Let’s be contrarian optimists for a moment about the Mets during this highly challenging moment for the starting rotation and its health.
It’s easy to bemoan the recent run of luck after Griffin Canningcrumpled to the ground on Thursday night with a likely Achilles injury — an event that followed Kodai Senga’s hamstring injury, Tylor Megill’s elbow injury, and the loose body discovered to be rolling around in Sean Manaea’s left elbow.
It’s like the baseball gods heard us all talking about the team’s stellar pitching and decided, on a cruel whim, to smite it.
But while pitching remains the team’s most significant concern, as we detailed earlier this week, there’s another way to view the situation the morning after the Mets lost Canning: When Senga returns in a few weeks, he will front a rotation that includes David Peterson, Frankie Montas and Clay Holmes.
Peterson has grown into a top-of-the-rotation starter. Montas’ season debut on Tuesday was a significant performance for the Mets, who saw a high-90s fastball and heavy sinker that looked anything but fringy or back-end. It changed the conversation from, “Oh crap, Montas is starting tonight,” to “Oh cool, Montas is starting tonight."
Continued health for Holmes is the key to the entire group, and the Mets know they must watch him closely.
Holmes did not recover well from his June 7 start in Colorado. He attributed that to the location of that game, which leaves many a ballplayer sore and fatigued. By all accounts, he has been healthy since, but was clearly less than satisfied with the quality of his stuff in a five-inning win on Wednesday. This bears watching.
If the team can keep Holmes right, the rotation might just remain stable. Relief pitching is a significant concern, but it was at many points last summer, too. Remember, it’s a long season. Maybe the strong performances from Dedniel Nunez and Austin Warren on Thursday can signal a slowing of the daily bullpen carousel.
The front office will, of course, look for pitching between now and the trade deadline. In the short term, prospect Blade Tidwell will be in the bullpen tonight, and in the longer term, he can slot in for Canning if the Mets decide to use him as a starter.
There is room for optimism on the offensive side, too. Juan Soto has somehow made his morose and unproductive Mets beginning seem like a distant dream. The Mets will likely seek a trade upgrade at center field.
Mark Vientos is set to return Friday night. Despite a slow start to the season, he brings the strong potential for offensive upside, as does Ronny Mauricio, who survived the roster move. According to a league source, the Mets optioned DH Jared Young after Thursday’s game and kept Mauricio. The team will find at-bats for Mauricio, Brett Baty and Vientos at the major league level, and live for the moment without a perfect DH platoon. (Jesse Winkerstarts a rehab assignment Sunday.)
It’s also easy to forget that the Mets have reclaimed first place in the National League East. The Phillies were swept in Houston this week, scoring a grand total in the series of, wait for it, one run. Baseball is weird for other good teams, too — not just the Mets.
And the Braves left New York on Thursday night unsatisfied with a series split and a 5-2 season record against the Mets. For a team that began the season so poorly, they felt a need to fare even better while playing catch-up.
"We needed to go 7-0 against them, quite honestly," Braves manager Brian Snitker told reporters on Thursday night. "We are trying to dig out of a hole, and we need to win every series we play."
So there you have it. The Mets woke up Friday morning in Pittsburgh in a less terrible spot than it seemed.
You buying it?
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