy and getting ready for the season. The addition of Chris Bassit to the rotation moves Carrasco and Walker back to the fourth and fifth spots, which really takes the pressure off of both pitchers as they prepare for the campaign ahead.

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