Alternatives to divine intervention to fix the Mets’ pitching woes

In the month of May, the Mets have an .810 OPS, the highest mark in the National League. Since pitching was supposed to be a team strength, it’s beyond disappointing that the club’s record this month is 10-13. Hopefully, help is on the way in the form of Seth Lugo and Steven Matz, who are both scheduled for their third rehab games later today. Both got knocked around in their second appearance in the minors. They’ll need to perform better this time around if we hope to see them in the majors the first week of June.

So, how does the team survive until then? The best hope is that the offense can continue to produce at its current clip. There’s not a lot that can be done with the pitching, as nothing in Sandy Alderson’s history suggests he’s going to make a big deal in late May. So, the team is going to have to either cross its fingers and hope divine intervention leads to better results or look to make changes with long-held principles.

There are three things they can change, two of which they shouldn’t have been doing, anyway. But it’s easy to make suggestions from miles away from the clubhouse and office suites. Getting two guys (Alderson and Terry Collins) who are familiar with senior citizen pricing to change how they do things – and do it on the fly – is another matter entirely.

The first thing they need to do is throw pitch counts out the window. In general, I’m in favor of pitch counts and believe they do more good than harm. But in the right here, right now – making decisions based on pitch counts is hurting the bottom line. We’ve seen progress in this direction, as Jacob deGrom threw in the vicinity of 100 pitches through seven innings and went out to the mound to start the ninth. But the idea should not be to push guys when the team holds a seven-run lead but rather when the game is close.

Saturday night was a good illustration. Zack Wheeler had gone six innings and threw 94 pitches. Everything that the Mets hold dear said to remove him at this point. And the fact that he got knocked around a bit in the sixth inning reinforces the decision, at least under normal circumstances. But when the bullpen is both overworked and ineffective, the Mets needed to see if Wheeler had anything left in the tank. Ideally, he could have given the club one more scoreless inning.

While the way the Mets handled it had the desired result – having their closer on the mound with a lead in the ninth – fate had the game going extra innings. And with the way the Mets operated, they had a rookie in his second day with the club making his major league debut on the road in extra innings, right after the closer melted down. Not exactly the ideal way to break in. If they coaxed another inning from Wheeler, the 10th inning could have been handled by someone who had been in the majors previously.

A veteran manager with instincts and feel honed over nearly 1,900 games in the majors should be able to tell when his starter still has something left in the tank. And if for some reason the manager lacks those qualities, well there’s both a pitching coach and a bench coach to help with the decision. And if all three of those guys are deficient, well then at least one of them needs to be removed from the equation permanently.

Wheeler developed a blister, which certainly played into the equation. Hopefully, without blister problems, Wheeler would have been back on the mound for the seventh.

Next, the bullpen needs to get away from matchups and partial innings. Not every lefty batter who strolls to the plate requires a lefty pitcher in the late innings. Yes, some do. But not every lefty should be treated like royalty. And the other half of that is the club should be looking to treat Jerry Blevins as its best setup man, not as its top LOOGY. He needs fewer outings but with more length when he does stroll to the mound.

Finally, the club should look for multi-inning appearances for its relievers whenever the deficit or lead is three runs or more. There’s no need to use five pitchers for an inning apiece, thinking that they haven’t pitched in two days so that they need work. There’s always opportunity for work in the 2017 bullpen. Look for opportunities for rest, instead. A reliever who hasn’t pitched in three days is a good thing.

Aside from those three items, the Mets should add another pitcher. With the offense firing on all cylinders, a 13th pitcher is more valuable than Matt Reynolds, especially now that Asdrubal Cabrera is back from the DL. A team carrying 13 pitchers is as appealing to me as a trip to the dentist followed by eating an onion as if it were an apple. But it’s what needs to be done. If you don’t think Erik Goeddel or Sean Gilmartin are worth promoting, call up one of the Double-A pitchers who have been performing so well.

When the problems are severe, don’t limit yourself to paint-by-number solutions.