Reese Kaplan -- Starting Pitching Has Been Great But Without Backups

With the New York Mets the starting pitching has been remarkably good of late.  Even the less expected efforts from Joey Lucchesi and David Peterson in their recent starts helps keep the opener’s aggregate team ERA well below 2.00.  (For those folks not stat-obsessed like most fans, Lucchesi has been nothing short of incredible, going 22 IP over his last five starts with only 3 ERs allowed). With the recent occasional increase in offense it has combined to represent some winning ways.  That’s the good news.

The bad news is yet another injury to Jacob deGrom.  He left after three perfect innings with 8 of 9 batters retired via strikeout.  According to his own words, he felt great in the first and second innings but then clearly was feeling discomfort in the third.  Manager Luis Rojas removed him immediately as he is the latter day Tom Seaver to this franchise and the Mets managed to win the game without him.  

Now it’s entirely possible that he’s just having some early season aches and pains.  That’s believable since he is 32 years old and some occasional soreness is to be expected.  Throw in the undeniable variable that he’s throwing harder than last year (and then harder than the year prior, and so on) and you will see that the strain of it could be contributing to the health issues.  

Obviously the Mets need to do what they can to pamper their starters as much as possible if they want them available for the maximum reasonable number of innings thrown and pitches hurled.  If the club suddenly missed starts from David Peterson or Joey Lucchesi, few would be on the edge of panic as they remember better the bad games more than the good ones. 

This time, however, they’re talking about the guy who is leading the league in ERA by nearly a full run and who is tied with $40 million man Trevor Bauer with 111 strikeouts.  Considering he’s done the latter in 67 IP and Bauer took nearly 90 IP, I think I know who is the number one pitcher in baseball.  

Even with the best possible news and deGrom missing no more than a single start if they move him to the IL, the club is at a major crossroads in its quest for replacement starting pitching.  The quick move might be to use an opener, someone from the bullpen to take the hill for 2-3 innings and work through the bullpen for the remainder of the game.  Seth Lugo has started in the past as has Robert Gsellman, but neither fared particularly well in that role.  

Reaching down into the minors is a major challenge as the Syracuse Mets are riding a 10 game losing streak as of Friday morning and their best pitcher thus far has been 6’7” righthander Tylor Megill.  He’s been a strikeout machine in 2021 after returning from missed time due to injuries.  He is averaging 13.5 Ks per 9 IP in a combined Binghamton/Syracuse 2021 season with excellent control in AA and slightly less so in AAA.  His combined ERA is just 3.06 over 7 starts at both levels and he’s excelled at keeping runners off base.  

While it would be risky to push Megill all the way up to Citifield so soon, the rest of the AAA staff has been horrific.  Old batting practice pitcher Corey Oswalt hasn’t imploded, but he’s the next best at 4.15 combined starting and relieving.  After that you need eclipse-of-the-sun dark sunglasses to protect your eyes.  
Hopefully the front office is scouring the DFA lists, the minor leagues and the major leagues for potential reinforcements.  Right now it’s a precarious situation the Mets are in and each time the threat exists that deGrom is going to miss time it gets markedly worse.