The Mets are doing the right thing for the wrong reason Sunday when they give a start to Logan Verrett. Now, that’s better than doing the wrong thing for the wrong reason, like calling up a lefty reliever to go to an eight-man bullpen because their useless LOOGY makes their relief corps too thin. Still, it will be a good day for the Mets when they completely move away from hope and seniority and move towards a team that believes in sunk costs and giving chances to rookies beyond last-resort moves.
Verrett came up in the Mets organization as a starting pitcher. Prior to 2015, Verrett appeared in 69 games as a professional and all 69 were starts. Last year in Triple-A, Verrett led the team in both innings and wins and had a 4.33 ERA, which was better than top prospect Noah Syndergaard’s mark in the same loop. He was a solid pitching prospect stuck in a system with pitchers with better pedigrees.
Because of this, the Mets left him exposed in Rule 5 and lost him, first to the Orioles and then to the Rangers. A Rule 5 pick has to stay in the majors and because of this, he was moved to the bullpen this year. He didn’t do too hot in Texas in this role and wound up back in Triple-A for the Mets. In Las Vegas, they utilized him mainly as a reliever and then began to stretch him out as a starter, and after he finally built up to a 7.2 IP outing, he was called up to New York to be a … reliever.
Verrett did a great job in this role and allowed just 1 ER in 12.1 IP and posted a 0.649 WHIP. So of course the Mets sent him down because he was a rookie. Back in Las Vegas, he again found himself as a starter. In five games with the 51s, he posted strong peripherals (23 IP, 6 BB, 26 Ks, 2 HR) and earned a call back to the Mets as a … reliever.
In this second stint with the Mets, Verrett was used once and removed after six pitches and a scoreless inning because the Mets wanted him to make a start. Hallelujah, they are finally going to cut bait with Bartolo Colon to make room for Verrett! Um, no. They’re going to keep the guy in the rotation with a 5.68 ERA over his last 18 games. Instead they’re going to skip a turn for Matt Harvey because any time you can screw up the routine for a pitcher with a 1.45 ERA in his previous 11 games, you just have to do it.
Snark aside, the Mets are skipping Harvey due to the belief that if they keep his innings total around 180 this year, somehow he’ll be healthy the rest of his career; however, if that number is around 193, he’s doomed to the disabled list again. Unfortunately, that’s not snark. That’s really how the Mets are operating. They’re hoping – that’s all it is, hope – that a completely arbitrary innings limit will keep Harvey healthy. And if they have to sacrifice Harvey starts in a pennant race and make him pitch on an irregular basis to reach that artificial limit, so be it.
So, Verrett’s topsy-turvy season continues and the Mets ask him to make a spot start, his first career start in the majors, in Colorado. Hey, maybe the guy used to pitching in Las Vegas won’t be spooked by pitching in this environment. Regardless, we should be happy that the Mets are giving a shot to a rookie and not recycling Dillon Gee. Would the Mets have done this if Gee didn’t pop off about being sent to the bullpen earlier in the year? The Mets will tolerate poor performance from a veteran. But even seniority won’t allow such insubordination as to question the moves of the great and powerful Oz.
The Mets’ bullpen is in tough shape right now because of poor performances by starters and Terry Collins’ insistence on using his two best relievers in back-to-back games with five-run leads. Hopefully Verrett finds himself facing a demoralized Rockies team today and he can give the team a seven-inning outing. As long as we’re wishing, maybe the offense will give the team a big enough lead that Collins will feel safe closing out the game with Hansel Robles and the useless lefties.
And who knows – perhaps a strong outing by Verrett today will force the Mets to reexamine his role going forward. Maybe a good outing by the rookie will force Colon to the DL with the same shady injury that sidelined Bobby Parnell. Except the Mets don’t even have to invent something out of whole cloth here. Colon was hit by a batted ball and we could see on TV how it immediately swelled up on him. Sounds like an injured wrist to me.
New York is 2-9 in the last 11 games started by Colon. But there’s been no public talk about removing him from the rotation. It’s good to have seniority. Perhaps there’s been a lot of talk behind closed doors. At least, let’s hope there’s been that talk. At this point, it’s hard to imagine that the Mets’ chances of winning are worse with Verrett than they are with Colon.
On some level, the club is aware of the need to upgrade the staff. Shoot, they allowed Collins to go yell at an injured guy with 54.1 innings of MLB experience, hoping that would accelerate his return to the majors. That move wasn’t based on seniority, so we know what prompted it.
All we can say for sure is that Verrett is here now and in his limited MLB experience, he’s done a fine job. He deserves an opportunity to start and it’s not his fault the Mets are foffing Harvey in order to make that happen.
So, let’s root for Verrett to pitch the game of his life today. Maybe then the Mets will go with a six-man rotation in September by adding Verrett and Steven Matz and subtracting the veteran with the big contract and the rotten results. What a great thing it would be for the Mets to employ their best pitchers in their rotation in the heat of a playoff push.
Even if they’re rookies.
I don’t have a problem with Collins using Clippard and Familia for the eighth and ninth in Colorado- because it’s Colorado. Those two games were not over until the final out. I do agree that the LOOGY is a useless creation, but Gilmartin is more than that. If Robles and Torres get their act together, it will be a solid bullpen. Hopefully either O’Flaherty gets his act together, or he’s kicked off the roster.
Come on Brian,the broadcasters and TC will tell you they need Colon’s ” veteran” presence in the rotation.
I think you are right about Colon, but missed on two other points. Verrett did not go down to the minors because he is a rookie, he went down because they wanted to stretch him out for a spot start; and two, they aren’t skipping harvey’s start today so they can keep him healthy for the rest of his career, they are exercising prudence with a franchise player in his first full year returning from big surgery. Kind of silly to characterize the skipping of one start as an effort to avoid injury for the rest of his life. Also, with Colon they needed to ride him as long as they can for innings, but I wouldn’t assume that he is immune from demotion because he is a veteran. They junked Parnell and I would expect them to junk Colon in the next week or two when Matz returns and leave him off playoff roster. Attributing silly motives to the FO
Verrett’s demotion in July had absolutely nothing to do with stretching him out to be a starter. Absolutely nothing. He was sent down to clear space for Jenrry Mejia.
http://www.nj.com/mets/index.ssf/2015/07/mets_minor_league_report_9.html
And they are pretending that skipping one or two starts is the difference between health and injury for Harvey, which is ridiculous.
They only need to ride Colon for innings because they refuse to bench a veteran who doesn’t complain for a rookie. It’s the same MO that sees Dillon Gee win out over Rafael Montero in the Spring and the same MO that insisted on playing Michael Cuddyer until he landed on the DL. The veteran player is given chance after chance after chance and is only replaced when there is no choice.
IMHO, if anybody replaces Colon this year it will be Matz, so that he remains on a regular schedule, because he is the more valuable asset. Verrett should be used as a spot starter to keep down innings for Harvey and Thor. A five game lead has given the Mets the luxury of doing this. I don’t have a problem with it. It’s a small but prudent risk.
Maybe they should send Colon to the pen. He’s unflappable, throws strikes, and would probably benefit from facing opposing hitters only once.
Colon has a 5.25 ERA and has allowed 31 baserunners in his first inning pitched this year.
ok, so forget about that idea, or maybe just for mop-up and spot starts.
Two points covering the topics Brian referenced:
– Logan Verrett deserves a shot. Anyone that grew up in Corpus Christi, I will support. Besides, his numbers are good. Colon is hurt, he needs the DL.
– The best eight arms based on performance are: Familia, Clippard, Goeddel (who is close to returning and they can use him), C. Torres, Rice, Gilmartin, and Robles. With September call ups, I would add Black and A. Torres for mop up duty and 20 inning games. Adding Gee would cause a problem with a manager to weak to make a good decision, but otherwise he would be helpful. Not a fan of Alvarez or any other lefty.
I’m liking Sewald’s stats. He throws strikes!
http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?sid=milb&player_id=623149#/career/R/pitching/2015/ALL
Also, Zach Thorton’s stats look fairly similar to Verrett’s:
http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?sid=milb&player_id=543856#/career/R/pitching/2015/ALL
Good read Brian. I always enjoy your perspective, whether I agree or disagree.
I think we need to all take a deep breath about roster spots, innings pitched, promtions and demotions. It is my guess things will get wild and wooly in September, especially with pitching.
Trotting out Harvey here for a game in CO is not necessary. I’m not buying the break in routine story. If he’s an ace, he can survive this, maybe get in a pen session. I also am not sure I would go with a story of capriciousness for sitting him. That may be our assessment of what we see, but these decisions are made consulting with Dr Andrews, Boras, the player (although he’s now stepped out of that), and history. In the end none of that may add up to a hill of beans, but I do believe this is being done thoughtfully, right or wrong.
I do wonder what Alderson plans for the pen. At this point, with the biggest first place lead in the NL, and second biggest lead in the game, there is no questioning we are in a pennant race. How this FO responds to the reality of going all in for post season baseball will be fascinating. To that end, I endorse the signing of EY Jr as the speed guy off the bench. It’s a much needed weapon that we do not have.
EY Jr was an intelligent move by Sandy. A needed stolen base in September by EY Jr may be the difference between a win or a loss. I don’t have faith in TC’s ability to properly utilize him within the flow of the game.
Harvey is on record as wanting to pitch every fifth day or having four days of rest between starts.
Here are his numbers when he pitches with at least six days of rest between starts:
5/8: 6 IP, 3 ER
7/4: 5 IP, 3 ER
7/11: 7 IP, 2 ER
7/20: 7 IP, 2 ER (5 overall)
That’s 10 ER in 25 IP for a 3.60 ERA. Compare that to his 2.37 ERA when pitching on regular rest.
I’m sure Boras and the doctors will always say more rest is better. But until they actually produce a peer-reviewed study that proves it with actual data then the rest of us will be right in remaining highly skeptical.
I wish Logan well but management is exercising some strange logic indeed.
If a starting pitcher is beginning to tire as the season winds down then starting Verritt or Matz in the fatigued pitchers spot makes sense. Fatigue causes injury. Innings limits do not prevent injury but abused pitch counts will cause fatigue that could result in injury.
Harvey is not fatigued and should not be skipped. If the Mets get an opportunity to pull Harvey with a low pitch count then they should take advantage of the opportunity. They should never “push” Harvey’s pitch count to the point of fatigue. Fatigue causes injuries.
If the Mets choose to start Verritt (or later Matz) for Colon then they should do it for the reasons the author stated in the article.
Cant you make the argument that the team is being proactive in regards to mitigating fatigued players? If fatigue causes injuries wouldn’t you rather avoid fatigue altogether, thereby warranting a skipped start or two?
Obviously the outcome of this skipped start is impossible to quantify as it isnt tangible but we can speculate that some extra rest here or there will help for the big games in September (and hopefully October).
I would rather take the measures now to prevent fatigue for those games than have the SP’s break down when the spotlight is brightest.
Not sure how Metsense feels but I’m much more concerned about in-game fatigue than in-season fatigue.
Putting Colon in the BP is not a bad idea. Reasons: 1- he does not walk many batters 2- he is unflappable 3- pretty much throws strikes 4- veteran cunning.
Rotation of: Harvey, DeGrom,Thor, Matz, Niese, Verrett (if he proves worthy) could be an interesting and nasty righty / lefty attack. 3 of each.
BP of: Familia, Clippard, Colon, Robles, Torres, Oflaherty, Alvarez.
As long as Mets keep hitting and scoring above 3 runs per game, they will win the division. They can beat the Dodgers and Giants, they owe revenge to the Cards for 2006. Trouble is in Pittsburgh and Chicago.
Note : Mets have played Cards tough this year, unlike Cubs and Bucs.
Fair shot vs St Louis, not because of 2006…
I believe a skipped start is a good healing time for starting pitchers…and all arms are so (to some extent after months of pitching)…. it’s also disruptive. Hopefully they’ev given some thought to getting the “start skippers” back to rhythm and performance after the skip.
Great outing by Verrett especially in hitter friendly Coors Field. If we can look past this season and to 2016 when we were really supposed to compete, signing Cespedes is a must and given all the extra pitching (Montero, Verrett, etc.) we have some good chips to bring in a second big bat.
I am totally psyched about how they are playing this season but don’t see the Mets necessarily getting past the Cards or the Bucs in the playoffs. We can match up well from the mound but not yet from the dish.
Perhaps.
But if they are all healthy, I’ll take my chances with a middle of the order that features in some order Cespedes, TDA, Duda and Wright.
I have no problem with Harvey sitting out a start in Colorado. If it saves one start for him later, hopefully the playoffs, then it’s an easy gamble. Quite frankly I don’t really care about player’s routine. You’ve proven Harvey is better on regular rest, but I imagine that’s the case for most pitchers. Granted, I’m assuming here.