Our guys trade insights about the sorry state of the Mets' pitching
A.J. Carter: It’s bad enough losing two out of three to the Braves, but being swept by the Tigers? Too many wheels are starting to fall off the bus, and I don’t think the impending arrival of Carlos Carrasco is cause for enough optimism to counterbalance my concern.
John Coppinger: I get it. It looks bad. The Mets gave up entirely too many “first hits of the season” and “first home runs of the season” to the Tigers, who couldn’t hit. But first off, it’s May. And second, the season was never going to hinge on Carlos Carrasco anyway. It’s about Max and Justin. And Justin looked good outside of the two home runs, so I’m content to ride this out. That said, Max worries me.
A.J. Carter: Yeah, despite giving up two home runs in Comerica National Park, Verlander’s outing could be called a success. Scherzer is a real concern. This was his first game back from the suspension, and his performance makes me wonder if Phil Cuzzi was onto something. It’s a sticky situation.
John Coppinger: In his last seven starts, Scherzer has an ERA of about 5.56 or something like that. Six of those starts came when Scherzer could use whatever he wanted (and I still have a lot of problems with how Major League Baseball implements and enforces their rules.) So I’m not going to panic because of that. I will panic because guys who reach that age at a high level tend to get old quick. And Scherzer had been pitching at a high level until the Braves series to end last season. Since then, he’s been bad. And I wonder if we’ve seen the last of Max Scherzer as we knew him.
A.J. Carter: Meanwhile, the bullpen seems to be staffed by the Bum of the Day. They sign a guy, Dominic Leone, and put him into the game hours later? I have visions of Billy Eppler holding up a sign in the hotel lobby: “Pitchers Wanted. No Experience Necessary. Preference to former Orioles farmhands.” The starting pitching has been so bad that the bullpen is wasted. And it’s only 30 games into the season.
John Coppinger: And yet, the bullpen has been the most reliable aspect of the team, which is a nice surprise and scary at the same time. They bring up a guy out of thin air, he pitches three scoreless innings, and we never hear from him again. There has to be a horror movie in there somewhere. The one aspect of this that worries me is the irregular work is going to wind up catching up to Adm Ottavino and David Robertson. They’re going to find themselves in three or four straight close games at some point, and they might not be prepared for it physically.
A.J. Carter: So what’s the answer? If this were a George Steinbrenner-owned team, there’d be a new pitching coach by now, and perhaps a new trainer. And I’m not sure the Steve Cohen model – throw buckets of money at the problem – is the answer. The real problem to me is that the pitching staff is old. Old pitchers get hurt more easily than younger ones and lose their mojo almost overnight. The younger pitchers they have – Peterson, Megill, Butto, whoever else is at AAA – just haven’t cut it. Is it time to declare the season at an end?
John Coppinger: I’m not declaring anything over in May. It’s dicey now, for sure. And it could absolutely get worse. But I think now with Verlander back, the rest of the rotation will stabilize a little bit. It’s just a matter of treading water, which they have done, until the All Star Break, and then hope that the return of Jose Quintana and whatever acquisition Billy Eppler makes becomes more of a success than Darin Ruf was.
A.J. Carter: An appropriate thought for Star Wars Day. May the Fourth Be With You.