Jonathon Niese is set to throw in another rehab start on Tuesday in either in Brooklyn or Binghamton, and then if that all goes to plan, Niese will then most likely be activated off the DL and perhaps make a start in the Mets’ upcoming 11-game road trip.
So, what does this mean to the Mets’ rotation going forward? We’re not just talking for the rest of the 2013 season, but beyond that as well.
Certainly Niese, the Mets’ 2013 Opening Day starter, will be plugged back into the rotation, as he has become a rotation mainstay. As long as he is healthy (and with partial tear of his rotator cuff, there’s always that concern), Niese will be a starter for the foreseeable future.
Whether it was injury related—and you have to believe it was—or not, Niese has struggled for most of the year, going 3-6 with a 4.32 ERA and 1.61 WHIP in 14 starts. Niese has to showcase down the stretch that he can prove to be healthy and be the formidable middle-of-the-rotation guy the Mets came to depend on.
So when Niese returns (granted he holds up), he will make an already crowded rotation even more jam-packed. The Mets could conceivably have a seven-man rotation, featuring Niese, Matt Harvey, Zack Wheeler, Dillon Gee, Jeremy Hefner, Jenrry Mejia and Carlos Torres.
However, that clearly is not going to happen, and Torres is all but certain to return to the bullpen when Niese returns.
Considering the injury Niese is coming off of and with Harvey and Wheeler on supposed innings limits, this is a time where having a six-man rotation makes perfect sense—especially with the Mets likely out of playoff contention. With rest being at a premium for guys like Niese, Wheeler and Harvey, this seems like an opportune time to roll with a six-man crew.
With Harvey, Wheeler and Niese all but locks (granted no one is traded) to be part of the 2014 staff, this is where things could get interesting.
This means the rest of the 2013 season could be audition time for Gee, Hefner and Mejia.
And when you combine those three with prospects Rafael Montero, Jacob deGrom and eventually Noah Syndergaard, it could be a race for who becomes the fourth and fifth starters with the Mets next year. It’s starting to look like survival of the fittest in Queens these days.
Granted, this is where Sandy Alderson’s vision and creativity has to come in handy. With a surplus of this much good pitching, he has to deal from an area of strength to bolster the team’s weakness (namely any offensive punch).
With David Wright going down with a hamstring injury on Friday night, it will (as it has basically been all season) be the pitching that will define how the Mets finish out the 2013 season. And with Niese set to return, the staff should only get better going forward—even if complicates things in the process.
Niese should not be brought back until he can throw 7 innings. Then stay with a 6 man rotation, with Torres in the bullpen. Gee would also benefit from the 6 man as he had only thrown 109.2 innings last year and should also have a reduced 2013 workload. deGrom should also steal a start or three in September, but where I don’t know.
Sandy has money and trade chits this winter and the result should be a playoff competitive team in 2014.
There are plenty of huge question marks all around this rotation.
*Mejia. off season surgery; nuff said.
*Gee. will he ever be able to give you 100 pitches, or is he terminally going to fall apart in the 6th inning?
*Hefner. Pete’s sake, can you or can’t you pitch?
*Niese. Was it injuries before, or is it the end of the line?
*deGrom/Montero. That was an awful lot of upward movement in a short time period for two previously unheralded pitchers. The final act doesn’t always end well in situations like that.
Still, there’s strength in numbers. My concern when it comes to trades is that we’ll give away the solution. It’s possible that we’ve already done that once this season (Cowgill in Oakland) so who’s to say.