Mike's Mets - Decisions, Decisions: Starting Pitchers

 

By Mike Steffanos

The failure during the Wilpon era to institute long-term strategies has forced Billy Eppler and the Mets to face a coming offseason of countless decisions.

The Mets had a tough 2-game series in Houston this week. It was particularly galling for older Mets fans like myself, whose disdain for that club long predates their blatant cheating scandal. And, of course, the Atlanta Braves continue to close the gap between the two clubs. It was down to 4 games after the Braves' win over San Francisco Thursday.

I don't really have much to say about the NL East race. The Braves have enjoyed a great month of June, thanks to a soft schedule and catching some other teams while they're down. The Mets have been up and down, with the back end of their rejiggered rotation somewhat exposed. Good news that Max Scherzer is on his way back. Apparently, he won't pitch Sunday's game against the Marlins, as the Mets seem disinclined to rush him back into the rotation. I can't fault the team for not rushing Scherzer back. The idea is to hopefully have him for the rest of the season.

Before I get to the main topic of this post, I just want to say one thing on the record. I'm not a Mets fan who blindly supports his team no matter what. I knew the Mets were going to finish behind the Braves last year once it became evident that Jacob deGrom wasn't coming back, and Noah Syndergaard wasn't going to provide the Mets with any significant contribution.

I understand that the Braves are, as the media constantly seems to point out, defending World Series champs. But here's the thing. I don't think Atlanta was outstanding last season; I think they got some guys hot at the right time in the playoffs. And I don't believe that the 2022 Braves, despite their recent hot stretch, are even as good as last year's team.

I'm not going to pull a Sal Licata and ridiculously declare that the NL East race is over. But I'm just going to say that the 2022 Mets are significantly better than the 2022 Braves. The only way Atlanta wins the NL East is if the Mets continue to have incredibly bad luck with injuries. It could happen. Season-long injuries and lousy luck derailed the 1987 Mets, and that team was still the best in baseball. But barring a really unlucky season such as that one, I expect the Mets to finish several games ahead of Atlanta in the standings when everything is all said and done. We'll see how it plays out. I'm worried about this weekend — the Mets never seem to play well in Miami.

Okay, I felt that I really had to address the NL East race before I got to the meat of this post. I want to look past the current season for a moment to the future of this club. There were many things that the Mets failed to do in the final years of the Wilpon regime. One particular failure that continues to gall me was the club failing to lock up some of their young players beyond the 6 years of control. If the Mets were doing things right back then, Zack Wheeler would still be pitching for them instead of toeing the rubber for a divisional opponent.

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