Jacob deGromThe New York Mets have had their fair share of offensive woes, but they have not lacked strong pitching performances. Four of the current six starters (deGrom 12,Colon 11, Harvey 11,Niese 10) have 10 or more quality starts (five innings or more). The other two, Matz and Syndegaard have not had enough starts to get to this plateau as of yet. Only the St Louis Cardinals can boast as many quality starters in the National League.

This success doesn’t just extend to the starting rotation. In all of MLB, the Mets rank second in team OBP (.295) third in team ERA (3.29), third in team quality starts (54) and fourth in team OPS (.665). With all of this, there is one thing missing from the team resume: a complete game. They have none this season, despite multiple opportunities.

In fact, going back to last season, the only pitcher to throw a complete game isn’t even on the active roster right now. That would be the recovering Zack Wheeler. Further back, in 2013, the team had three pitchers to throw a complete game (Dillon Gee-2, Matt Harvey and Jonathan Niese- 1 each). The last time the Mets had two pitchers throw multiple complete game efforts in a season was in 2012 (R.A.Dickey-5 and Johan Santana-2).

The Mets would benefit from allowing a starter to try to go the distance every now and then should the occasion present itself. Doing so would help to build the young pitchers’ confidence, the manager’s confidence in them and help a drastically overused bullpen to get a night of rest.

One example of this happened just last night in the Mets win against San Francisco. Jacob deGrom went eight dominant innings while striking out ten batters and scattering just two hits. In the ninth, the combination of Bobby Parnell and Jeurys Familia gave up one run and three hits by themselves in one inning.

While Familia was able to lock down his 24th save, that game is just another example of using the bullpen in an unnecessary situation. They had the reigning Rookie of the Year on the mound and baffling the Giants for eight innings. He will not pitch again for another six days due to the six man rotation. Why pull him there?

At the very least, let the kid try for his first complete game and shutout. The worst thing that could happen is that if he gets in trouble, Familia could come in to hammer the nail into the coffin of the series. This isn’t a one-time thing for him either. This has happened three other times this season (5/21 vs STL -8 innings/no runs/one hit, 6/1 vs SD-8 innings/no runs two hits and 6/25 vs MIL-8 innings/no runs/four hits).

As well as he has pitched this year, he could make a serious bid for the Cy Young Award in the NL. The only problem is that, as Adam Rubin on ESPN NY points out, four of the last five winners have logged at least 230 IP. They are work horses. Under the current rotation, that total of innings and the way he is used, it is highly unlikely that deGrom will finish in that group and, therefore, miss out on a rightful opportunity to be considered for that prestigious award.

If we think that deGrom is alone in this, however, he is not. Matt Harvey has had two outings of eight or more innings this season where he had a chance to pick up a complete game win and/or a shutout (4/25 vs NYY and 5/18 vs STL) and Jon Niese has had one (7/6 vs SF). In each opportunity, Mets manager, Terry Collins, has opted for the bullpen to finish the job.

While this cautious approach to the strategy of the game is okay in and of itself, it can have negative connotations. The team scores very little as it is. The last thing they need is to bring in a tired bullpen in a close game on a consistent basis. There’s only one rationale that explains this mentality.

It is reasonable to assume the team is saving their younger starting pitchers (everyone but Niese) for a potential postseason and long-term careers by limiting their innings. There are most likely total innings caps on each of them for the season, particularly Harvey and deGrom.

This is often a good idea and can be useful. We certainly have seen this with other teams in the past few years. The problem is that it doesn’t ensure the pitcher is going to stay healthy or even that they will maintain the potential level of success that is projected for them.

One case in point in the league is Washington’s Stephen Strausburg who was shut down early a few years ago prior to a playoff run amidst much controversy because he was in his first season back from Tommy John surgery. Since then, he’s been on the DL multiple times (including currently) and has not been the dominant pitcher he was before his surgery.

There’s a great argument for protecting your most valuable pitching commodities, however, there is such a possibility of protecting them too much that they become almost fragile. They have to have tests and be pushed from time to time.

It’s the only way they grow as athletes and as teammates.

19 comments on “Should we be upset Jacob deGrom didn’t get a complete game?

  • Eric

    You can certainly make the argument that he should have been left in. Otherwise, what difference does it make. All your points for it are somewhat nebulous. This is baseball now, managers have to manage their starters and their relievers. I’m not sure it will shift back in the foreseable future.

  • James Preller

    I thought he should pitch the 9th, personally, because he was rolling and there was the All-Star Break with extra rest coming up.

    However, the entire concept this year has been to manage the IP for the staff, particularly where it concerns Harvey & Matz — and maybe to a lesser extent deGrom and Syndergaard.

    If that’s the idea, then clipping off an inning here and there is consistent with that model. If this all plays out as planned — Harvey & Matz available & effective in the NLDS — we may need to go back and recognize that the Mets organization played out this strategy masterfully and with foresight.

    Short answer: No, I don’t think we should be mad about Jacob deGrom not pitching the 9th inning of a 4-0 game on July 8th.

    • Frank

      There’s certainly a cap on JDG and Harvey. I’m doubtful there is on Matz or Thor just for the reason that they won’t get near any cap due to later callups.

      • Pete

        Frank what about the innings they pitched in the minor leagues this season? You don’t think those innings should count towards their total sum?

        • Chris F

          Syndergaard has about ~75-80 innings left he can pitch this season.
          Matz would seem to have ~70-75 innings left this season.

          My expectation is both will be capped at about 170ish innings for minors+majors innings.

          • Pete

            That means they’re both done by the end of August. The better they pitch the faster their season ends.

  • Name

    Funny how Niese was also in a similar situation in the first game, and no one bashed an eyelash about it.

    Niese was at 81 pitches thru 8, it was scoreless going into the 9th and Niese was due up 4th in the 9th. So naturally when Niese got into the dugout, TC started shaking his hands effectively signaling that he was done. Miraculously, the first 3 batters reached and when it was Niese’s spot to bat, the Mets had a taken a 2-0 lead and Niese theoretically could have batted and then come out to finish the game. But the handshake at the end of the inning likely killed any chance of this, because Niese probably was already mentally checked out of the game by this time.

    deGrom was at a much higher pitch count after 8, with 99 pitches, but he had the benefit of a 2-0 heading into the 9th. He was due up 4th as well, so TC decided to shake his hand as well. And miraculously for the second time in 3 games, the guy in front of the pitcher was able to drive in 2 runs. But once again because TC already gave the handshakes, deGrom was also likely also mentally checked out of the game.

    So what’s the moral of the story? Well, besides the disrespect shown towards Niese, I don’t know. Should TC stop shaking his pitchers hands after they have just pitched 8 shutout innings? But then again, both times they lead to 2 runs, and with the way the offense is going, i think most of us will take extra runs over the distinction of a Shutout.

    • Frank

      I mentioned Niese’s performance the other night. This is a larger issue than just last night. The bullpen in overused and stretched out more with this six man rotation. If you have the chance to rest them and give your hottest pitcher his first career shutout, you do it! Collins has failed to four times with JDG alone.

      • James Preller

        As for the overused bullpen, I’m not buying it (outside of Familia). The Mets have actually had periods of an idiotic 8-man pen, combined with the fact that their “total bullpen innings” is in the lower 1/3 in all of baseball (last time I looked).

        With the great starting pitching, this is simply not a particularly taxed bullpen. Carlos Torres might be strained, but now with a fresh Parnell and well-rested Mejia in there, CT should be getting a breather.

      • Name

        ” The bullpen in overused”

        I don’t know where you are getting this information, but it is flat out wrong.

        The Mets bullpen has thrown the fewest inning in the NL. Plus, in the 2 prior games in the series, the bullpen had only thrown 3 innings, with the Torrei throwing an inning a piece and Familia getting the other. Plus, there’s an off day today and the All star break is next week.

  • Chris F

    No. I just dont see that much value in hauling a pitcher out for the 9th as a genera rule. In my eyes each situation is different and there should be no set playbook. If it saved 15 pitches for deGrom then fine. The most important thing is the team win. It wasn’t a hard night on the pen. The biggest issue is when to pull a starter struggling in the 5th with 85+ pitches. That is the disaster situation that needs real attention.

    • Jeffrey

      This is a sore spot for me. I was raised during an era when Ryan, Carlton, Jenkins, Palmer, and Perry pitched every 4th day…..and tried to get complete games. No way….any one of them would have come out of a game after 8 innings if they had a shutout. I have not seen one thing that suggests these babies today pitching 220 innings a year….have less injuries than the starters years ago who would pass the 300 inning mark.

      Editor’s Note – Please do not capitalize words in your post, as that is a violation of our Comment Policy.

  • Brian Joura

    If I never see another complete game in my life, I’d be okay with that. But I sure am glad the Astros sent out Bob Knepper in the ninth in Game 6.

    FWIW, the definition of a Quality Start is at least 6 IP and no more than 3 ER.

    • Frank

      The way TC taxes this bullpen, combined with the six man rotation, it’s logical to let a starter who is dominating finish it out.

      • Brian Joura

        If the relievers are taxed, the solution is not to ask the starters to do more – it’s to deploy more sensible bullpen tactics.

        • Chris F

          Exactly, and BP taxation does occur closing out the 9th.

          • James Preller

            I am with Brian, the taxation is using guys over and over again for brief periods, the LOOGY nonsense, the three guys to pitch one inning.

  • Patrick Albanesius

    This bullpen is not taxed, and deGrom is too valuable healthy and rested. Unless it’s a no-hitter or perfect game, who really cares about a complete game anymore?

  • TexasGusCC

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